Meaning?
Hi,
What is the meaning of bootstrapping in the following text?
"What you say is interesting, " mused the judge. "It's also very disturbing. On the one hand, you say that TCE is the cause of all these people's symptoms because TCE is in the water. Then, in the next breath, you turn around and say that because all these people got these symptoms, we therefore conclude that TCE was in the water. This suggest to me that you're bootstrapping.
Top answer
The defence's argument is this. TCE in the water is the cause of the symptoms. The presence of the symptoms proves that TCE in the water is the use of the symptoms.
- The defence's argument is this.
- TCE in the water is the cause of the symptoms.
- The presence of the symptoms proves that TCE in the water is the use of the symptoms.
- This is faulty logic, often called circular reasoning .
- The judge's term for this is bootstrapping , which originates from the idea of someone trying to pull himself up by pulling on the straps of his own boots.
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The defence's argument is this.
TCE in the water is the cause of the symptoms.
The presence of the symptoms proves that TCE in the water is the use of the symptoms.
This is faulty logic, often called circular reasoning.
The judge's term for this is bootstrapping, which originates from the idea of someone trying to pull himself up by pulling o
0The judge's "bootstrapping" stems from an old expression, "to pull yourself up by your bootstraps". Cowboy boots have a loop on each side to help pull them on. Imagine wearing such boots and bending down and pulling on the bootstraps to lift yourself over a wall. That is an absurd impossibility. The lawyer is trying to do the same thing by using the very premise he is trying to prove as proof
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