My Mind...

...is exploding

Only four weeks into classes at Rivendell, and my mind is bursting with new facts and truths. I have been wanting to write a blog about this new information, but whenever I try to put together a sentence of what I have learned, I find it quite difficult. I picture these facts floating in my mind, but not connected into an understand of how everything fits together. These facts include truth, being, fact corresponding with reality, relativism, post modernism, fallacies, and much, much more.

My time inside class and outside of class during our studying consists of reading various articles by authors such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Bertrand Russell, Richard Rorty, and others. Usually I will read, re read, re re read, high light, and mark up an article while discussing it with most of the girls in my dorm in preparation. This past week we have been focusing on fallacies. The professors had each of us write various fallacies and present them in front of the class. These were some I came up with:

Fallacy of Ambiguity:

(Amphibole): I chased the girl around the bakery with the bread. Does the “I” have the bread or does the bakery have the bread?

Attack Fallacy:

(Appeal to Force): You weirdos! Go! Or I’ll get out, and punch your car, so you’ll go.(Only those who watch Kid History will understand this one.)

(Argumentum Ad Hominem abusive): We shouldn’t obey Paul’s commands regarding living the Christian life, because he once persecuted Christians. Using Paul’s past circumstances against the authority he now has through God.

Inappropriate Authority:

(Appeal to Pity): Please pay for my college tuition, or else I will have to sell my kidney to earn money. I try to get my way by making you feel sorry for me.

Fallacy of Stacking the Deck:

(Begging the Question): These perfectly normal pancakes are perfect because they are normal. This uses the conclusion to support the premise. (Kid History again)

Fallacy of Diversion:

(Red Herring): “Abi, why don’t you have a contention in your map?” “I don’t believe in maps”. The reply avoids and does not answer the question.

Fallacy of Generalization:

(Cliché): Don’t leave because absence is to love as wind is to fire, it extinguishes the small and kindles the great. The cliché does not support the statement. (I found the cliche on the internet. I think it's quite amusing)

Reductive Fallacy:

(Faulty Analogy): Persuading someone to eat dinner with you is like screaming spaghet in their face. The analogy is faulty because it does not correspond with the premise.

(Nothing Buttery): Kid History is nothing but a show for children. It is a show for children, but is not only for children because I watch it and I’m not a child. So there!

Other types of Fallacies:

(Faulty Dilemma): If I had stayed at home this semester, I wouldn’t be learning about all these fallacies. There is no point in thinking about what would have happened if I had done something differently.

(Fallacy of Composition): Reading sentences is simple and flipping through pages is simple so understanding a book is simple. he conclusion is not necessarily true even if the premises are true.

And just a bonus: Snuggle you back to health. Irrelevant conclusion. Snuggling doesn’t affect health.(Only a select few of Metzgers would understand this).

I spent two hours formulating these fallacies, and it was quite entertaining.

For the next couple of days, I am preparing for our final tests(already?) next Tuesday and Wednesday covering the material we have learned in our Critical Thinking Module. After that, we will begin Theology! I am stoked for that.

The academic life at Rivendell is more challenging than I ever imagined. Understanding the concepts and arguments and having to map those arguments is quite a feat. My professors, however, are incredible. They go sentence by sentence in the articles, explaining them and making sure all of us are understanding the difficult concepts. Sometimes we spend over two hours on an article while at other times the class is split in half and we get through two pages in an hour. Paying attention and forcing myself to think deeply is vital for class time. At times, if I miss one minute of the discussion, I am lost for the rest of the time. Although I am being challenged immensely, I am loving the challenge. God has definitely blessed me by allowing me to come here. I am so thankful to him for this time.

Thanks for reading!