What Is The Logical Fallacy In Edward O. Wilson's Argument

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In the twenty-first century, awareness of the environment has dramatically increased as it begins to suffer at the hands of humans. Discussions on protecting the world’s luscious ecosystems have multiplied. Groups of so-called “environmentalists” and their critics flock at the chance to throw their opinion in. Though strong-minded, the intent of these people are seriously doubted by those such as contemporary scientist Edward O. Wilson. In his satiric and forward book The Future of Life, Wilson employs a slippery slope logical fallacy, classic name-calling, and sarcasm in order to illustrate the unproductive nature of such discussions. The average person cannot pick up on a logical fallacy at first sight, making it an effective tool to be utilized by Wilson. He claims that an environmentalist college student lacking credentials will find an endangered spider in a person’s property and that this will lead all the way to shutting down said person’s property. The thought of this would not have come up in a discussion about …show more content…

From “hypocrites” to “the wackos,” Wilson name-calls these groups in order to lighten the weight of his argument. As opposed to the norm of name-calling, his intent is not to maliciously offend these people. In fact, without these words, Wilson’s argument would be excessively powerful and slightly overbearing. Words such as “wackos” are used more often in a comical sense than in an offensive one. This shows that although Wilson harshly criticizes these people, he wishes to release the metaphoric gas pedal he is pressing in order to appear less headstrong. Productive discussions truly only occur between those who have productive intentions, and wackos and hypocrites do not generally fit this description. Because of this, Wilson is able to sufficiently prove that the discussions between these two groups of people will remain unproductive until their intentions

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