Appealing to Tradition Fallacy

Fallacy Name: Appeal to AgeAlternative Names:argumentum ad antiquitatemAppeal to TraditionAppeal to CustomAppeal to Common PracticeCategory: Appeals to Emotion and Desire Explanation of the Appeal to Age Fallacy The Appeal to Age fallacy goes in the opposite direction from the Appeal to Novelty fallacy by arguing that when something is old, then this somehow enhances the value or truth of the proposition in question. The Latin for Appeal to Age is argumentum ad antiquitatem, and the most common form is: 1. It is old or long-used, so it must better than this new-fangled stuff. People have a strong tendency towards conservatism; that is to say, people have a tendency to preserve practices and habits which seem to work rather than replace them with new ideas. Sometimes this may be due to laziness, and sometimes it may simply be a matter of efficiency. In general, though, its probably a product of evolutionary success because habits which allowed for survival in the past wont be abandoned too quickly or easily in the present. Sticking with something that works isnt a problem; insisting on a certain way of doing things simply because its traditional or old is a problem and, in a logical argument, it is a fallacy. Examples of the Appeal to Age Fallacy One common use of an Appeal to Age fallacy is when trying to justify something which cant be defended on actual merits, like, for example, discrimination or bigotry: 2. Its standard practice to pay men more than women so well continue adhering to the same standards this company has always followed.3. Dog fighting is a sport thats been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. Our ancestors enjoyed it and it has become part of our heritage.4. My mother always put sage in the turkey stuffing so I do it too. While its true that the practices in question have been around for a long time, no reason for continuing these practices are given; instead, its simply assumed that old, traditional practices should be continued. There isnt even any attempt to explain and defend why these practices existed in the first place, and thats important because it might reveal that the circumstances which originally produced these practices have changed enough to warrant dropping those practices. There are quite a few people out there who are under the mistaken impression that the age of an item, and that alone, is indicative of its value and usefulness. Such an attitude is not entirely without warrant. Just as it is true that a new product can provide new benefits, it is also true that something older may have value because it has worked for a long time. It isnt true that we can assume, without further question, that an old object or practice is valuable simply because it is old. Perhaps it has been used a lot because no one has ever known or tried any better. Perhaps new and better replacements are absent because people have accepted a fallacious Appeal to Age. If there are sound, valid arguments in defense of some traditional practice, then they should be offered, and it should be demonstrated that it is, in fact, superior to newer alternatives. Appeal to Age and Religion Its also easy to find fallacious appeals to age in the context of religion. Indeed, it would probably be hard to find a religion which doesnt use the fallacy at least some of the time because its rare to find a religion which doesnt rely heavily on tradition as part of how it enforces various doctrines. Pope Paul VI wrote in 1976 in Response to the Letter of His Grace the Most Reverend Dr. F.D. Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, concerning the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood: 5. [The Catholic Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with Gods plan for his Church. Three arguments are offered by Pope Paul VI in defense of keeping women out of the priesthood. The first appeals to the Bible and isnt an Appeal to Age fallacy. The second and third are so explicit as fallacies that they could be cited in textbooks: we should keep doing this because its how the church has constantly done it and because what church authority has consistently decreed. Put more formally, his argument is: Premise 1: The constant practice of the Church has been to choose only men as priests.Premise 2: The teaching authority of the Church has consistently held that women should be excluded from the priesthood.Conclusion: Therefore, it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood. The argument may not use the words age or tradition, but the use of constant practice and consistently create the same fallacy.

