Logical Fallacy of Personification

Personification 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 regression, 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. Without Divine revelation, neither logic nor math can be known. 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 personification occurs when someone speaks about concepts or inanimate objects as if they had intelligence and were persons. This is a type of reification.

Examples of the Logical Fallacy of Personification

"I really believe the Bible. Christians need to trust the Bible. The Bible tells me that God exists. That's how I know there is a God."

This is idolatry, worship of the Bible, and reification or personification of the Bible. We believe Jesus Christ as He communes with us and leads us. We trust Jesus Christ. We believe that God exists and that He's good because we know Him personally. When a person is born again, Christ takes residence in his or her innermost mind (heart). Christ tells us that the Bible is His Word without error, which He wrote and preserved for us. Christ speaks to us through the Bible.

“Every fossil tells a story.”

This quote was taken from a BBC evolution-promoting cartoon, “Walking with Dinosaurs.” Every evolutionist tells a story, but fossils don’t tell stories. However, this kind of fallacy makes it easy to animate the fossils to tell lies.

“The evidence speaks for itself.”

Evidence doesn't speak. Someone looks at something, filters it through their worldveiw, and interprets it as evidence.

“The fossils say, evolution is a fact.”

Fossils never talk.

“Evolution and natural selection formed the ear.”

Evolution, mentioned here, refers to a story about a process that supposedly took places. Natural selection is simply the elimination of life forms that are so weak or so disadvantaged that they cannot reproduce. Neither of these have intellegence to form the ear. This is personification.

The phrase, "natural selection,” implies that there is selection by some sort of intelligence.

Personification of something that has no intelligence.

“Natural selection tests various innovations and selects those that will work best.”

Yikes! That is outrageous personification.

“Evolution tinkered around with this until it solved the problem.”

Evolution doesn't tinker. If we were to think of evolution and natural selection as a sort of god, then it would be much more believable. If we were to think of evolution as a creative story, then it would make a lot more sense.

“Nature has designed some amazing living things.”

Nature doesn't design things.

“Science tells us that evolution is a scientific fact.”

Science is a process. It doesn't talk.

“The Bible tells us that the Earth and the Heavens were created in 6 days.”

God speaks to us through the Bible, and He tells us, through the Bible, that He created everything in 6 days. For those who don’t acknowledge God’s Voice as He speaks through Scripture, we they would be more accurate in saying something like: “As we read, in the Bible, God speaks to us and tells us that the Earth and the Heavens were created in 6 days.”