Samantha Therese S.

Geonzon 11 – Frederick of Regensburg

The Coherence Theory of Truth

A coherence theory of truth states that the truth of any (true) proposition consists in its
coherence with some specified set of propositions.

A coherence theory bases the truth of a belief on the degree to which it coheres ("hangs together") with all
the other beliefs in a system of beliefs (typically one person's beliefs, but it could be any body of
knowledge).

In philosophies of idealism, all the ideas or beliefs are said to cohere with one another, perhaps because
the world is reason itself or created by a rational agent.

In scientific theories, every new observational fact must be integrated with existing facts to make them
maximally coherent. Perfect coherence is not to be expected, of course. Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of
pragmatic truth is the coherent inter-subjective agreement of an open community of inquirers.

Coherence may be internal to a personal set of beliefs that are accessible to a subject. In this
case, coherence is one way to justify a belief.

Close to the consistency theory of truth. But consistency is only possible for relatively modest
logical and mathematical systems. In a system of belief as large as the culture of a society, there
are many conflicting beliefs. Even in the mind of a single subject, consistency of beliefs is more
demanding than coherence, but neither is very likely.

Coherence and consistency are best understood as desirable conditions for any theory of truth,
including the correspondence theory of truth.

Argumentum ad Populum

I. Argumentum ad Populum (popular appeal; appeal to the majority): The fallacy

of attempting to induce acceptance of an unexamined or unproved conclusion
by arousing the feelings, prejudices, or interests of a political party, mob, or
any large group of people. Two oft-used versions are the bandwagon and the
snob appeal fallacies.

A. "Snob Appeal": the fallacy of attempting to prove a conclusion by

appealing to what the elite or a select few unknowledgeable enthusiasts
in a society thinks or believes.

(There are many non-fallacious appeals in style, fashion, and politics--

since in these areas the appeal is not irrelevant.)
Samantha Therese S. Geonzon 11 – Frederick of Regensburg

Person L says statement p or argument A.

Person L is in the elite.
Statement p is true or argument A is good.

B.

C. "Bandwagon": the fallacy of attempting to prove a conclusion on the

grounds that all or many people think or believe it is true.

Most, many, or all persons believe statement p is true.

Statement p is true.

D.

E. "appeal to emotion": the fallacy of using expressive and emotively laden

language to arouse emotion in support of a conclusion.

Emotions such as enthusiasm, pride, anger, or disgust are used to express

evidence for statement p
Statement p is true.

F.

II. Many advertising slogans are based on this fallacy: Strictly speaking, one
statement considered by itself cannot be a fallacy because it's not
an argument. Nevertheless, the import of these "catch-phrases" seems to be in
some cases by conversational implicature an implicit argument. I.e., the
statement can easily be reconstructed from its context into an implicit
argument.

§ "Coffee is the think drink."

("London (AP) The coffee industry says it will try to convince youngsters that
coffee is the ‘think drink’. … ‘We want to capture the youth market.’"
[The Fredericksburg Virginia Free Lance-Star "Industry Promoting Coffee as
‘Think Drink’" (December 10, 1966), 82 No. 390, 10.])

§ "Join the Pepsi People Feelin' Free" (slogan early 1970s,)

§ "Join the Pepsi generation" (slogan mid-1980s)

§ "Sony. Ask anyone." (Sony trademark, 1970s)

Samantha Therese S. Geonzon 11 – Frederick of Regensburg

A. Occasionally, it is difficult to make a distinction between the ad

verecundiam (appeal to authority) and the ad populum (appeal to the
elite) fallacies.

B. The basis of the ad populum appeal is the assumption that large numbers
of persons are more likely to be right than a given individual is likely to
be right. Also, in light of peer pressure, many persons feel it's better to
be normal than to go against the crowd. Moreover, our social desire to be
approved by others often results in our joining the "bandwagon" of the
probable winning side in a political contest.

III. The main problem with this fallacy is the mere fact that many people agree on
something often does not imply that what they agree on is true; nevertheless,
the fact that many people agree, can be relevant evidence for the truth in some
instances, as shown below. The distinction is based on the nature of
the relevance of the premisses to the conclusion.

Abstract: The argument concerning the appeal to pity or a related emotion to gain the
acceptance of a conclusion is evaluated.

