Slothful Induction Fallacy: Unnecessarily Appealing to Coincidence
Welcome to #FallacyFridays! Every Friday, I post a logical fallacy, or flaw in reasoning, that we should avoid making. But no matter what day of the week you read this post, I trust it’ll be beneficial to your thought life. Today’s logical fallacy is the slothful induction fallacy. Make sure to read all the way to the end so you can take the quiz to test your understanding of the fallacy. 🤓
But before we get into it, I want you to know about a tool that may help you understand this and other fallacies. I know that some people learn better by writing or typing. If that is you, download this FREE digital copy of “#FallacyFridays: The Workbook.” It was designed to follow alongside #FallacyFridays lessons in order for you to better understand logical fallacies.
What is the Slothful Induction Fallacy?
Let’s say that a university student skips nearly all of their chemistry classes. It would be no surprise that they end up failing every chemistry exam, right? It’s a fair inductive argument; the student’s poor attendance contributed to their exam failure. Now say that the student claims, instead, that their exam failures were purely coincidence and not due to their poor attendance. This student would be committing the slothful induction fallacy.
The slothful induction fallacy (also known as appeal to coincidence) occurs when someone denies a conclusion that can be reasonably inferred with evidence and, instead, claims that the events were coincidental.
The slothful induction fallacy is a lazy way of reasoning that has us assuming coincidence when we shouldn't be. Click To TweetMore Examples of Slothful Induction
Even though Kehinde bought a shirt that says “Brunettes do it better” and all the women he’s ever been with have been brunettes, I don’t think he actually prefers them over blondes and redheads. It’s all just happenstance.
Linda used her own money to by a bunch of baby pink colored items for her apartment. I don’t think she’s actually fond of the color. I think it’s just coincidence.
Tony keeps cheating on his wife despite him promising to never do it again. I don’t think it’s because he doesn’t love his wife. I think it’s because Tony and the women he’s with just so happen to find themselves in the same places and both of them just so happen to be in lustful moods.
A simple mention of coincidence does not automatically make something the slothful induction fallacy. The appeal to coincidence has to occur in the place of reasonable evidence. Click To TweetQuiz Time!
Now that you’ve learned about the slothful induction fallacy, here’s a quiz to test your understanding. Which one of the following answer choices contains the slothful induction fallacy?
A. Blaire White and Kat Blaque are both trans YouTubers. Blaire is literally a white woman. And Kat Blaque is literally a black woman. Blaire is conservative. Kat is liberal. And both of them were born on the same exact day. What a coincidence!
B. Grace and Logan hate each other. Yet their favorite color and their favorite ice cream are the same. Incredible coincidence!
C. Out of the dozen people at the salsa club downtown, Nnamdi and Kelly enthusiastically choose each other to be dance partners everytime they attend. I think it’s a stretch to say they enjoy dancing together. It’s just a coincidence!
D. Owen and Laurel aren’t related neither are they similar in height. Yet they walk exactly the same way. I don’t think it’s because they have similar spirits or something like that. I think it’s just a coincidence.
Enter your answer choice below! 👇🏾
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