Appeal: hasty generalisation
From Jay Dyer vs Pastor P Debate Orthodoxy vs Protestantism, Sola Scriptura and Church History.
- #129526:29upheld Pastor P psogos: hasty generalisation (+1)
The council upheld the call: Pastor P gave away 1 point.
“I didn't find Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox having bible studies, bible studies, bible studies, nor nor did I find Catholics or Anglicans or even Lutherans. It was us us Baptist…”
Diogenes: From his own experience in one city he generalises about the biblical seriousness of four entire traditions, and the conclusion bears on nobody's argument about the canon anyway.- Aristotle uphold: On the record: Pastor P's declared and consistently held position is that the perfect written word, studied directly, is superior to liturgical/church-mediated worship; this line advances that same standing theme (Scripture-centered piety vs. liturgical tradition) via an unsupported generalization from limited personal experience, which is a continuation of his framework rather than a departure from it, but the generalization itself is still a genuine reasoning fault. Pastor P moves from a personal anecdote about one New York City experience to a sweeping claim covering four entire, multi-million-member traditions ("Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox... Catholics or Anglicans or even Lutherans") not having Bible study while "it was us Baptists" who did — a small, local, anecdotal sample generalized into a claim about whole traditions' biblical seriousness. This is a genuine hasty generalization rather than a mere assertion of opinion, and Jay's very next reply ("maybe that was an experience that you had at a Greek parish in New York... that hasn't been my experience") correctly identifies the anecdotal-to-universal leap.
- Socrates uphold: Read blind, found "hasty generalization", on the same ledger as the callout. Pastor P generalizes from his own limited personal experience in one city ("I didn't find... having bible studies... nor did I find Catholics or Anglicans or even Lutherans") to a sweeping claim about five entire traditions worldwide, offering no checkable data on Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, or Lutheran bible-study practice. This repeats the same move as his earlier "everyone... came knowing nothing of the word of God" remark minutes before, again substituting a small unrepresentative sample for an argument about which tradition is more scripturally grounded.
- Plato uphold: On the record: S1's opening and running theme is personal-experience testimony about ministry, including corruption he has witnessed and his own bible-teaching schedule; this line continues that same anecdotal mode, now extended into an unsupported categorical claim about whole denominations rather than a departure from his standing approach. S1 draws a sweeping conclusion about the biblical seriousness of four entire traditions (Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran) from his own limited personal experience in one city's parishes, offered in support of his implicit claim that scripture-focused Baptist ministry is superior to liturgical ministry. This is a textbook hasty generalization, and Jay's immediate rebuttal that in his experience Orthodox worship is constant biblical reading shows the claim was neither conceded nor demonstrated, just asserted from anecdote.
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