Worksheet 1 Love is A Fallacy

In this worksheet, you are going to read Love is Fallacy by Max Shulman.

Catch
In this worksheet, you will be able to:

● formulate a statement of opinion or assertion;

● spot fallacious statements;
● understand what a fallacy is and
● write a journal entry.

Charge
At this stage of your academic life, would you consider going steady with someone?

Explain your answer.

As appealing as the idea of being in a relationship is, and after all that I’ve gone through

while being in one, I think I’m not ready for a relationship yet. Having a relationship is a

pretty big commitment that requires you to be mature and make good decisions so as to

not affect your relationship with that person. Personally, I think I’m not prepared

emotionally and mentally to fully commit to something like that. I would probably

consider getting into one after high school but for now, I wanna focus on myself and my

studies.

Collect
Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman
Read “Love is a Fallacy” by Max Shulman and answer the following guide questions:

1. Describe the narrator of the story.

The narrator of the story sees himself as an intellectual, someone who plans out every move
and thinks that he is is superior to everybody in terms of intelligence.
2. What course is he (narrator) taking?
The narrator is taking a course in law.
3. Who is Polly Espy?
Polly Espy is a girl that the narrator likes and wishes to have a relationship with.
4. Why is the narrator interested with Polly Espy?
Because he thinks that getting in a relationship with a “beautiful and gracious” woman like her
will help exceed his career in law.
5. Who is the narrator’s roommate?
The narrator’s roommate is Petey Burch.
6. What is the attitude of the narrator towards Petey Bellows?
He thinks that he is a nice guy, but he looks down on him for being “dumb” and inferior to his
intellectual prowess.
7. Why is Petey Bellows desperate to have a raccoon coat?
Because the acquisition of one will lead to him being a part of the “big men” on campus.
8. What is the place in the University not frequented by Big Men on Campus?
A place that the Big Men aren’t fond of on the campus is the library.

9. What is the idea of the narrator of being a faddist?

He thinks that people who believe in fads have “surrendered to the acme of mindlessness”. In
simpler terms, he thinks that people who fall for these fads are oblivious and dimwitted people.
10. Where did the narrator get the raccoon coat?
The narrator got his raccoon coat from his father.
11. At what year did the narrator’s father wear the raccoon coat?
The narrator’s father wore the raccoon coat in his undergraduate years.
12. What is his ulterior motive of the narrator in courting Polly Espy?
When the narrator got to know Polly, he saw that she had the qualities of a lawyer’s wife. She
was beautiful and gracious, but unfortunately, she as dumb. The narrator saw this as an
opportunity for him to teach Polly how to think properly and be as intelligent as he was so that
she could be the perfect wife for him.
13. Where did Polly and the narrator go on their first date?
The narrator took Polly out to dinner, then to a movie, then brought her back to her house.
14. When did the narrator discuss about logic?
The narrator discussed logic with Polly on their second date.
15. How many nights did the narrator discuss logic to Polly?
It took the narrator five nights to complete his discussion of logic to Polly.
16. When did he confess his love to Polly?
He confessed his love for Polly after five nights of teaching and discussing logical fallacies.
17. When the narrator mentioned that five dates is enough, what was Poly’s answer?
She replied that the narrator was using the False Analogy fallacy by comparing her to a cake.
18. What are the fallacies mentioned in the text?
The fallacies mentioned in the story are Contradictory Premises, Hasty Generalization, Dicto
Simpliciter, Poisoning the Well, and False Analogy.
19. How did Polly turn the table against the narrator? Give the fallacies she used.
When Polly rejected the narrator who confessed his love for her, he started making arguments
that had the fallacies that he had just taught to Polly. Using her newfound knowledge, she called
him out on them and shut his arguments down using his own teachings. She pointed out the
Hasty Generalization, False Analogy, Dicto Simpliciter, and Poisoning the Well fallacies that the
narrator was using in his arguments.
20. Why did Polly choose Petey?

