Affirming a Disjunct

Affirming a disjunct follows the pattern: Either A or B; if it's B, it can't be A. This overlooks the fact that the logical “or” has two different meanings or that A and B - as subsets or intersections - can also exist at the same time.

As affirming a disjunct ( English for "affirmation of a disjunct"; also: asserting an alternative ["affirmation of an alternative"]) is a logical fallacy that consists in the fact that a disjunctive syllogism is constructed with respect to two sets that are not disjoint are:

	(1) A is true or B is true.
	(2) B is true.
So:	(3) A is wrong.

Often it is a false dilemma .

Examples

“To have a girlfriend like Tom's, you have to be either rich or famous. Tom is rich, so he can't be famous. "

“I can't stop eating this chocolate. Either I really love chocolate, or I seriously lack willpower. I know I really love chocolate; I cannot lack willpower. "

"Either Thomas Jefferson or John Adams died on July 4, 1826. Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. So John Adams did not die on July 4, 1826."

Wrong dilemma: "With Obama you have two options: Either you believe that he is a man of God, or you think that he is a liar." ( Penn Jilette )

literature

• Jason Iuliano: Affirming a Disjunct . In: Robert Arp, Steven Barbone, Michael Bruce (Eds.): 100 of the Most Important Fallacies in Western Philosophy . Wiley, Hoboken 2018, ISBN 978-1-119-16790-7 , pp. 39-41 , doi : 10.1002 / 9781119165811.ch1 .

Web links

• Brian Kirby: A Plea For Affirming a Disjunct. 1986, accessed July 17, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Affirming a disjunct. Retrieved July 17, 2020 . 
2. ^ Affirming a disjunct. Retrieved July 17, 2020 . 
3. ^ Affirming a Disjunct. Retrieved July 17, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Jason Iuliano: Affirming a Disjunct . In: Robert Arp, Steven Barbone, Michael Bruce (Eds.): 100 of the Most Important Fallacies in Western Philosophy . Wiley, Hoboken 2018, ISBN 978-1-119-16790-7 , pp. 39–41, here: p. 39 , doi : 10.1002 / 9781119165811.ch1 .