I wonder if every logical fallacy has a converse fallacy, and whether it would be useful to compose a list of fallacies arranged in pairs. Perhaps it would help us discover new ones, as missing pairs to something.
For example, some fallacies consist of taking a heuristic too seriously. Experts are often right about things, but an “argument by authority” assumes that this is true in 100% of situations. Similarly, wisdom of crowds, and an “argument by popularity”. The converse fallacy would be ignoring the heuristic completely, even in situations where it makes sense. The opposite of argument by authority is listening to crackpots and taking them seriously. The opposite of argument by popularity is doing things that everyone avoids (usually to find out they were avoiding it for a good reason).
There is a specific example I have in mind, not sure if it has a name. Imagine that you are talking about quantum physics, and someone interrupts you by saying that people who do “quantum healing” are all charlatans. You object that you were not talking about those, but about actual physicists who do actual quantum physics. Then the person accuses you of doing the “No True Scottsman” fallacy—because from their perspective, everyone they know who uses the word “quantum” is a charlatan, and you are just dismissing this lifelong experience entirely, and insisting that no matter how many quantum charlatans are out there, they don’t matter, because certainly there is someone somewhere who does the “quantum” things scientifically. How many quantum healers do you have to observe until you can finally admit that the entire “quantum” thing is debunked?
Yes, most of them do have an inverse, but rarely is that inverse as common or as necessary to guard against. Also, reversed stupidity is not intelligence—a lot of things are multidimensional enough that truth is just in a different quadrant than the line implied by the fallacy and it’s reverse.
I wonder if every logical fallacy has a converse fallacy, and whether it would be useful to compose a list of fallacies arranged in pairs. Perhaps it would help us discover new ones, as missing pairs to something.
For example, some fallacies consist of taking a heuristic too seriously. Experts are often right about things, but an “argument by authority” assumes that this is true in 100% of situations. Similarly, wisdom of crowds, and an “argument by popularity”. The converse fallacy would be ignoring the heuristic completely, even in situations where it makes sense. The opposite of argument by authority is listening to crackpots and taking them seriously. The opposite of argument by popularity is doing things that everyone avoids (usually to find out they were avoiding it for a good reason).
There is a specific example I have in mind, not sure if it has a name. Imagine that you are talking about quantum physics, and someone interrupts you by saying that people who do “quantum healing” are all charlatans. You object that you were not talking about those, but about actual physicists who do actual quantum physics. Then the person accuses you of doing the “No True Scottsman” fallacy—because from their perspective, everyone they know who uses the word “quantum” is a charlatan, and you are just dismissing this lifelong experience entirely, and insisting that no matter how many quantum charlatans are out there, they don’t matter, because certainly there is someone somewhere who does the “quantum” things scientifically. How many quantum healers do you have to observe until you can finally admit that the entire “quantum” thing is debunked?
Yes, most of them do have an inverse, but rarely is that inverse as common or as necessary to guard against. Also, reversed stupidity is not intelligence—a lot of things are multidimensional enough that truth is just in a different quadrant than the line implied by the fallacy and it’s reverse.