Fallacies 35“vicious abstraction.” Whenever a statement is taken out of
context, it is, in effect, misplacing emphasis. This fallacy also
occurs when a statement is taken out of the context of time. When
you hear the axiom, “Money is the root of all evil,” you have just
been victimized by the vicious abstraction. Saint Paul really said,
“Love of money is the root of all evil.” There is a profound
difference in the two statements. To accuse a person of reckless
ness for urging the use of the atomic bomb in 1945 without
mentioning 1945 is an example of taking a statement out of the
context of time. Politicians often accuse one another of the use
of the vicious abstraction, both in terms of taking quotes out of
context and out of the context of time.
PARALLEL WORD CONSTRUCTION This fallacy
(Fallacy of Form of Expression) consists of misconstruing the
form of a word for its meaning. Usually this fallacy results from
misunderstandings brought about by confusion over suffixes
and prefixes. The most famous example of this fallacy occurs in
John Stuart M ill’s Utilitarianism, in which he states, “The only
proof capable of being given that an object is visible, is that
people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible, is
that people hear it; and so of the other sources of our experience.
In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to
produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually
desire it.”
M ill’s serious error lies in his confusion with suffixes. That
which is visible is that which can actually be seen, that which is
audible is that which can actually be heard, but that which is
desirable is not so much what can actually be desired, but rather,
that which is worthy of desire. We cannot help but see that which
is visible, we will hear sounds within our hearing, but we can
choose to reject that which we should desire.
Less important than M ill’s problem with suffixes, but more
relevant to our daily experiences, are the simple confusions
which take place when we have problems with words like
“inflammable,” which used to be painted on the sides of gasoline
trucks. Probably cigarette-smoking people who knew that the
prefix “in” stands for “not” blew up a few of these valuable
vehicles, not to mention themselves. Now we have a picture of
a lighted cigarette surrounded by a bright red circle with a bright