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Vicious Circle |
| Description: | ||
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| The conclusion of the argument is appealed to as one of the truths or principles upon which the argument itself rests. | ||
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| Examples: | ||
| "Jones is an honest man. I know this is true, since Jones told me so himself, and an honest man like Jones surely wouldn't lie about something like that." | ||
| "Everything Picasso draws--even when he is just doodling on his napkin--is great art. By great art I mean, of course, whatever is done by a great artist; and Picasso is a great artist. He is a great artist because everything he does is great art." | ||
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| Discussion: | ||
| Some of the most intractable problems in philosophy revolve
around what either are, or at least appear to be, vicious circles. David
Hume, for example, challenged the reliability of inductive reasoning as a
whole by pointing out that scientists trust inductive reasoning solely
because induction has tended to give results in past observed cases, so it
should continue to give good results in future cases as well. In short, they
validate their use of induction by giving an inductive argument!
Deduction is in no better condition. Lewis Carroll (who was a professional
logician and wrote children's books only as a hobby), wrote a clever
dialogue between Achilles and a tortoise to show that we apparently
cannot justify reasoning on the deductive pattern known as Modus Ponens,
without using Modus Ponens in our justification. We are most inclined to use circular reasoning when we are trying to defend principles that are so fundamental to our reasoning that we cannot conceive of their being false. Hence we tend to rely on them even in a context in which they are supposed to be in doubt. I cannot, of course, solve fundamental epistemological problems in a short paragraph. However, it is important to remember that reasoning generally occurs in a context in which one thing is in doubt while other matters are not in doubt. Only some philosophers would subscribe to the view that a condition of being in doubt about everything makes sense. We are rightly accustomed to taking some things for granted, and surely among the beliefs we are entitled to take for granted (in most contexts) are the basic principles on which an argument is founded. The fallacy of Vicious Circle mimics good reasoning, however, by relying on a principle of reasoning that we are not entitled to take for granted. This may happen when we are trying to examine broad principles to see which ones we can properly take for granted in other contexts. |
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| Classification: A deductive Fallacy of Circularity. | ||
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Go to: WELCOME EXPLANATION of PRINCIPLES TABLE of FALLACIES EXERCISES INDEX