The fallacy is anthropomorphism, because only beings with intention and planning can do something ‘so that..‘. For example, I can save money for college so that I can get a degree. Even a cat can wait by the bird cage ‘so that’ it catches the bird if the bird ever escapes. However, water can’t drip through a rock ‘so that’ it makes a stalactite.
The author is making this mistake of teleology if he explains events occurring so that they break down civilization; if he describes a model whereby the system was ready for the disruption to occur and then events happened so that it would.
For example, saying that an earthquake occurs ‘to release energy’ is such a conceptual mistake. The earthquake event is related to the build up of energy, and the release of energy is a by-product of the event, but the earthquake did not occur in order to release energy. That is the teleological mistake. (The author might have made this mistake, or not, I’m just relieved I remembered what was tickling my brain after reading this post.)
Ha. I remember now.
The fallacy is anthropomorphism, because only beings with intention and planning can do something ‘so that..‘. For example, I can save money for college so that I can get a degree. Even a cat can wait by the bird cage ‘so that’ it catches the bird if the bird ever escapes. However, water can’t drip through a rock ‘so that’ it makes a stalactite.
The author is making this mistake of teleology if he explains events occurring so that they break down civilization; if he describes a model whereby the system was ready for the disruption to occur and then events happened so that it would.
For example, saying that an earthquake occurs ‘to release energy’ is such a conceptual mistake. The earthquake event is related to the build up of energy, and the release of energy is a by-product of the event, but the earthquake did not occur in order to release energy. That is the teleological mistake. (The author might have made this mistake, or not, I’m just relieved I remembered what was tickling my brain after reading this post.)