Mr. Eubulides’ Sophistical Tactic:

‘It is noteworthy that the traditional example of the fallacy of many questions in the logic textbooks used to be ‘Have you stopped abusing your spouse?’ Recent cases have revealed the difficulty of responding to false accusations of this kind where, at a particular time, popular pressure and the judicial system are stacked towards a presumption of guilt, and the wrecking of a reputation merely by the raising of the question is a powerful form of attack. In this kind of context, the power of the tactic used in the fallacy of many questions is readily evident.

Many readers of this journal will be aware that the fallacy of many questions was known as a sophistical tactic in the ancient world. Eubulides, a contemporary of Plato, was known as the inventor of many fallacies.

According to Diogenes Laertius (Lives of Eminent Philosophers, II.108), he was ‘Eubulides the Eristic’, who ‘propounded his quibbles about the horns’ (and other clever arguments). The fallacy of the horns was known in the ancient world as being identified with the question, ‘Have you lost your horns?’ – the trick being that no matter which way you answer, yes or no, you concede that you either have horns, or had them. For more on the ancient history of the horns fallacy, see (Schulthess, Daniel, 1996). This same fallacy was also expressed in ancient times using an example more like the spouse-abuse question of the modern texts. According to Diogenes Laertius (Lives, II.135), Alexinus of Elis, a member of the Eristic School of Eubulides, was said to have asked another philosopher whether if he had stopped beating his father. The answer was said to have been: ‘I was not beating him and have not stopped’. Alexinus is said to have insisted that he clear up the ambiguity by a plain ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In this small dialogue, it is made evident that the Greek philosophers were clearly aware of how to use the tactic of many questions as a sophistical trick, and were aware of at least the rudiments of how to deal with it’. (Douglas Walton, ‘The Fallacy of Many Questions: On the Notions of Complexity, Loadedness and Unfair Entrapment in Interrogative Theory’; www.uwinnipeg.ca/%7Ewalton/99interrog.pdf).

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A Powerful Form of Attack:

• ‘... his [Hunter S. Thompson’s] sense of the bizarre knows no bounds, as in this ‘ancient and honourable’ story of how Lyndon Johnson first got elected to Congress in 1948 when his opponent was a wealthy and politically favoured pig farmer: ‘Lyndon was running about 10 points behind, with only nine days to go ... He was sunk in despair. He was desperate ... he called his equally depressed campaign manager and instructed him to call a press conference at two or two-thirty (just after lunch on a slow news day) and accuse his high-riding opponent (the pig farmer) of having routine carnal knowledge of his barnyard sows, despite the pleas of his wife and children ... His campaign manager was shocked. ‘We can’t say that, Lyndon’, he said. ‘It’s not true’. ‘Of course it’s not’, Johnson barked at him, ‘but let’s make the bastard deny it’.
What delightfully perverse logic, far more deadly than ‘Have you stopped beating your wife? ...’. (Giles Hugo, The Write Stuff'; www.the-write-stuff.com.au/archives/vol-1/reviews/hunter.html).

The technique of certain peoples on this mailing list is somewhat similar – ‘of course it’s not [true] but let’s make [Richard] deny it’ – with the added tactic of then accusing any attempt at setting the record straight as being either (a) Richard is in denial ... or (b) Richard is being defensive ... or (if all else fails) Richard is pedantic.

‘Tis not for nothing that Article 21 in ‘Richard’s Journal’ is entitled: ‘It Is Impossible To Combat The Wisdom Of The Real World’.

RETURN TO DEFINITIONS INDEX

RICHARD’S HOME PAGE

The Third Alternative

(Peace On Earth In This Life Time As This Flesh And Blood Body)

Here is an actual freedom from the Human Condition, surpassing Spiritual Enlightenment and any other Altered State Of Consciousness, and challenging all philosophy, psychiatry, metaphysics (including quantum physics with its mystic cosmogony), anthropology, sociology ... and any religion along with its paranormal theology. Discarding all of the beliefs that have held humankind in thralldom for aeons, the way has now been discovered that cuts through the ‘Tried and True’ and enables anyone to be, for the first time, a fully free and autonomous individual living in utter peace and tranquillity, beholden to no-one.

Richard's Text ©The Actual Freedom Trust: 1997-.  All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer and Use Restrictions and Guarantee of Authenticity