Weby Yolannisa

Group : A
Magister of English Education Department
1. Write the words you are not familiar with.
 Sensaysh: the short term for sensational
 Trysting /tristiNG/: a meeting between two lovers, especially a secret one (n)
 Fallacies /ˈfæl.ə.si/: an idea that a lot of people think is true but which is false
 Dicto Simpliciter: a fallacy in which a general rule or observation is treated as universally
true regardless of the circumstances or the individuals concerned.
 Hasty Generalization /ˈheɪ.sti dʒen. ə   r. ə l. a  ɪˈzeɪ.ʃ ə n/:a fallacy in which a conclusion is
not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence
 Post Hoc /poʊst ˈhoʊk/: occurring or done after the event.
 Ad Misericordiam /æd mɪz. ə r.ikɔːrdiəm/: an argument based on a strong appeal to the
emotions.
 False Analogy /fɑːls əˈnæl.ə.dʒi/: an argument based on misleading, superficial, or
implausible comparisons.
 Hypothesis Contrary to Fact /haɪˈpɒθ.ə.sɪs ˈkɒn.trə.ri tu fækt/: Offering a poorly supported
claim about what might have happened in the past or future
 Poisoning the Well /ˈpɔɪ.z ə n.ɪŋ ðə wel/: a type of informal logical fallacy where irrelevant
adverse information about a target is preemptively presented to an audience, with the
intention of discrediting or ridiculing everything that the target person is about to say.
2. Write the sentence construction you are not familiar with.
 Cool was I and logical
This sentence construction is not familiar for me because the subject of the sentence
is not a noun but an adjective. I think if the sentence construction is ‘I was cool and
logical’ is acceptable for me.
 Gracious she was
 Beautiful she was
 Intelligent she was not
Those three sentence constructions are not familiar because three adjectives are
written in the first line of sentences, for the spoken form, these kinds of statements are still
acceptable, but, for the written form, it can be confusing.
3. How many percent of the words and sentence constructions in the text are you not familiar
with?
I assume 20% percent for the unfamiliar words because this story uses slang words such as,
sensaysh and trysting. Besides the slang words, I am not familiar with the meaning of fallacy
each kind of fallacies which I have just known after reading this story.
For sentence constructions, I have found four unfamiliar constructions because one of four
sentences uses an adjective as the subject, not a noun. The other three sentences state adjectives
in the first line of the sentence, which is not familiar for written form. I also give 20% percent
for unfamiliar sentence constructions.
4. Write what you understand about each of fallacies in your own words
a. Dicto Simpliciter: a statement or an observation that is not examined thoroughly.
b. Hasty Generalization: a conclusion that is made too quickly.

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 c. Post Hoc: one event causes another event.
d. Contradictory Premises: the statement that opposes to one another.
e. Ad Misericordiam: a statement that triggers someone’s sympathy.
f. False Analogy: a statement that compares two different things and cannot be made into
analogy.
g. Hypothesis Contrary to Fact: a statement that is based on a speculation, not a fact or
evidence.
h. Poisoning the Well: a statement that can influence someone’s point of view toward
something or another person with adverse information.
5. Do you make each of fallacies in your daily life? Exemplify.
Yes, I do make the fallacies although I don’t realize it. For example, I think that all Indian
people are good at dancing since most Bollywood movies always involve dancing. In fact, not
all Indian people can dance, so I make Dicto Simpliciter.
When the sky is getting dark, I often predict that it’s going to rain. But, my prediction is
not always true. Sometimes, rain doesn’t fall even though the sky is dark. I generalize that
phenomenon hastily.
I usually think that finding a snake inside the house and killing it right away can lead to a
bad luck. The truth is there’s no relation between snake and bad luck, but killing a snake can be
a cruelty if it doesn’t cause any harm or injury to people. Now, I call it Post Hoc.
Sometimes, I think that a model should be tall and attractive. A person who is short and not
attractive has less or no chance to be a model. I consider this thought as Contradictory
Premises.
In my life, I seldom make any sympathetic statements about me to someone. I usually tell
some statements that make someone sympathize to another thing like, be concerned to stray
cats and dogs. I don’t know that statement is Ad Misericordiam or not.
I often compare the characteristics of cats and dogs. Both animals can be fostered at home
as pets. Although cats and dogs are lovely animals, I observe dogs are more loyal to their
masters than cats. Now I realize that. Perhaps, I’ve made false analogy.
I am still thinking if Bima Arya had not been chosen as a mayor of Bogor, One Route
System (Sistem Satu Arah) in Bogor’s roads would have not been planned. I just state
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact because One Route System still comes to existence whoever
becomes the mayor of Bogor.
The term “Poisoning the Well” is not my cup of tea because I hardly ever influence,
provoke, and judge someone or something before it is proven true. Perhaps, I ever did this
fallacy but I didn’t realize it.
6. Give the examples of people around you who make the fallacies; one example for one fallacy.
 Dicto Simpliciter
My dad often says that, to avoid sleepiness in the morning, we have to reduce eating
foods that contain carbohydrate, like rice. It’s better to eat less-carbohydrate foods for
breakfast.
 Hasty Generalization
Most of my friends say, we should get married with western people to have beautiful
or handsome children. I think that statement is too hasty to be spoken.
 Post Hoc

