tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192924352181167945.post3730144084234283103..comments2024-03-01T02:33:57.498-08:00Comments on A Believing Scientist: Today's Logical Fallacy is...The Continuum Fallacy! Kaylynne Gloverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16466832354079960605noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192924352181167945.post-87161134308388043472023-08-03T05:20:36.013-07:002023-08-03T05:20:36.013-07:00Is this an example of the continuum fallacy?
&quo...Is this an example of the continuum fallacy?<br /><br />"So, where is this line drawn between “the races”? Does it not lead to a potential fractioning all the way down to the individual? Think about it. Attempts to divide humanity into race has used as few as three, then up to more than thirty."<br /><br />Here was an explanation given to me that the statement above is. What do you think?<br /><br />--So you were stating that because it is difficult to draw firm lines for races then race is not a valid concept.<br /><br />That is textbook Continuum Fallacy. The idea being that because no definitive boundary between states (e.g. one race vs. another, or flatland vs. hill vs. mountain, or colors with respect to light wavelengths) can be defined the descriptive states are not valid. The reason I followed up with “Do hills exist? Where do you draw the lines for that?” was I consider that an easier to understand analogy.<br /><br />Seriously, Corvinus. Do hills exist? What are the height limits? Is “hill” nonetheless a useful concept? How about colors? Exactly what wavelengths correspond to red, green, and blue? Are colors a useful concept?<br /><br />Race is an even better example because absent mixed race individuals (who can be described using proportions) most individuals are fairly widely separated (e.g. looking at a PCA of their genetics). Thus the “continuum” is relatively sparse (relatively few individuals) between the races.--Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com