Lesson Five

Love is a Fallacy ---- by Max Shulman

Aims

1. To have a basic knowledge of the

terms in logic.

2. To appreciate the humor in the story.

3. To analyze the structure of the story

4. To appreciate the language

Teaching Contents

1. Special terms in logic2. Detailed study of the text 3. Organizational pattern4. The chief attraction of the story 5. Language features 6. Exercises

Time allocation

1. Terms in logic (15 min.)2. Detailed study of the text (110

min.)3. Structure analysis (15 min.)4. Language appreciation (15 min.)5. Exercise (25 min.)

Lesson Five

I. Special terms in logic argument--a statement which is offered as an

evidence or a proof. It consists of two major elements

1. conclusion 2. premises -- a previous statement serving

as a basis for an argument. Conclusion is to be drawn from premises.

Special terms in logic

fallacy -- false reasoning, as in an argument a weakness and lack of logic or good

sense in an argument or piece of reasoning

fallacy

Usually, an argument is correct

(deductively valid) if the premises can

provide enough conclusive evidence for

the conclusion. Otherwise the argument is

wrong. It is said to be fallacious.

Special terms in logic

Three kinds of fallacy: 1. material fallacy -- in its material content

through a misstatement of the facts. 2. verbal fallacy -- in its wording through an

incorrect use of terms. 3. formal fallacy-in its structure through the

use of an improper process of inference.

False Analogy

"High school should not require a freshman writing course . Harvard doesn't require a freshman writing course, and the students get along fine without it".

--- The analogy is false because the two items don't have strong enough similarities to predict that what happens in one will happen in the other.

Dicta Simpliciter

"Everyone wants to get married someday."

--- The example starts a logical train of thought with an assumption that is false. Not "everyone" wants to get married.

Evading the issue

There are a number of handy fallacies th

at people press into service to side step

a problem while appearing to pursue the

point. ( 文不对题 )

1 ） Distraction

"Suds ' n ' Puds is a great restaurant : you can see how shining clean the kitchens are ".

--- The example is called distraction because the reader's attention is drawn to the cleanliness of the kitchen instead of to the excellence of the food, which is usually the determiner of a great restaurant.

2 ） Ad hominem

"against the person". "poisoning the well" " Ms Bauer is a terrible English teacher. She

always wears blue jeans" --- Instead of point out faults in teaching

technique, it calls attention to things about a teacher as a person that are unrelated to her teaching performance.

3 ） Ad misericordian (an appeal to pity)

"Look at this fourteen-year-old child who's run away from home to hide her shame-- pregnant, unwashed, friendless. penniless, at the mercy of our social service agencies. Can you till claim that sex should be taught in the classroom?"

3 ） Ad misericordian (an appeal to pity)

--- In this shifty approach to argumentation,

the writer gives tear jerking descriptions of

the cruel opponents' victims in order to

arouse sympathy from the reader.

Hasty Generalization

"Mr Wang's handwriting is terrible. Mr. Hu's handwriting is also terrible and you know how terrible men's handwriting is ."

--- It applies a special case to general rule. That fact that certain person's handwriting is bad doesn't imply that all men‘s handwriting is bad.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc –

“After this, therefore because of this" "The last five times that I've worn my white

pants, something depressing has happened. I'm not going to wear those pants again!"

-- This fallacy assumes that if event Y happened after event X, then X must be the cause of Y.

Circular Reasoning

or Begging the question:

"Juan is an impressive speaker because he

always touches his listeners deeply."

Circular Reasoning

--- This problem occurs when the writer tries to support a claim by restating it in different words. You can tell this example is circular by considering this “Why is Juan an impressive speaker?” “Because he touches his listeners deeply.?” “Why are Juan's listeners touched so deeply?” “Because he is an impressive speaker.” impressive = touching someone deeply

reel back

-- step away suddenly and unsteadily, as after a blow or shock

When she hit him, he reeled back and almost fell.

overcome -- be overwhelmed

If you are overcome by a feeling, you feel it very strongly

I was overcome by a sense of failure. He was overcome with astonishment.

infamy –

wicked behavior, public dishonor, being shameful/ disgraceful

infamous – well known for wicked, evil behavior. infamous action, wicked, shameful,

disgraceful

rat -- metaphor (Am. sl.)

used for describing a sneaky, contemptible person.

modulate –

adjust, vary the pitch, intensity of the voice Some people are able to modulate their

voices according to the size of the room in which they speak.

