Relative Privation / Greek Math Fallacy 

Relative privation 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 Relative Privation / Greek Math Fallacy occurs when a something is made to appear better by comparing it to something that is worse or when something is made to appear worse by comparing it to something better. This fallacy is often described in such a way that it makes being thankful for whatever you have a fallacy, or it makes trying to improve your situation a fallacy. Neither of those are fallacies. To say to your friend who just got a new car, “I’ve seen better cars.” is rude to be sure, but it isn’t a fallacy. To say to your friend whose wife just was hit by a car and killed instantly, “Oh well, at least she didn’t suffer.” is terribly insensitive, but it isn’t a fallacy. Relative privation, as a fallacy, is trying to give the illusion that something is better than it is or worse than it is through comparison to something else.

Examples of the Relative Privation / Greek Math Fallacy

“I’m so poor. I have to use food stamps and get a check from the government twice a month. And then I see these guys making all this big money at their posh jobs, driving around in company cars. It’s just not fair.”

Making that comparison in that way makes a good “poor me” story, but there is only one person on the planet who makes the most money. We can’t all be that person, and it’s irrational to feel sorry for ourselves because someone else is making more money.

Wife: “We have a major problem. I made a math error and we are overdrawn in the checking account. We have to get fifty dollars in there before the check clears. Do you have any ideas where we can get that money quickly?”

Husband: “Oh, don’t worry about it. Jim, at work, just overdrew his checking account by one-thousand dollars.”