Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Wayside" data-source="post: 5645508" data-attributes="member: 8394">That could be true for &quot;You are illogical&quot; (depending on context) but not &quot;You are being illogical.&quot; The progressive aspect of the latter locates its meaning solely in the present.In other words, if B rejects A's argument on the grounds that A is illogical, that's an ad hominem, and probably, though not always, a fallacy. But if B rejects A's argument on the grounds that A is being illogical (i.e. with the argument), that's something else altogether.You can see this more easily with &quot;reasonable&quot; than &quot;illogical,&quot; since people actually say things like &quot;A isn't a reasonable person&quot; and &quot;A isn't being reasonable.&quot;Perhaps, slightly. In my experience, the people with a little education are the worst offenders. They know enough to lob the big words, but not enough to do so responsibly. Of course there are many excellent posters here, but I'd be willing to bet that if you combed through their histories, you'd find few accusations of fallacious reasoning.Could be. It never hurts to reiterate the principle of charity, though.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wayside, post: 5645508, member: 8394"] That could be true for "You are illogical" (depending on context) but not "You are being illogical." The progressive aspect of the latter locates its meaning solely in the present. In other words, if B rejects A's argument on the grounds that A is illogical, that's an ad hominem, and probably, though not always, a fallacy. But if B rejects A's argument on the grounds that A is being illogical (i.e. with the argument), that's something else altogether. You can see this more easily with "reasonable" than "illogical," since people actually say things like "A isn't a reasonable person" and "A isn't being reasonable." Perhaps, slightly. In my experience, the people with a little education are the worst offenders. They know enough to lob the big words, but not enough to do so responsibly. Of course there are many excellent posters here, but I'd be willing to bet that if you combed through their histories, you'd find few accusations of fallacious reasoning. Could be. It never hurts to reiterate the principle of charity, though. [/QUOTE]

Verification