AN EYE FOR FALLACIES
Sir,-I have read G.H.D.’s letters concerning poetry in New Zealand, and The Facts of Life, and I should say they "provide no end of entertainment for the reader who has an eye for fallacies." In the former letter, G.H.D., a competent philosopher, attempts to tell poets what we should write and why. His argument, a dogmatic statement, supported by an appeal to authority, is not only poor logic; it is bad rhetoric. In the second letter, the fallacy of condemning a book one has not read needs little explanation. To borrow G.H.D.’s simile, it reminds me of a Pekinese barking furiously, not at an Alsatian, but at a brief description of
one.
VICTOR
O'LEARY
Gisborne).
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540723.2.12.6
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 783, 23 July 1954, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
119AN EYE FOR FALLACIES New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 783, 23 July 1954, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in