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 My mother is quite superstitious. She believes that sapodilla trees are the house of
ghosts, so she doesn’t want to plant it because those ghosts who live in sapodilla trees can
bother humans, especially babies and kids.
 Contradictory Premises
My uncle says, being a civil servant, we have to bribe some employees who work in
a governmental institution. If we don’t have money, it is hard to be a civil servant as the
bribery is the common thing that happens in a governmental institution.
 False Analogy
One of my friends likes comparing the educational system between Indonesia and
Finland. He thinks Indonesia should adapt the educational system of Finland to make the
improvement to this country in educational sector.
 Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
My neighbors say, there would be no flood in some areas of my housing if the chief
of the village made the larger drain. In fact, it is not the matter of the drain, as long as
people always throw the garbage to the drain, flood will always come when the rain is
heavy.
 Ad Misericordiam
Beggars often come to my neighborhood. To attract people’s sympathy, they often
say their suffering, so they can earn some money.
 Poisoning the Well
One of my neighbors always talks or gossips about the flaws of another neighbor.
Her words can influence others and sometimes, she can make others believe her although it
is not true.
7. Rank the characteristics of Petey, Polly, and I in terms of intelligence and awareness.
Exemplify your answer.
1. Polly
Although Polly is considered dumb by I, She proves she is the most intelligent and
witting character in the story. Not only can she relate the fallacies to the real life, but she
also can identify each fallacy spoken by I while declaring his love. Polly tries to reject I or
the narrator’s love by mentioning each fallacy spoken by him spontaneously. This means
Polly shows her intelligence and awareness in an unusual way.
2. Petey
Petey is I or the narrator’s roommate who has a crush on Polly. I calls Petey ignorant
as an ox. However, in this story Petey is the second person who is intelligent and quite
aware for a chance. He can take the advantage from I by begging I to bring a raccoon coat
for him, and in exchange, he will give Polly to the narrator, I. The truth is, Petey secretly
makes a plan to win Polly over I.
3. I
In the story, I calls himself as the smartest and the most logical person. The truth is
he is the dumbest and the most unaware character. He cannot apply the knowledge that he
has into the real example. He stereotypes that intelligence is only measured by scores and
academic achievements. He is not aware that people have different intelligence.
8. Why does the writer choose the title Love is a Fallacy.
The writer wants to show that intelligence is not the most powerful thing in life. There’s
one thing that cannot be affected by intelligence, love.
9. Write what you learn from the story.

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 Love and intelligence, sometimes, can be contradictive. We cannot determine and change
someone’s love or feeling through intelligence. Love or feeling cannot be measured and
predicted. Intelligence has a little or no influence when it deals with love.
10. How would you relate the story to philosophy of science?
We as the intellectual people should be wise in dealing with something. We should not feel
too proud and superior with the ability that we have because it can lead us to be arrogant
people.