Mental Health Is Essential For Both Childhood And Adulthood

Have you experienced that you take out your anger on your children when you are so frustrated? Your stress could be associated with abusive tendencies. Like adults, children who feel stress vent their annoyance on their friends or lose their attention because of emotional instability. Mental health is essential for both childhood and adulthood. Children who left untreated by a mental health expert tend to have a lower self-worth, negative feelings, perform poorly in school, and later become involved in unhealthy lifestyle decisions. According to American Psychological Association, Children s mental health is the most significant aspect of any child s social and cognitive development. For example, a boy who is abused by his parent and tends to act out violently at school. His behavior is more likely to be mistreatment with his friends, and his actions mark the beginning of undiagnosed conduct disorder. His teachers regard him as a troublemaker and frequently punish his behavior. When he was a teenager, the boy quits school because of his bad relationship with teachers and friends. Even though the boy grow up, he often clashes with his peers due to his violent behavior. He begins to drink alcohol to escape the reality and is arrested many times because of the disorder that he gets drunk. When he is in the 30s, finally he has mental health problem and fixes his problem. However, he has no appropriate job to provide enough health insurance. The article says, â€Å"Things couldShow MoreRelated importance of physical activity in youths Essay1100 Words   |  5 PagesImportance of Physical Activity in Adolescence nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Engaging in physical behavior during adolescence is very important to the overall health of a child. Regular physical activity is essential to both the mental and physical health aspects. Positive exercise habits formed in childhood tend to carry over into adulthood, thus helping reduce death and illness in the future. 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Frederic Chopin free essay sample

If you think youve heard good piano music, youve heard nothing until you a listen to Frederic Chopin. Chopins skillful technique, creative imagination, and variety of styles will keep you listening for hours. The feeling he puts into his music will have you hopping one minute, and meditating the next. Piano music isnt the only thing he excelled in. He also wrote music for symphonies to accompany the piano. These concertos are very powerful and brilliant and will show you what a composer Chopin was. So many different Chopin music albums and collections exist that I really cant tell you what you should start with, but one that seems to be popular in many music stores is called Chopins Waltzes. This album is comprised of 24 beautifully-composed, short waltzes that Chopin wrote. I recommend this because the pieces are easy to listen to and are not full of complex chords that may boggle the brain. We will write a custom essay sample on Frederic Chopin or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Also, the simple melodies will catch on quickly and you will find yourself humming along with the music. So, go and get yourself a Chopin CD. I guarantee you will see his incredible talent and learn to appreciate and enjoy his remarkable music

Romeo and Juliet Assignment Essay Example

Romeo and Juliet Assignment Essay I have been asked to write an assignment on Romeo and Juliet a play written by William Shakespeare around 1600 and still one of the most popular Romantic-Tragedies performed in theatre today.I have chosen Juliet because I believe she is an interesting character and she has a subtly split personality or conflict of loyalties, which I find interesting and which I feel a lot of teenagers today might identify with.I have to chosen to look in detail at the whole of Act 3 Scene 5 after line 59, when Romeo has left.JULIETArt thou gone so? Love, lord, ay, husband, friend!I must hear from thee every day in the hour,For in a minute there are many days:O, by this count I shall be much in yearsEre I again behold my Romeo!ROMEOFarewell!I will omit no opportunityThat may convey my greetings, love, to thee.JULIETO thinkst thou we shall ever meet again?ROMEOI doubt it not; and all these woes shall serveFor sweet discourses in our time to come.JULIETO God, I have an ill-divining soul!Methinks I see thee, now thou art below,As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:Either my eyesight fails, or thou lookst pale.ROMEOAnd trust me, love, in my eye so do you:Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!The contrast of joy over time with Romeo followed by sadness at their parting means that Juliet is already in a heightened emotional state before the news comes which is to cause her to oppose her parents will for the first time ever. This scene is vital to understand Juliets changing character.JULIETAy, madam, from the reach of these my hands:Would none but I might venge my cousins death!LADY CAPULETWe will have vengeance for it, fear thou not:Then weep no more. Ill send to one in Mantua,Where that same banishd runagate doth live,Shall give him such an unaccustomd dram,That he shall soon keep Tybalt company:And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.JULIETIndeed, I never shall be satisfiedWith Romeo, till I behold himdeadIs my poor heart for a kinsman vexd.Madam, if you could find out but a ma nTo bear a poison, I would temper it;That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhorsTo hear him named, and cannot come to him.To wreak the love I bore my cousinUpon his body that slaughterd him!The scene takes place