...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Four Terms Fallacy

75 statements
12 feature instances
6 referencing feature instances

Four Terms Fallacy	type	FeatureClass
Four Terms Fallacy	label	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy	page	FourTermsFallacy
Four Terms Fallacy	comment	Also called the Politician's Syllogism or Equivocation. A standard three-step syllogism uses three terms — the things that are being linked by the line of reasoning. If A, then B. If B, then C. Therefore if A, then C. The fallacy of four terms occurs when, exactly like it says, four terms are used instead of three. In most cases, a single term (B) is used two (or more) times, in differing contexts with different meanings; and yet the argument treats the two usages as exactly the same, since the same term was used. It's best explained by this example from Land of the Blind. This uses two different meanings of the word "nothing." The first line uses "nothing" to mean "a lack of food", while the second line uses "nothing" as "no such thing exists." This fallacy can often be the core of a joke or pun, such as if someone were to suggest that Batman must be good at baseball, since he's so well-acquainted with bats.
Four Terms Fallacy	fetched	2024-02-15T13:15:54Z
Four Terms Fallacy	parsed	2024-02-15T13:15:54Z
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to FauxtivationalPoster: Not an Item - FEATURE
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to Heaven: Not an Item - FEATURE
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to Hentai: Not an Item - FEATURE
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to LesLuthiers: Not an Item - IGNORE
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to LogicBomb: Not an Item - FEATURE
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to ThePowerOfCheese: Not an Item - FEATURE
Four Terms Fallacy	processingComment	Dropped link to ThisVeryWiki: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Four Terms Fallacy	processingUnknown	ThisVeryWiki
Four Terms Fallacy	isPartOf	DBTropes
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1d01b4d6	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1d01b4d6	comment	Shakespeare really loved this trope. In Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice asks Benedick what happened when he challenged Claudio to a duel to defend Hero.
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1d01b4d6	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1d01b4d6	featureConfidence	1.0
Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre)	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_1d01b4d6
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1e703d1f	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1e703d1f	comment	The Gilmore Girls episode "The Third Lorelai" has the following exchange between Lorelai and her father.
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1e703d1f	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_1e703d1f	featureConfidence	1.0
Gilmore Girls	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_1e703d1f
Four Terms Fallacy / int_35bceb50	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_35bceb50	comment	In Hamlet, the gravedigger and Hamlet make wordplay on "lying" (physically remaining in one place and fibbing):
Four Terms Fallacy / int_35bceb50	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_35bceb50	featureConfidence	1.0
Hamlet (Theatre)	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_35bceb50
Four Terms Fallacy / int_44e0b783	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_44e0b783	comment	Garfield expresses the philosophy. "If nobody is perfect, I must be nobody."
Four Terms Fallacy / int_44e0b783	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_44e0b783	featureConfidence	1.0
Garfield (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_44e0b783
Four Terms Fallacy / int_468bebb0	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_468bebb0	comment	In Discworld, libraries warp spacetime because "knowledge=power=energy=matter=mass", and enough mass gives you a blackhole.
Four Terms Fallacy / int_468bebb0	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_468bebb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Discworld	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_468bebb0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_76d4fb05	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_76d4fb05	comment	Anyone Can Whistle explains in "simple" terms what's wrong with leftists:
Four Terms Fallacy / int_76d4fb05	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_76d4fb05	featureConfidence	1.0
Anyone Can Whistle (Theatre)	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_76d4fb05
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7950b30f	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7950b30f	comment	From The Colbert Report:
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7950b30f	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7950b30f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Colbert Report	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_7950b30f
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7c9864d1	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7c9864d1	comment	In Twelfth Night, Feste attempts this to make excuse for his lateness:
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7c9864d1	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_7c9864d1	featureConfidence	1.0
Twelfth Night (Theatre)	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_7c9864d1
Four Terms Fallacy / int_863b7825	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_863b7825	comment	An episode of Yes, Minister called this by name, as "The Politician's Syllogism", specifically the form: "Something must be done. This is something. Therefore we must do this." The two different meanings of "something": "A solution to this problem" and "A thing" are mixed and said to be the same.
Four Terms Fallacy / int_863b7825	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_863b7825	featureConfidence	1.0
Yes, Minister	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_863b7825
Four Terms Fallacy / int_919cf6ca	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_919cf6ca	comment	The The Secrets of Droon, the Wand of Urik works by making illogical syllogisms true. For example, "Cape is blue/Water is blue/Cape is water" turns a blue cape into a pool of water. Or "Stone is good/Fountain is good/Stone is fountain" turns a demon of stone into an ornate fountain.
Four Terms Fallacy / int_919cf6ca	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_919cf6ca	featureConfidence	1.0
The Secrets of Droon	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_919cf6ca
Four Terms Fallacy / int_ea4f62db	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_ea4f62db	comment	In the Family Guy episode New Kidney In Town, Peter attempts to make his own Red Bull. When Brian objects to using kerosene as an ingredient, Peter explains it thusly:
Four Terms Fallacy / int_ea4f62db	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_ea4f62db	featureConfidence	1.0
Family Guy	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_ea4f62db
Four Terms Fallacy / int_f4b2ce93	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Four Terms Fallacy / int_f4b2ce93	comment	Played for laughs in a Histeria! sketch about Rene Descartes (and a number of other jokes on the same topic): After Descartes makes his famous proposition that "I think, therefore I am."Meaning If he can think at all, he must exist., a cavalcade of distractions cause him to proclaim "I can't think!"meaning He is not literally unable to think, he just can't think clearly., whereupon he disappears in a Puff of Logic.
Four Terms Fallacy / int_f4b2ce93	featureApplicability	1.0
Four Terms Fallacy / int_f4b2ce93	featureConfidence	1.0
Histeria!	hasFeature	Four Terms Fallacy / int_f4b2ce93

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Four Terms Fallacy	processingCategory2	Logical Fallacies
Tales of the Dekuverse (Fanfic) / int_bd1343e0	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Love and Death / int_bd1343e0	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Guards! Guards! / int_bd1343e0	type	Four Terms Fallacy
Hypostatization	seeAlso	Four Terms Fallacy
As You Like It (Theatre) / int_bd1343e0	type	Four Terms Fallacy

Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.