Logic and Falacies

All assignments in GGE 2501 are assigned a marking weight.

This is an assignment in GGE 2501.

Therefore I will have a mark assigned in GGE 2501 for this assignment.

The above is an example of deductive logic using modus ponens. The first statement is conditional. "If this is an assignment in GGE 2501, it will receive a marking weight." The second statement affirms that  the conditions of the first statement are indeed satisfied. The conclusion follows. It would however be false to state that everything assigned a marking weight is an assignment in GGE 2501 as that is not supported by any of the statements in the argument. Evidence is that I also have other things assigned marking weights in other classes such as GGE 3051 and ECON 1073.



Wow, now that is a slippery slope. In fact a slippery slope is the type of fallacy presented in that image. What this means is that consequences are extrapolated wildly. In this case it is quite obvious that it is a wild extrapolation that is meant to be joke, however in other cases especially those about which one does not know a lot, they can be quite convincing. In this case, textbooks are indeed made from paper, paper is indeed made from trees, and we do need trees for oxygen. The fallacy arises because the number of trees cut for textbooks is a minute and immaterial number compared to both the total number of trees cut, and the total number of trees on the planet. There is no way to get to the final statement that school is killing us because of trees being cut depriving us of oxygen in a logically sound manner, hence the fallacy.

Geomatics is the best discipline on earth. Geomatics is the study of where things are and how that relates to other things. My brain likes to know where I am and how I relate to other things. I am always somewhere. I study geomatics. I am on earth. Therefore geomatics is the best discipline on earth.