| Historical Fallacy |
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An example is helpful when highlighting the concept: :Imagine a Martian arrives on earth and discovers a loaf of bread and wants to determine how it is made. He might analyze the various ingredients in the bread. He would, for instance find wheat, but also air. He might conclude then that part of the process of making bread includes mixing in some air. This is wrong of course. A baker does not mix air into his bread. Rather he adds yeast and a chemical process when heated for a duration causes air to rise in the bread. What was missing from the Martian's thinking was an understanding of dynamic processes, and knowledge of the historical fallacy. He has 'read into the process of making bread something that comes about only as a result of that process.' He imagined air as part of the cause, when in fact air is merely part of the effect. He read the effect into the cause. The historical fallacy has profound implication in Psychology , Analytic Philosophy , Logic , and Metalogic . For instance many Postmodern analytic philosophers apply logic to Metaphysics before first inquiring into the perceptual processes at work which give rise to logic itself. Thus all analytic philosophy might be said to be undermined by commitment of the historical fallacy. SEE ALSO REFERENCES John Dewey , ''The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology'', 1896 EXTERNAL LINKS |
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