Polly chose Petey over the narrator simply due to the fact that he had a raccoon coat.

Activity. There are 8 fallacies cited in the text. Fill out the following table.

Fallacy Fallacious Statement Explanation of the error

Exercise is good. Exercise is good, but not

Dicto Simpliciter: Therefore everybody everybody should and is
should exercise. capable of exercise. There
are people who are advised
to not exercise due to

You can’t speak French.
Hasty Generalization: Petey Bellows can’t speak
French. I must therefore
conclude that nobody at
the University of Minnesota
can speak French.
Let’s not take Bill on our
Post Hoc picnic. Every time we take
him out with us, it rains.
If God can do anything,
Contradictory Premises can He make a stone so
heavy that He won’t be
able to lift it?
Ad Misericordiam A man applies for a job.
When the boss asks him
what his qualifications are,
he replies that he has a
wife and six children at
home, the wife is a
helpless cripple, the
children have nothing to
eat, no clothes to wear,
no shoes on their feet,
there are no beds in the
house, no coal in the
cellar, and winter is
coming.
Students should be
False Analogy allowed to look at their
textbooks during
examinations. After all,
surgeons have X-rays to
guide them during an
operation, lawyers have
briefs to guide them during
a trial, carpenters have
blueprints to guide them
when they are building a
house. Why, then, shouldn’t
students be allowed to
look at their textbooks
during an examination?
If Madame Curie had not
Hypothesis Contrary to happened to leave a
Fact photographic plate in a
drawer with a chunk of
pitchblende, the world
pre-existing medical
conditions that they have.
The statements given are
insufficient evidence to
support the claim that
absolutely everybody at the
University of Minnesota is
unable to speak French.
Bill has no connection to the
occurrence of rain during this
group’s picnic whatsoever.
The scenario given is
impossible because God
can’t do both things at the
same time because doing
one would disprove the
other.
The man is using his family’s
situation to make the
employer pity his situation
which would lead to him
giving him the job out of
empathy, regardless of his
skillset.
This statement is false
because these professionals
are not taking a quiz to test
what they’ve learned, which
is what the students are
doing. It would be unfair if
the students were able to
use their textbooks while
having an exam because it
would beat the entire
purpose of taking it in the
first place.
This statement is wrong
because it is basically saying
that the discovery of radium
would not have happened if
the circumstances had been
different, which they weren’t
 today would not know
about radium.

Poisoning the Well
Two men are having a
debate. The first one gets
up and says, ‘My
opponent is a notorious
liar. You can’t believe a
word that he is going to
say.
The statement has no
relation at all to the topic
being discussed and is
simply designed to attract
prejudice to the opposing
side and make the audience
favor the person who uses
the fallacy.

Connect
Check your understanding of fallacies by taking the quiz at
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=logical-fallacies-quiz (Last accessed on 3
January 2020).

Contemplate
Answer each question in 2-3 sentences.

1. What did you realize about fallacious statements?

Fallacious statements are simply tactics that most people use to gain the upper hand in a
debate whilst not talking about the topic at hand at all and manipulating the audience’s
understanding of the situation.These are things that you should avoid doing in a debate
because it leads to a misunderstanding of the problem and it could confuse other people.

2. What other things about fallacy do you find confusing?

I personally find the statements of the fallacy of Contradictory Premises confusing. One
example of this is the one used in the story that goes “If God can do anything, can He make a
stone so heavy that He won’t be ablte to lift it?”. The statement in and of itself is a paradox that
has no real answers and I find it confusing but at the same time, it seems like an interesting
thing to think about.
 Check Yourself
Check if you have achieved, partly achieved, or not yet achieved the given
criterion.

Achieved Achieved Not

Assessment Criteria Partly Yet

Formulate a statement of opinion or assertion.

Spot fallacious statement

Understand what a fallacy means

Prepared by: Checked by:

MARYANN G. VIDAR LORNA C. MENDOZA
Teacher Head, English Department