Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Hasty generalization is the fallacy of examining just one or very few examples or studying a single case and generalizing that to be representative of the whole class of objects or phenomena. The opposite, slothful induction , is the fallacy of denying the logical conclusion of an inductive argument, dismissing an effect as "just a coincidence ...
An argument from anecdote is an informal logical fallacy, when an anecdote is used to draw an improper logical conclusion.The fallacy can take many forms, such as cherry picking, hasty generalization, proof by assertion, and so on.
Hasty generalization (fallacy of insufficient statistics, fallacy of insufficient sample, fallacy of the lonely fact, hasty induction, secundum quid, converse accident, jumping to conclusions) – basing a broad conclusion on a small or unrepresentative sample. [55]
Hasty generalization often follows a pattern such as: X is true for A. X is true for B. Therefore, X is true for C, D, etc. While never a valid logical deduction, if such an inference can be made on statistical grounds, it may nonetheless be convincing. This is because with enough empirical evidence, the generalization is no longer a hasty one.
[16]: 147 The generalization, in this case, ignores that insanity is an exceptional case to which the general rights of property do not unrestrictedly apply. Hasty generalization, on the other hand, involves the converse mistake of drawing a universal conclusion based on a small number of instances.
The above argument using converse accident is an argument for full legal use of marijuana given that glaucoma patients use it. The argument based on the slippery slope argues against medicinal use of marijuana because it will lead to full use. [citation needed] The fallacy of converse accident is a form of hasty generalization.
As the great Tom Waits once sang, in a tune that is all taunt, “Perhaps you were a little — hasty, hehehe.” Perhaps a lot of us were. Perhaps a lot of us were.
Faulty generalization fallacies can also affect any argument premise that uses a generalization. A problem with applying the statistical syllogism in real cases is the reference class problem : given that a particular case I is a member of very many reference classes F, in which the proportion of attribute G may differ widely, how should one ...