in Juliets bedroom. Her mother enters soon after line 64, immediately after Romeo leaves. Capulets wife asks Juliet how she is and asks if shes missing her cousin Tybalt (who recently was killed by Romeo) Previously, Capulet and his wife discussed bringing forward Juliets wedding to Paris to the next Thursday as Juliet had been extremely emotional since the death of Tybalt.JULIETMadam, in happy time, what day is that?LADY CAPULETMarry, my child, early next Thursday morn,The gallant, young and noble gentleman,The County Paris, at Saint Peters Church,Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.Juliet becomes very anxious regarding this and when her father enters with the Nurse (around line 122) an argument between Juliet and her father ensues.JULIETNot proud, you have; but thankful, that you have:Proud can I never be of what I hate;But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.CAPULETHow now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?Proud, and I thank you, and I thank you not;And yet not proud, mistress minion, you,Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds,But fettle your fine joints gainst Thursday next,To go with Paris to Saint Peters Church,Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!You tallow-face!LADY CAPULETFie, fie! what, are you mad?Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o Thurday, or never look me in the face.Juliet then seeks support from her mother, who refuses to speak to her:Talk not to me, for Ill not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. (Line 202)When her mother and father have left, Juliet then turns to the Nurse for support.JULIETO God!O nurse, how shall this be prevented?My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;How shall that faith return again to earth,Unless that husband send it me from heavenBy leaving earth? comfort me, counsel me.Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagemsUpon so soft a subject as myself!What sayst thou? hast thou not a word of joy?Some comfort, nurse.NurseFaith, here it is.Romeo is banishd; and all the world to nothing,That he dares neer come back to challenge you;Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth.Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,I think it best you married with the county.O, hes a lovely gentleman!Romeos a dishclout to him: an eagle, madam,Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eyeAs Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,I think you are happy in this second match,For it excels your first: or if it did not,Your first is dead; or twere as good he were,As living here and you no use of him.JULIETSpeakest thou from thy heart?NurseAnd from my soul too;Or else beshrew them both.The Nurse has been a de facto mother to Ju liet and far closer to her than her real mother. She knows about the marriage to Romeo but she encourages her to forget Romeo and seek happiness with her second love (Paris)Romeos a dish clout to him, An eagle madam, Hath no green so quick, so fair an eye As Paris hath. Besrew my very heart, I think you are happy in this second match, for it excels your first; or if it did not, Your first is dead, or twere as good he were As living hence and you no use of thy heart?Juliet realises she has no support from those around her, so she holds back her feelings and calmly tells the Nurse shell do as she says. She instructs the Nurse to inform her mother she is gone to confession, having angered my father. However, the scene ends with Juliet contemplating her own death if the Friar will not help or support her:If all else fail, myself have power to die.The scene is important to the play because her parents place greater pressure on Juliet to marry Paris than she anticipated and based on a tim e-scale which means that the plan for time to heal before reconciliation takes place cannot now happen. Up to this point, Juliet imagined that she had two years or so before having to deal with her fathers marriage plans. Now she finds that she has two days. This makes her anxious and so she challenges her parents. This unexpected response to what was intended as a caring act makes them feel angry and they see her as being wilful, selfish and disobedient.JULIETO, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,From off the battlements of yonder tower;Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurkWhere serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,Oer-coverd quite with dead mens rattling bones,With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;Or bid me go into a new-made graveAnd hide me with a dead man in his shroud;Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;And I will do it without fear or doubt,To live an unstaind wife to my sweet love.That she is willing to challenge her parents in an age when children were seen and not heard and when girls were thought of as property, also demonstrates how much Juliet loves Romeo. She loves him so much so much that she will challenge her parents, her Nurse and her Friar, even to the point of death if she has to. She is therefore, for the first time in her life, all on her own and unsupported, but strengthened by the power of her love.Romeo is present in the first part of the scene but leaves before Capulet, his wife and nurse arrive. Juliet is the only character to remain on stage throughout the entire scene. Juliet is the daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet and Nurse has been her wet nurse and nanny since Juliets birth.Capulet represents authority and the older generation. He is motivated to make Juliet happy by marrying her to a successful young man (Paris). However, he is also motivated by increasing the power and influence this marriage