The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #55416   Message #862118
Posted By: GUEST,leeneia
08-Jan-03 - 08:17 PM
Thread Name: BS: OfHominems&Herrings
Subject: RE: BS: OfHominems&Herrings
John Hardly invited us to share our pet peeves re logical discussion. One of my pet peeves is the fake if-then construction, which often occurs in literary criticism or art history.

Example: But if Shakespeare was the greatest dramatist of his era, then Van Eyck was its greatest painter.

Obviously there is no real if-then dependence here, it just sounds well-reasoned.