高级英语Unit 5

Unit FiveLove Is a Fallacy---by Max Shulman⏹Love Is a Fallacy is taken from "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” published in 1951 andbrings to light issues of the day including the stereotyping of women. In it, Max Shulman demonstrates a wit and clarity of language.Max Shulman(1919-1988)⏹One of America’s best known humorists, a writer of many talents.⏹First delved into the world of writing as a journalism student at the University of Minnesota.⏹Max was also the world's most underrated romantic poet. He loved to include poetry in hisnovels, usually to hilarious effect.Max Shulman(1919-1988)⏹He began writing Dobie Gillis stories in 1945 for various humor magazines.⏹In 1951, these were collected and published as a book entitled "The Many Loves ofDobie Gillis”, from which our text is taken.Max Shulman(1919-1988)⏹In 1959, Shulman published another volume of Dobie stories, "I Was A Teenage Dwarf".⏹That same year, Shulman created and produced "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" TVseries for CBS. The show had a run of 147 episodes between 1959 and 1963. Shulman’s other worksBefore his two Dobie books, Shulman had already written four other successfulnovels:⏹“Barefoot Boy With Cheek“《无礼的赤脚少年》,⏹“The Feather Merchants“《衣冠楚楚的商人》,⏹"The Zebra Derby"⏹"Sleep Till Noon".⏹After the Dobie books he wrote⏹“Rally Round The Flag Boys“《孩子们，团结在旗帜周围吧》, which became a best-seller andthen a movie starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Joan Collins,Max Shulman's last novels⏹Max Shulman's last novels were "Anyone Got A Match?", a biting satire about cigaretteadvertising on television, "Tatums Smoke Mild Like an Innocent Child!" and then finally his semi-autobiographical "Potatoes Are Cheaper".Quotations from Dobie Gillis (1)⏹"My name is Dobie Gillis and I like girls. What am I saying? I love girls! Love 'em! Beautiful,gorgeous, soft, round, creamy girls. Now, I'm not a wolf, mind you. No, you see a wolf wants lots of girls, but me? Well, I just want one. One beautiful, gorgeous, soft, round, creamy girl for my very own. That's all I want! One lousy girl!""But I'll tell you a sad, hard fact. I'm never gonna get a girl. Never. Why? Because to get a girl you need money . And standing between me and money is a powerful obstacle: a POWERFUL obstacle!" Quotations from Dobie Gillis (2)⏹Dobie, wants a little cutie,⏹Dobie, wants a little beauty,⏹Dobie want a gal to call his own⏹Any size, any style, any eyes, any smile, any Jean, any Jane, nay Joan.⏹Oh Dobie, wants a girl who is dreamy,⏹Dobie, wants a girl who's creamy,⏹Dobie, wants a girl to call his own.⏹Is she blond, is she tall, is she dark, is she small, Is she any kinda dreamboat at all⏹No matter, he's hers and hers alone.Definition of love⏹n, a strong feeling of liking someone a lot combined with sexual attraction⏹v, to have a strong feeling of affection for someone, combined with sexual attraction “Love” in some other languages⏹爱armour, aimer; liebeAbout love⏹Love is…⏹Love means…⏹Love implies…⏹Love entails…⏹Love involves…⏹Love can…⏹Love is meant to be/to do…Some meanings of authentic lovefrom I never knew I had a choice⏹Love means having a responsibility toward the person I love.⏹Love means growth for both myself and the person I love.⏹Love means making a commitment to the person I love.⏹Love means trusting the person I love.Some meanings of authentic love⏹Love can tolerate imperfection.⏹Love involves seeing the potential within the person we love.⏹In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.Some meanings of authentic loveLove means that I know the person I love. I’m aware of the many sides of the other person—not just the beautiful side but also the limitations, inconsistencies and flaws.⏹Love means having respect for the dignity of the person I love. I can see you as a separate person, with your ownvalues and thoughts and feelings, and I don’t insist that you surrender your identity an d conform to an image of what I expect you to be for me.I can allow and encourage you to stand alone and to be who you are, and I avoid treating you as an object orusing you primarily to gratify my own needs.Love Quotes⏹Love comes in a second, and goes at the same speed.⏹If you judge people, you have no time to love them.⏹The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly, and the best way to keep it is to give itwings.⏹The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved.Love Quotes⏹"Love is friendship set on fire." - unknown⏹"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."Goethe⏹"To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia.“⏹H.L. Mencken⏹It was impossible to love and to be wise.⏹Bacon⏹"Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions."⏹Isaac Bashevis Singer⏹"Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness."Oliver Wendell Holmes⏹"Maybe love i s like luck. You have to go all the way to find it.“⏹Robert Mitchum⏹"Love is like war: Easy to begin but hard to end."⏹Anonymous⏹"Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other."⏹Rainer Maria Rilke⏹"Where love is, no room is too small."⏹Talmud⏹"To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven."⏹Karen Sunde⏹"A love song is just a caress set to music."⏹Sigmund Romberg⏹"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."⏹Peter Ustinov⏹"Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever."⏹unknownFunny Love Quotes⏹I know that somewhere in the Universe exists my perfect soulmate -- but looking for her ismuch more difficult than just staying at home and ordering another pizza.⏹I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox.Cute Love QuotesLOVE: The irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.Mark Twain⏹I'm not rushing into being in love. I'm finding fourth grade hard enough.Regina 'Age 10'⏹Love is foolish ... but I still might try it sometime.Floyd 'Age 9'A Chinese poem有关爱的谬误丁义明我不敢爱你不是我不爱你而是我爱了你便怕失去了你Discussion⏹What is your understanding of true love?⏹What do you think love is?⏹Is love a fallacy, a mistake, an error?Fallacy⏹Fallacy:⏹ 1. a false or mistaken idea,, opinion, etc,e.g. It’s a popular fallacy that success brings happiness.2. a false reasoning:e.g. I was able to show the fallacy of his argument.Logical fallacies⏹Logical fallacies are errors of reasoning, errors which may be recognized and correctedby prudent thinkers.⏹An argument in logic presents evidence in support of some thesis or conclusion.⏹An argument has two components: a conclusion and certain premises.⏹The conclusion is said to be drawn or inferred from the premises.⏹An argument is deductively valid when its premises provide evidence for the conclusion.⏹An argument that fails to be conclusively deduced is invalid, it is said to be fallacious.⏹An argument may be fallacious in three ways:⏹in its material content, through a misstatement of the facts;⏹in its wording through an incorrect use of terms;⏹in its structure (or form), through the use of an improper process of inference.⏹Fallacies are therefore divided into three groups and classified as (1) material (2) verbal(3) formal.⏹The material fallacies are also known as fallacies of presumption, because the premisespresume too much.⏹The verbal fallacies, called fallacies of ambiguity, arise when the conclusion is achievedthrough an improper use of words.⏹Strictly logical, or formal fallacies arise not from the specific matter of the argument butfrom a structural pattern of reasoning that is generically incorrect.The fallacies mentioned in the text (1)⏹The fallacies mentioned in the text are material fallacies.⏹ 1. The fallacy of accident is committed by an argument that applies a general rule to aparticular case in which some special circumstances (“accident”) makes the ruleinapplicable. This is the Dicto Simpliciter fallacy.Dicto SimpliciterDicto Simpliciter(无条件的前提推出的论断）⏹Dicto Simpliciter：clipped form of “a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid”, a Latinphrase meaning “from a saying (taken too) simply to a saying according to what (it really is)”；an argument based on an unqualified generalization.Dicto SimpliciterEg.⏹Excise is good. Therefore everybody should exercise.⏹Teachers in capitalist countries are out for all the money they can get.Hasty GeneralizationHasty Generalization：草率结论, 不完全归纳The converse fallacy of accident argues improperly from a special case to a general rule.The sample is too small to support an inductive generalization about a population. The fact that a certain drug is beneficial to some sick persons doesn’t imply that it is beneficial to all men.E.g. Fred, the Australian, stole my wallet. Thus,all Australians are thieves.Post Hoc⏹Post Hoc:(假性因果)clipped form of"Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc", a Latin phrase meaning"after this, therefore, because of this”; a fallacy in logic of thinking that a happening which follows another must be its result; it is assumed that because one thing follows another that the one thing was caused by the other. Other similar terms：False Cause, Questionable Cause⏹Eg. Immigration to Alberta from Ontario increased. Soon after, the welfare rolls increased. Therefore, theincreased immigration caused the increased welfare rolls.Contradictory Premises⏹Contradictory Premises：二立背反，大前提有毛病Ad Misericordiam⏹Ad Misericordiam：a Latin phrase meaning “to pity”, a fallacy in logic of appealing to pity orcompassion.诉诸同情.As when a lawyer, rather than arguing for his client’s innocence, tries to move the jury to sympathy for him.E.g. We hope you'll accept our recommendations. We spent the last three months working extra time on it. Analogy⏹In an analogy, two objects (or events), A and B are shown to be similar. Then it is arguedthat since A has property P, so also B must have property P. An analogy fails when the two objects, A and B, are different in a way which affects whether they both have property P.