Re: How the Leopard...? (was Brian Goodwin on the web)

Bill Hamilton (whamilto@mich.com)
Mon, 8 Apr 1996 08:42:14 -0400

Chuck Warman quoted me:

>>But to try to illustrate internal contradictions in a field by quoting its
>>practitioners implies that the critic knows something the people being
>quoted don't, >or has performed a more thorough analysis than they have.
> And that's the part
>>that destroys the credibility of these kinds of attacks.
><SNIP>
>
>Excuse me for butting in, but isn't this a classic case of the genetic
>fallacy?

I have the feeling I'm going to be sorry I asked, but what is the genetic
fallacy?

Seems to me that time would be better spent responding to content,
>rather than arguing that the critic has no right to criticize.

I'm not arguing that. See below.

Besides,
>much of the criticism has to do not with science, but with *logic*, which,
>I assume, is available equally to all.
>
>I'm a CPA; can I therefore point out only those logical errors or
>inconsistencies attributable to other CPA's?
>
You are quite welcome to criticize any field you choose to. However, if
you criticize a field that is not your own, you had better do your
homework. When young-earth creationists simply recycle one another's
arguments -- even the ones which have been refuted many times, that's not
doing your homework.

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