jitterbug --

1. a quick active popular dance of the 1940's 2. a person who did this sort of dance Am. sl.

a person who is very nervous jitters -- n. jittery -- adj. nervous, unstable

Frankenstein The young student in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (17

97--1851) romance of that name (1818), a classic horror story. Frankenstein made a soulless monster out of corpses from church-yards and dissecting-rooms and endued （赋予） it with life by galvanism. （流电疗法） The tale shows the creature longed for sympathy, but was shunned ( 躲避 ) by everyone and became the instrument of dreadful retribution （惩罚） on the student who usurped the prerogative （特权） of the creator

http://frankenstein.monstrous.com/

The main idea of this lesson:

It is about a law student who tries to marry the girl after suitable re-education, but he's been too clever for his own good.

The narrator, Dobie Gillis, a freshman in a law school, is the protagonist

Protagonist:

a law school student very young clever over-conceited -- cool, logical, keen,

calculating, perspicacious, acute, astute, powerful, precise, penetrating

Antagonists

1. Petey Burch -- pitiful, dump, roommate, faddist

2. Polly Espy --- beautiful, gracious, stupid

III. Organizational Pattern

4 sections Sect. I para 1-3

It is the author's note. 1. The author's idea about this story. 2. The author's idea about the purpose of thi

s story.

III. Organizational Pattern

Sect II para. 4 --59 the bargain between the law student and hi

s roommate over the exchange of the girl,

III. Organizational Pattern

sub-divisions: 1) p4 introduction of the narrator -- protagon

ist 2) p5-21 introduction of the first antagonist

-- Petey Burch He downgrades his roommate, who has no

thing upstairs. 3) p22 -- 27 introduction of he second antag

onist -- Polly Espy

III. Organizational Pattern

4) p 28--40 sounding out / finding out the relationship between Petey and Polly.

5) p.40 --59 unethical transaction over Polly The student gives the raccoon coat the roo

mmate wants, and his roommate gives his girl friend in return. They have a kind of deal.

III. Organizational Pattern

Sect III. para 60 -- 124 the teaching of 8 logical fallacies

10 sub-divisions: 1. p60 --61

a survey, first date with the girl, first impression of the girl. He tries to find out how stupid she is.

III. Organizational Pattern

2. p62 -- 74 the teaching of Dicto Simpliciter

3. P75 -- 79 the teaching of Hasty Generalization

4. p80--85 Post Hoc 5. p86 --96 Contradictory Premises 6. p97--98 interposition, He wants to give

the girl back.

III. Organizational Pattern

7. p99 --104 Ad Misericordiam 8. p105--108 False Analogy 9. p109-- 114 Hypothesis Contrary to Fac

t 10.p 115--124 Poisoning the Well

III. Organizational Pattern

Sect.IV. para125– the ending of the story backfiring of all the arguments The girl learns her lessons too well. She uses

all the logical fallacies to fight back her teacher.

Pay attention to the change of his emotions:

1. favoring her with a smile 2. chuckled with amusement 3. chuckled with somewhat less

amusement 4. forcing a smile/ ground my teeth 5. croaked, dashed perspiration from my

brow 6. bellowing like a bull

IV. The chief attraction of this lesson

It's humor The whole story is a piece of light, humorous

satire, satirizing a smug, self-conceited freshman in a law school.

IV. the chief attraction of this lesson

Why : 1) the title

The title is humorous. The writer wants the readers to conclude that "love" is an error, a deception and an emotion that does not follow the principles of logic.

IV. the chief attraction of this lesson

2) the author's note "spongy", "limp", "flaccid" are specific charact

eristics of his essay. He is joking, which indicates that the whole story is humorous.

3) the contrast -- the law student & the girl & Petey boasting himself ----- downgrading the others the student ---- the girl

IV. the chief attraction of this lesson

4) the ending of the story the raccoon coat which the law student des

pises and give it to his roommate for the exchange of his girl friend has finally become the rootcause of his losing his girl friend.

5) the clever choice of the names Pettey ---- pity Espy ---- I spy

V. Language features:

1. American colloquialism 2. Informal style

short sentences elliptical sentences --- to increase the tempo

of the story dashes

3. rhetorical devices

V. Language features:

4. sharp contrast in the language 1) the law student uses ultra learned terms

standard English 100% correct

2) clipped vulgar forms, slang words gee, magnif, terrif, pshaw,

5. inverted sentences