Equivocation…

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Logical Fallacies

A fallacy of ambiguity.

1. Having science lessons with HCTR is better than nothing.
2. Nothing is better than World Peace.
3. Therefore having science lessons with HCTR is better than World Peace!

Equivocation is an error (or more commonly a trick) of reasoning in which the same word is used to mean two different things within the argument. It is sometimes called the politician’s fallacy. A famous example from a super-famous politician is J.F. Kennedy’s pithy…

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

J.F. Kennedy, inauguration address, January 1961

I would argue that this is equivocation because when he uses the word country the first time he really means ‘government’ but the second time he means ‘fellow Americans’.

The silly example at the top of the page is equivocation because ‘nothing’ is being used in two slightly different contexts. The first nothing means ‘not doing anything at all’, whereas the second nothing means ‘no other thing’. In the diagram I am showing a false equivalence between my two uses of the word nothing. The heart-shaped planet Earth is meant to represent World Peace (in case it wasn’t obvious!).

This is another famous example and one I have always enjoyed. If you see this sign you should definitely park here because apparently that’s fine. But sadly this would not stand up in court because I am equivocating between the intended meaning of fine, ‘punishable by a sum of money’ and my chosen meaning of fine; ‘OK’.

English is a particularly good language for equivocation as there are so many words with more than one meaning.

The Jumbo Jet is a plane. A plane is a carpenter’s tool. Therefore a Jumbo Jet is a carpenter’s tool.

The word plane has several meanings including flying machine and a tool for smoothing wood.

Philosophy helps you argue more effectively but do we really need to encourage people to argue? There’s enough hostility in this world already.

Argue can mean ‘dispute logically’ or ‘row’.

Laws imply a law maker. There are laws in nature. Therefore there must be a cosmic law maker.

This uses two meanings of the word laws. One means the man-made rules that govern society and the other refers to the scientific descriptions of the way the Universe behaves.

Evolution is just a theory – we don’t have to believe every theory some scientist invents.

In science, the word theory means, “the best current explanation of a phenomenon that fits with all the evidence, is consistent with experimentation and has good explanatory power” whereas the everyday meaning of theory is, “just an idea”.

Puns are examples of equivocation although, since puns are not usually used as arguments, they should not be described as fallacies or errors in reasoning. And sometimes not as funny either…