Max Shulman's short story Love Is A Fallacy recounts the efforts of a college student to educate his love interest, Polly, so she can be a fit wife, hostess, and mother. The education of Polly involves explaining the most common types of fallacies: Dicto Simpliciter, Hasty Generalization, Post Hoc, Contradictory Premises, Ad Misericordiam, False Analogy, Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, and Poisoning the Well. These fallacies demonstrate an improper use of reasoning, but the narrator discovers Polly turns from his Galatea to his Monster by using his logic lessons against his pleas for love. The fallacy that is most interesting in the story is the one known as Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, which demonstrates how guilty the narrator is of misusing logic to win Polly. Examples from Love Is A Fallacy will be used to demonstrate this.
Max Shulman's short story Love Is A Fallacy recounts the efforts of a college student to educate his love interest, Polly, so she can be a fit wife, hostess, and mother. The education of Polly involves explaining the most common types of fallacies: Dicto Simpliciter, Hasty Generalization, Post Hoc, Contradictory Premises, Ad Misericordiam, False Analogy, Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, and Poisoning the Well. These fallacies demonstrate an improper use of reasoning, but the narrator discovers Polly turns from his Galatea to his Monster by using his logic lessons against his pleas for love. The fallacy that is most interesting in the story is the one known as Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, which demonstrates how guilty the narrator is of misusing logic to win Polly. Examples from Love Is A Fallacy will be used to demonstrate this.