FALLACY NAVIGATOR
Fallacies of
Relevance Ad Ignorantiam Ad Verecundiam Ad
Hominem Ad Populum Ad Misericordiam Ad
Baculum Ignoratio Elenchi

I. Argumentum ad Misericordiam (argument from pity or misery) the fallacy

committed when pity or a related emotion such as sympathy or compassion is
appealed to for the sake of getting a conclusion accepted.

A. Hence, assent or dissent to a statement or an argument is sought on the basis of

an irrelevant appeal to pity. In other words, pity, or the related emotion is not
the subject or the conclusion of the argument.

B. The informal structure of the ad misericordiam usually is something like this:

Samantha Therese S. Geonzon 11 – Frederick of Regensburg

Person L argues statement p or argument A.

L deserves pity because of circumstance y.
Circumstance y is irrelevant to p or A.
Statement p is true or argument A is good.

II. Some typical ad misericordiam fallacy examples follow.

Georgia Banker Bert Lance should be excused from conflict of interest

divestiture problems, former President Jimmy Carter asserted, because Lance's
promise to sell his stock so that he can serve his government has depressed its
market value.

Oh, Officer, There's no reason to give me a traffic ticket for going too fast
because I was just on my way to the hospital to see my wife who is in serious
condition to tell her I just lost my job and the car will be repossessed.

Members of Congress can surely see in their hearts that they need to vote in
favor of passage of the Gun Bill allowing concealed weapons because their
constituents who lobby for liberalizing firearms will be greatly saddened if they
do not do so.

Public Schools, K through 12, need to have much easier exams for students
because teachers don't fully realize the extent of the emotional repercussions of
the sorrow and depression of the many students who could score much better
on easier exams.

Richard P. Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, has been

misunderstood almost all of his life. Since World War II, he came close twice
to having a mental breakdown--first with the death of his wife and second with
the explosion of the atomic bomb. I think that the Journal of Science should
publish some of his later theoretical work out of our kind regard for his
memory and from the interest of human concern for his difficult life.
Samantha Therese S. Geonzon 11 – Frederick of Regensburg

III. Related emotions include sympathy, love, regard, mercy, condolence, and
compassion. Occasionally, an occurrence of a fallacy can be correctly analyzed as
either the ad populum or the ad misericordiam fallacy since these fallacies overlap in
their appeal.

IV. Non-fallacious uses of the ad misericordiam include arguments where the appeal
to pity or a related emotion is the subject of the argument or is a pertinent or germane
reason for acceptance of the conclusion.

A. Relief arguments are relevant to the problems raised by a disaster caused by a

tidal wave and cholera outbreak in India.

B. If we have the choice of buying a newspaper from a blind news vendor, ad

misericordiam considerations are not necessarily irrelevant. The essential
question is whether the pity or compassion is relevant to the situation at hand
and is being appealed to exclusively or excessively for the acceptance of the
conclusion.

C. In Voltaire's Candide, examples of misery are used time and time again to
falsify Leibniz's (Pangloss') assertion that this is the best of all possible worlds.
The evidence would be relevant to the argument being adduced.

D. Appeal to Pity
E. ad misericordiam
F. (also known as: appeal to sympathy)
G. Description: The attempt to distract from the truth of the conclusion by the use of pity.
H. Logical Forms:
I. Person 1 is accused of Y, but person 1 is pathetic.
J. Therefore, person 1 is innocent.
K.
L. X is true because person 1 worked really hard at making X true.
M. Example #1:
N. I really deserve an “A” on this paper, professor. Not only did I study during my
grandmother’s funeral, but I also passed up the heart transplant surgery, even though that
was the first matching donor in 3 years.
O. Explanation: The student deserves an “A” for effort and dedication but, unfortunately,
papers are not graded that way. The fact that we should pity her has nothing to do with the
Samantha Therese S. Geonzon 11 – Frederick of Regensburg

quality of the paper written, and if we were to adjust the grade because of the sob stories,
we would have fallen victim to the appeal to pity.
P. Example #2:
Q. Ginger: Your dog just ran into our house and ransacked our kitchen!
R. Mary: He would never do that, look at how adorable he is with those puppy eyes!
S. Explanation: Being pathetic does not absolve one from his or her crimes, even when it is a
puppy.
T. Exception: Like any argument, if it is agreed that logic and reason should take a backseat
to emotion, and there is no objective truth claim being made, but rather an opinion of
something that should or should not be done, then it could escape the fallacy.
U. Let's not smack Spot for ransacking the neighbor's kitchen—he's just too damn cute!
V. Tip: Avoid pity in argumentation. It is a clear indicator that you have weak evidence for
your argument.
W. References: