Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies

513 Pages·2002·10.39 MB·English

by  Robert J. Gula

Nonsense:
A Handbook of
Logical Fallacies
Nonsense:

A Handbook of
Logical Fallacies

Robert J. Gula
Axios Press
Axios Press
PO Box 118
Mount Jackson, VA 22842

888-542-9467 [email protected]

NONSENSE: A HanpBook OF Locicat Fattacies © 2002
by Axios Institute. All rights reserved. Printed in the
United States of America. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission except in the case of brief quotations
used in critical articles and reviews

First published by Stein and Day in 1979.

In the Stein and Day edition, the work principally
consisted of a handbook of verbal logic, but also con-
tained some introductory and other material of a more
popular and ephemeral nature, developed by the author
at the request of the publisher. This edition contains
everything germane to the author’s original concept of a
timeless handbook of verbal logic.

BOOK AND COVER DESIGN BY NICHOLAS VITTUM

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-111842
ISBN: 0966190858
CONTENTS

Foreword

One: Everyday Nonsense

Two: Emotional Language

Three: Emotional Language:

Propaganda

Four: Emotional Language:
Suggestion

Five: Logical Fallacies

Six: Irrelevance

Seven: Diversion
Eight: Ambiguity and Incorrect
Inference

Nine: Confusion and Incorrect

Inference

Ten: Confusion of Cause and
Effect

Eleven: Oversimplification

Twelve: Erroneous Comparison
and Contrast

Thirteen: Evasion

Fourteen: More on Arguments

Fifteen: More on Semantics

Sixteen: More on the Syllogism
Seventeen: Final Notes

Summary of Fallacies and
Nonsense

Bibliography

Index
Foreword

Anyone who met Robert John
Gula in his relatively short life of

forty-seven years, a life
prematurely cut — short by
pancreatic cancer, was
immediately impressed: the

energy, the piercing eyes, the
clarity and brevity with which he
spoke, the athletic form, the mass
of swept-aside but rarely tousled
sandy brown and gray hair, the
sometimes impish sense of humor,
the complete concentration with
which he listened, really listened,
to others, the sparkling mind.
Here was someone who set track
records as a youth, who loved
dogs and children, who played
the piano at a concert level with
special enthusiasm for Franz Liszt,
but who also wrote or co-wrote
seventeen books on __ subjects
ranging from Mythology: Greek
and Roman to Precision: A
Reference Handbook for Writers,
and who also taught Latin,
Greek, algebra, geometry,
chemistry, English composition,
and, most famously, logic, in
addition to serving as Director of
Studies, at the Groton School,
one of the best secondary
schools in America.

In a listing in Contemporary
Authors, Bob Gula described why
he wrote his last book, a
handbook of verbal logic.