Love is a Fallacy

1. Unit 5 Love is a Fallacy Max Shulman Lecturer: Meng Fanyan

2. Teaching Objectives • To have a basic knowledge of the terms in logic • To appreciate the humor in the story • To analyze the structure of the story • To appreciate the language

3. Teaching Contents • Background Information • Introduction to the passage • Detailed study of the text • The chief attraction of the story  • Language features • Exercises

4. Max Shulman (1919-1988) • one of American best-known and prolific humorists • a writer of many talents • He has writtennovels, stories, Broadway plays, and television scripts

5. Masterpieces • Barefoot Boy With Cheek(无礼的赤脚少年） • The Feather Merchant（衣冠楚楚的商人） • Rally Round the Flag, Boys（孩子们，团结在旗帜周围吧） • Dobie Gillis (TV series)（多比·吉尔斯）

6. His writing often focused on young people, particularly in a collegiate setting. • His book "Barefoot Boy With Cheek," became a musical comedy and ran on Broadway in 1947.

7. He is probably best remembered for his creation of the character "Dobie Gillis", who was the subject of a series of short stories compiled under the title The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

8. Shulman died of cancer in Los Angeles in 1988.

9. Logic • The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines logic as “the science of reasoning, proof, thinking, or inference”. • Logic will let you analyze an argument or a piece of reasoning, and work out whether it is likely to be correct or not.

10. Logic • It is a science that deals with the principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration. • the science of the formal principles of reasoning

11. Special Terms in Logic • Argument （论证） • Fallacy (谬误)

12. Argument （论证） • a statement which is offered as an evidence or a proof • consisting of two major elements (What are they?)

13. premises argument conclusion

14. Argument • Premises -- a previous statement serving as a basis for an argument • Conclusion--drawn from premises

15. Usually, an argument is correct (deductively valid) if the premises can provide enough conclusive evidence for the conclusion. Otherwise the argument is wrong. It is said to be fallacious.

16. Fallacy • false reasoning (as in an argument) • a weakness and lack of logic • Material fallacy（内容／材料谬误） • Verbal fallacy（话语谬误） • Logical/formal fallacy（形式谬误）

17. Material fallacy Verbal fallacy fallacy Formal fallacy

18. Three kinds of fallacies • 1. material fallacy --- in its material content through a misstatement of the facts. • Material fallacies are mistakes in reasoning that attempt to support their conclusions with faulty or inadequate evidence. (Definition)

19. 2. verbal fallacy --- in its wording through an incorrect use of terms. • 3. formal fallacy --- in its structure through the use of an improper process of inference.

20. Fallacies • 1) Dicto Simpliciter(绝对判断的谬误) • 2) Hasty Generalization (草率结论的谬误) • 3) Post hoc(牵强附会的谬误) • 4) False Analogy(错误类比)

21. Fallacies • 5)Evading the issue (Ad Misericordiam)(文不对题) • 6) Contradictory Premises（矛盾前提） • 7) Hypothesis Contrary to fact（与事实相反的假设） • 8) Poisoning the well(井里投毒）

22. Dicto Simpliciter (绝对判断的谬误) • "Everyone wants to get married some day." • --- The example starts a logical train of thought with an assumption that is false. Not "everyone" wants to get married.

23. Watching TV is a waste of time. • Money always brings happiness. • unqualified generalization

24. Hasty Generalization (草率结论的谬误) • "Mr Wang's handwriting is terrible. Mr. Hu's handwriting is also terrible and you know how terrible men's handwriting is." • --- It applies a special case to general rule. That fact that certain person's handwriting is bad doesn't imply that all men’s handwriting is bad.

25. Post hoc (牵强附会的谬误) • "The last five times that I've worn my white pants, something depressing has happened. I'm not going to wear those pants again!" • --- This fallacy assumes that if event Y happened after event X, then X must be the cause of Y.

26. False Analogy (错误类比) • "High school should not require a freshman writing course. Harvard doesn't require a freshman writing course, and the students get along fine without it". • --- The analogy is false because the two items don't have strong enough similarities to predict that what happens in one will happen in the other.

27. Evading the issue (文不对题) • “This is a great restaurant : you can see how shining and clean the kitchens are ". • --- The example is called distraction because the reader's attention is drawn to the cleanness of the kitchen instead of to the excellence of the food, which is usually the determiner of a great restaurant.

28. Evading the issue (文不对题) • " Ms Bauer is a terrible English teacher. She always wears blue jeans." • --- Instead of pointing out faults in teaching technique, it calls attention to things about a teacher as a person that are unrelated to her teaching performance.

29. Introduction to the Passage • 1. Type of Writing: • a witty mix between essay and fiction • This work proves that love is not logical.

30. 2.Main characters • Dobie Gillis---protagonist • Petey Burch---antagonist • Polly Espy---antagonist

31. Question: • How were you impressed by the three characters at the first reading of the story? • (Discussion)

32. Main characteristics • Dobie Gillis • intelligent/keen/calculating/ perspicacious/acute/astute • self-important/conceited/pompous/ arrogant/smug • cool, logical

33. Petey Burch: • as dumb as an ox; emotional; unstable; stupid; faddist • Polly Espy • beautiful; gracious; unintelligent; empty-headed

34. 3. The main idea • It is about a law student who tries to marry the girl after suitable re-education, but he’s been too clever for his own good.He has really got what he deserved. • 聪明反被聪明误

35. The narrator of the story, Dobie Gillis, a freshman in a law school, is the protagonist. He struggles against two antagonists: Petey Burch, his roommate whose girl friend he plans to steal; and Polly Espy, the girl he intends to marry after suitable re-education.

36. 4. Theme of the passage • Love is a fallacy. (stated in the title) Really?

37. Title: humorous, well-chosen • Meaning of the Title: • 1) There is a deceptive or delusive (false) quality about love. • 2) Love cannot be deduced from a set of given premises. • 3) Love is an error, a deception and an emotion that does not follow the principles of logic.

38. 5. Organization (Discussion) • Part 1: (paras. 1-3) the author’s note • Part 2: (paras. 4-59) the bargain and the deal between the law student and his roommate over the exchange of the girl • Part 3 (paras. 60-124) the teachings of 8 logical fallacies or the dating with the girl • Part 4 (paras. 125-154) the backfiring of all the arguments

39. paras. 4-59: beginning • paras. 60-124: development • paras. 125-154: climax and end

40. Climax (Where?) • The climax of the story is reached at the part of Paras.147-150 when Polly refuses to go steady with the narrator because she had already promised to go steady with Petey Burch. Then the story moves rapidly to the end on a very ironic note.

41. 6. Language features • American colloquialism • Informal style (short, elliptical sentences, dashes, etc.) • Rhetorical devices • Sharp contrast in the language (ultra and learned; clipped and vulgar) • Inverted sentences

42. Effect of language • Informal; • Humorous; • Colorful; • Vivid

43. Question for discussion: • Chief attraction: Humor • How does the author achieve the effect of humor?

44. Title; • His note; • Contrast; • Ending of the story; • Name of the character Petey (pity)

45. Part 1 • Paras. 1-3 • It’s the author’s note • The author’s idea about this story

46. Charles Lamb (1775-1834)

47. English essayist and critic • Pseudonym: Elia • He is now best known for his Essays of Elia (伊利亚随笔集）and Dream’s Children.

48. He collaborated with his sister Mary in adapting Shakespeare's plays into stories for children. • “Tales from Shakespeare” • “莎士比亚故事集”

49. Question • Why does the author mention Charles Lamb? For what purpose? • --- Making a comparison. He tries to indicate the following piece of writing is even more informal than those of Charles Lamb’s.

50. enterprising: full of energy and initiative; willing to undertake new projects有进取心的；有魄力实施新计划的 • month of Sundays: (infml.) an indefinitely long period of time