will create for his family and his line. He may have been un usual in Shakespeares time to have cared so much about Juliets feelings, but as head of the house he had a duty to ensure that it kept its influence. His anger is complex. He is angry having got such a good match for Juliet only to have her reject his efforts; he is angry because if she refuses to marry Paris the whole town will know that he cannot control his daughter; and he is angry because he puts her refusal down to over-reacting to the death of Tybalt.Lady Capulet does not have the depth of relationship with Juliet that the Nurse has with her, therefore, she finds it difficult to reason with Juliet when Juliet rejects Paris and all he stands for;Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.This reflects the familial relationships of the age in which Shakespeare wrote. The bringing up of children was left to servants whilst the Lady of the house ran the social side of the family to ensure that they had the right friends and contacts.The Nurse has torn loyalties as she knows the d epth of feelings Juliet has for Romeo. However, she is also employed by the Capulets and has responsibilities to the family name. To the audience of the time her pragmatic attitude to love would be perfectly sensible. She comes from a class that has to work hard all of their lives and is always at the mercy of the rich and powerful. If she offends Capulet she will lose her position and her home and her security for her old age. To her, love is a means of achieving security she cannot afford the romantic notion which governs Romeo and Juliet.In my production, I would use a modern, typical teenage bedroom; walls filled with pop idols and untidy surroundings. Juliet is wearing jeans and a rugby top with trainers. She has long blond curly hair scrunched up in a bun method.The scene would be set in a detached country house in Stalybridge and Juliet is dressed appropriately to show she is a teenager living in the 21st century. Lady Capulet is dressed in a smart, well fitted suit with cou rt shoe, a flicked up highlighted bob hairstyle and perfect make-up. She has an orange glow to show she frequently uses sun beds. She has a manicurist and so has beautiful nails. This is to show Lady Capulet is a superior character who can be self confident and self seeking.The Nurse is wearing a tracksuit and trainers (homely and practical) She is older than Juliet; of an age with her parents.Capulet is wearing a businessmans suit without any distinguishing features. Romeo is wearing a basketball top, shorts and trainers. This shows their upper-middle class wealth. The scene is obviously set in Juliets bedroom.To make the scene more effective to the audience I will use music where appropriate (i.e. strident, fast music in the background while theyre arguing) Ill have the cameras cutting quickly between the characters when Capulet, Lady Capulet and the Nurse enter and slowly zoom in when the argument between Juliet and Capulet erupts. The language would be filled with an angry tone from her father, a flustered and upset tone from Juliet, concern from the Nurse and tired exasperation from her mum.The scene will begin with a wide camera shot of the whole room; it will slowly focus on Juliets face to the exclusion of everyone else. This reflects the message of the scene she has Romeo, but then loses him. Her mother begins to act supportively (asking how shes feeling) but leaves stating she doesnt want to speak to her anymore. Her father begins by shouting at her, in a bullying manner. Nurse, Juliets closest ally, is quiet for most of the scene and ends telling her to forget Romeo. Juliet feels trapped, alone, desperate and suicidal.When Capulet leaves the cameras will zoom in to a close up on Juliet and her tear tracked face, red eyes and flustered expression. After a short while focusing on the tears in Juliets eyes, the light goes darker and darker until the screen is black. This shows the dramatic ending to the scene, showing Juliets end emotions. The dark ro om at the end reflects the sadness and leaves viewers with sadness and strong feelings towards the couple. The conclusion to the play should be sad and important to the plays structure. It will leave people wondering and thinking, instead of leaving and forgetting the plot.If it were filmed in this way, the effect of the scene would be to bring out the idea that Capulet was too harsh towards Juliet and maybe the mum and Nurse could have been nicer. The key moment can be shown by Juliet looking upset and angry towards the end of the scene. The scene would show Juliets feelings in more depth and her dads reaction when he tells her his plans. This makes a huge gap between the generations.For me, the key message of this scene is the helplessness Juliet feels. Her family have always provided for her in every way but since meeting, and falling in love with Romeo, her world has been turned upside down. Her cousin has been killed by her husband, her family hate his family, her family dont k now shes married. She feels they are forcing her to marry someone else, and Romeo has been banished: completely alone and desperate, she considers suicide. Her only remaining hope is to turn to Friar Lawrence.In Shakespeares own time it was more common for wealthy families to organise proposals of marriage, like that between Juliet and Paris. In my scene, in Stalybridge 2004, the pressure of the family is more subtle as Juliet, in todays time, would like to marry for love but the family still want her to marry a successful man. Today (2004) Juliet would want to co-habit with her boyfriend Romeo rather than marry the professional Paris. The feud between the families prevents any possibility of this.