⏹Eg. Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so mustemployees.False analogy⏹False analogy or Faulty Analogy: (错误类比) Questionable Analogy The two objects orevents being compared are relevantly dissimilar.Hypothesis Contrary to Fact⏹Hypothesis Contrary to Fact：与事实相反的假设⏹Eg. If I had studied hard, I would definitely have passed the test.Poisoning the Well⏹Poisoning the Well, or speaking “against the man” rather than the issue , in which thepremises may only make a personal attack on a person who holds some thesis, instead of offering grounds showing why what he says is false. 投毒下井Poisoning the WellEg.⏹You may argue that God doesn't exist, but you are just following a fad.⏹We should discount what Premier Klein says about taxation because he won't be hurt by the increase.The fallacies of relevance⏹The fallacy of irrelevant conclusion is committed when the conclusion changes the pointthat is at issue in the premises.⏹The fallacies of relevance include: the fallacy of “Poisoning the Well” and AdMisericordiam.About this textThe plot of the story (1)Assuming that a good lawyer's wife must be "beautiful, gracious, and intelligent," and as a first year law student, the narrator sets out to make such a wife. He decides that he has found the perfect wife. The problem is that his brain-dead roommate, Petey, is dating her. Seeing as how it is "easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart girl beautiful”, the author tries to bargain for this girl, who possesses the first two necessar y traits, and tries to instill the third.The plot of the story (2)By bribing him with a fashionable raccoon coat, the law student is able to coax "brain-dead" Petey into letting him date his girl. Now the only obstacle to overcome is the challenge of teaching Polly to be "worthy of him"mentally. He tries to teach her logical thinking by explaining various types of fallacies to her, but in the end, it returns to haunt him. All she wants is a man with a raccoon coat.The raccoon coatThe raccoon coat which the narrator gives to one of the antagonists, Petey, whose girlfriend he plans to get, for the privilege of dating his girl. The raccoon coat which the narrator dislikes is the instrument of his failure. Polly promises to go steady with Petey instead of the narrator just because Petey owns a raccoon coat, something that all the big men on campus are wearing.The development of the storyThe writer is satirizing a smug, self-conceited freshman in a law school. From the very beginning the narrator begins to heap on himself all the beautiful words of praise he can think of and goes on smugly boasting and singing praises of himself at every conceivable opportunity. At the same time the narrator takes every opportunity to downgrade his roommate. The climax is reached in paras147-150 when Polly refuses to go steady with the narrator because she has already promised to be Petey’s girlfriend. The denouement follows rapidly and ends on a very ironic note. The narrator has got what he deserved. He has been too clever for his own good.The theme of the storyThe main theme of the story of the story is stated by the writer in the title: Love is a fallacy. About the titleThe title is humorous and well-chosen.When “fallacy” is taken in its ordinary sense, the t itle means there is a deceptive or delusive quality about love. When taken as a specific term in logic, the title means love cannot be deduced from a set of given premises. Love is an error, a deception and an emotion that does not follow the principles of logic. There is no such thing as love in terms of logic.DiscussionWhat is your understanding of the title of the story?(rational Vs emotional)Writing techniques (1)Max has a style quite of his own. The story goes at a very fast pace with a racy dialogue full of Americancolloquialism and slang. He employs a whole variety of writing techniques to make his story vivid, dramatic and colorful. The lexical spectrum is colorful— from the ultra learned terms used by the conceited narrator to the infra clipped vulgar forms of Polly.Writing techniques (2)The author uses figurative language profusely and also grammatical inversion for special emphasis. The speed of the narration is maintained by the use of short sentences,elliptical sentences and dashes throughout the story. This mix adds to the realism of the story. One would expect a freshman to talk like this.Translation⏹The stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is evermatter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief;sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury.⏹舞台上的爱情生活比生活中的爱情要美好得多。