Report on Reductive Fallacy and Genetic Fallacy

Regidor B. Yumul
Legal Technique

Professor : Atty . Ever Higuit

Reductive Fallacy (Oversimplification and Exaggeration)

Oversimplification and exaggeration occurs whenever the series of

actual causes for an event are either reduced or multiplied to a point
when there is no longer a genuine, causal connection between the
alleged causes and the actual effect.

Example : The nation is poor and the poor gets poorer

because the legislators are corrupt and greedy and are
like crocodile and they raid the coffer so let us
abolish Congress so that we will become rich.

If we follow this oversimplication then we will have no more laws enacted that
Will govern the conduct of the citizens. It will result to more degradation.

What we should do is to vote wisely for honest and moral politicians.

Not the oversimplification and exaggerated approach of burning the house to kill
the rats solution.

Genetic Fallacy or Fallacy of Origin

The genetic fallacy creates a fallacious argument that is accepted or rejected based
on the source of the evidence, rather than on the quality or applicability of the
evidence. It is also a line of reasoning in which a perceived defect in the origin of a
claim or thing is taken to be evidence that discredits the claim or thing itself. The
fallacy is committed when an idea is either accepted or rejected because of its source,
rather than its merit.
People give less credence to views which emanate from those they detest,
regardless of the actual merit of the views themselves. Every time you dismiss an
argument or opinion because you dislike its source, you commit the genetic fallacy.

Example : Christopher Columbus claimed that the earth is round was detested by
the Catholic heirarchy . "Washington Irving 's 1828 biography of
Columbus popularized the idea that Columbus had difficulty obtaining
support for his plan because many Catholic theologians insisted that
theEarth was flat . In fact,most educated Westerners had understood
that the Earth was spherical at least since the time ofAristotle , who lived
in the 4th century BC and whose works were widely studied and revered
inMedieval Europe ."(1) His claimed that the earth is round was considered
to be a heresy and against the teaching of the church, until it was proven
later through scientific and tangible evidence that the world is round.
Here the claimed of Columbus that the world is round is a Genetic
Fallacy to the Catholic hierarchy while to Columbus, the claimed of the
Catholic leaders that the world is flat is a Genetic Fallacy also.
Catholic says it is a Genetic Fallacy because the basis of Columbus
does not have spiritual and divine basis while on the other hand the
claimed of the Catholic is a Genetic Fallacy to Columbus because it does
have scientific basis.

1-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus