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Monopolizing the Question


Monopolizing the Question / Hypophora

Hypophora is one of the many smokescreens that are used to cover the fact that the reasoning is based on one of the three fallacies of Agrippa's trilemma. Whenever a logical fallacy is committed, the fallacy has its roots in Agrippa's trilemma. All human thought (without Divine revelation) is based on one of three unhappy possibilities. These three possibilities are infinite regress, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking. This problem is known as Agrippa's trilemma. Some have claimed that only logic and math can be known without Divine revelation; however, that is not true. There is no reason to trust either logic or math without Divine revelation. Science is also limited to the pragmatic because of the weakness on human reasoning, which is known as Agrippa's trilemma.

The Logical Fallacy of Monopolizing the Question / Hypophora occurs when a question is asked and then immediately answered by the same speaker/writer. This is not necessarily a fallacy, nor is it necessarily a method of deception. It is a presentation technique. If the answer given is not true, then it is a fallacy. It would be a fallacy to listen to the question and answer given and just take for granted that the answer given was the correct answer to the question.

Examples of the Monopolizing the Question / Hypophora

Bill Nye arguing against Creation science: "There’s a question that troubles us all from the time that we are absolutely the youngest and first able to think, and that is, ‘Where did we come from?’ Where did I come from? And this question is so compelling that we’ve invented the science of astronomy. We’ve invented life science. We’ve invented physics. We’ve discovered these natural laws, so that we can learn more about our origin and where we came from. To you, when it says, ‘He invented the stars also,’ that’s satisfying. You’re done. Oh! Good! To me, when I look at the night sky, I want to know what’s out there. I’m driven. I want to know if what’s out there is any part of me, and, indeed, it is."

This is the fallacy of monopolizing the question because Bill is making a wild assertion, an outright lie. It is Carl Sagan's old lie that we are made of stardust. There is no scientific evidence for this, and God says that it's not true. God says that He formed us out of the dust of the ground on day six.


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