History Main / FourTermsFallacy

* An old joke: When you drink, you get drunk. When you get drunk, you go to sleep. When you go to sleep, you commit no sin. When you commit no sin, you go to {{Heaven}}. So, let's all get drunk and go to Heaven! Which is inverted in the commercials for DirecTV that begin with [[CableSatelliteMudslinging some frustration pertaining to cable]], and follows up with an increasingly bizarre set of DisasterDominoes.

->''I live by syllogisms: God is love. Love is blind. Music/StevieWonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God. I don't know what I'd believe in if it wasn't for that.''

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-->''Emptiness is loneliness.''
-->''And loneliness is cleanliness.''
-->''And cleanliness is godliness.''
-->''And God is empty, just like me.''

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--> Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never sawest good manners; if thou never sawest good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.

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-->'''Employee:''' Sir, please don't touch that.
-->'''Patron:''' But it's a replica, isn't it?
-->'''Employee:''' Yes, it is, but we still ask for you not to touch it.
-->'''Patron:''' Well, it's not under a glass case, which means it's not valuable. I have every right to touch it.
-->'''Employer:''' No, actually-
-->'''Patron:''' Yes, if I see something that's not cased, it means I can touch it, AND I WILL TOUCH IT!

* There's an old joke revolving around the word ''nothing'', similar to the example above, where a bar patron turns down a beer from the bartender because "nothing is better than a cold drink".
** ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} has a similar philosophy. "If nobody is perfect, I must be nobody."
** Similarly, Anadin pain pills used to be marketed with the slogan "Nothing acts faster than Anadin", prompting the zinger "So take nothing - it's cheaper".

--> All the world loves a lover
--> I love you, therefore I am a lover
--> You are all the world to me, therefore you love me

* Comedian RichardJeni talks about when he learned about the syllogism in college, giving a shortened version of the page quote as an example (RayCharles instead of StevieWonder), in his ''Crazy from the Heat'' stand-up routine.

-->x/x=1
-->0/x=0
-->x/0 is undefined
-->0/0 is simultaneously 1,0, and undefined
-->1 is equal to 0 and both are undefined.

-->Women = Time, Money
-->Since Time = Money,
-->Women = Money, Money
--> = Money squared
-->Since Money = the root of all Evil,
-->Women = (the square root of Evil) squared
-->Women = Evil

* An old joke: When you drink, you get drunk. When you get drunk, you go to sleep. When you go to sleep, you commit no sin. When you commit no sin, you go to {{Heaven}}. So, let's all get drunk and go to Heaven!
** Which is inverted in the commercials for DirecTV that begin with [[CableSatelliteMudslinging some frustration pertaining to cable]], and follows up with an increasingly bizarre set of DisasterDominoes.
* This joke: A kid asks his teacher "You wouldn't punish me for something I didn't do, would you?" The teacher says "Of course I wouldn't." The kid says, "Good, because I didn't do my homework!" (He's changing the meaning of "something I didn't do" from "something wrong that was not done by me" to "something I should have done and failed to.")
** This joke also came up in the third ''[[Literature/CaptainUnderpants Captain Underpants]]'' book.

-->Knowledge is power.
-->Power corrupts.
-->Study hard. [[EvilIsCool It makes you evil]].

-->Knowledge is power.
-->Power corrupts.
-->Corruption is a crime.
-->Crime never pays.
-->Study hard. It makes you broke.

-->Since Money = the route of all Evil,
-->Women = (the square route of Evil) squared

-->. = Money squared

Women = Time, Money
Since Time = Money,
Women = Money, Money
= Money squared
Since Money = the route of all Evil,
Women = (the square route of Evil) squared
Women = Evil

* Mathmatics easily falls prey to this if you ignore a few key rules, e.g.:

A standard three-step syllogism uses three terms -- the things that are being linked by the line of reasoning. If A, then B. If B, then C. Therefore if A, then C. The fallacy of four terms occurs when, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly like it says]] ''four'' terms are used instead of three. In most cases, a single term (B) is used two (or more) times, in differing contexts with different meanings; and yet the argument treats the two usages as exactly the same, since the same term was used.

* Mathmatics easily falls prey to this if you ignore a few key rules. i.e.:

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', libraries warp spacetime because "knowledge=power=energy=matter=mass".

->''I live by syllogisms: God is love. Love is blind. StevieWonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God. I don't know what I'd believe in if it wasn't for that.''
-->-- '''StephenColbert''', ''TheColbertReport''

It's best explained by this example from ''LandOfTheBlind.''

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', libraries warp spacetime because "knowledge=power=energy=matter=mass".

* The StephenColbert quote at the top of the page is an example of such a fallacy, with a dash of ConverseError for flavor.
* An episode of ''YesMinister'' called this by name, as "The Politician's Syllogism", specifically the form: "Something must be done. This is something. Therefore we must do this." The two different meanings of "something": "A solution to this problem" and "A thing" are mixed and said to be the same.

* [[ZerothLawOfTropeExamples Shakespeare did it first.]] In ''AsYouLikeIt'', Touchstone proves that Corin is going to hell because he's never been in court.

* The [[OmnicidalManiac Heys]] in ''TheTick'' worship Nothing, as outlined in translation from their PokemonSpeak: "Nothing lasts forever. Nothing is worth fighting for."

** {{Garfield}} has a similar philosophy. "If nobody is perfect, I must be nobody."

Nothing is better than eternal happiness.\\
Therefore, a dry crust of bread is better than eternal happiness.

A standard three-step syllogism uses three terms -- the things that are being linked by the line of reasoning. If A, then B. If B, then C. Therefore if A, then C. The fallacy of four terms occurs when, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly like it says]] ''four'' terms are used instead of three. In most cases, a single term (B) is used two (or more) times, in differing contexts with different meanings; and yet the argument treats the two usages as exactly the same, since the same term was used.

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* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0725.html this]] ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'', the Empress is committing the Four Terms fallacy by using "grown larger" in two different senses: Dragons that are more powerful have grown larger (as a result of age), so she thinks that if she grows larger (by eating more and getting fat) that she will also be more powerful. That's not the only fallacy involved in her reasoning, either.

* In a museum, an employee sees a patron tapping on one of the replicas with his fist.

:: The four terms used in the fallacy here are
# "It is not in a glass case"
# "I can (in the sense of "am physically able to") touch it",
# "I can (in the sense of "am permitted to") touch it" and
# "I will touch it".

--> The four terms fallacy here are 1: "it is not in a glass case" 2: "I can (am physically able to) touch it", 3: "I can (am permitted to) touch it" and 4: "I will touch it". If 1 is true, then 2 is true; if 3 is true, then 4 is true. What's missing is the necessary step establishing either that 2 and 3 are the same (they aren't), or, that if 2 is true, 3 is true as well (it isn't).

--> You are all the world to me, therefore you love me

* The StephenSondheim musical ''AnyoneCanWhistle'' explains in "simple" terms what's wrong with leftists:

--> I love you, therefor I am a lover

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* WoodyAllen provided one in ''Love And Death'': "Fact: Socrates was a mortal. Fact: All men are mortal. Therefore: All men are Socrates."
** It's mostly just an Association Fallacy. There isn't really a logical difference between being mortal and being a mortal (a mortal is just "one who is mortal", so changing "is mortal" to "is a mortal" just reinforces that Socrates is a person)