Talk:Mistaking the map for the territory/Archive1

Map urban legend?
There is a story that Germany in WWI declared war on the US because both countries occupied one page each in an atlas so there was a misperception that they were the same size. Whether true or an urban legend, suits the article. 212.85.6.26 (talk) 16:44, 9 November 2011 (UTC)


 * For the record: in World War I, the US declared war on Germany, not the other way around. Kimberly (talk) 21:22, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

It's fun!
It's fun to begin with a really good, but not perfect, analogy and try to get everything to work. I'm doing this right now with Once Upon a Time... Life: the red corpuscles walk in the bloodstream, and although they travel at a "walking speed" (1/2 mile to 4 miles an hour), the fact that it's a seven-micron-high entity, rather than a seven-foot-high entity, makes a differences. Trying to scale everything to get it to work is really fun and informative. I want to take what's good and make it even better. The Heidelberg Kid (talk) 17:35, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * What on earth are you on about? Sophie  because liberals  19:18, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm struggling to translate it into English. Scarlet A.pnggnostic 19:45, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The fact blood cells aren't seven feet high makes a difference? No, really?  If I had seven-foot-high entities walking around my veins & arteries, I must say that I would find it most uncomfortable.  12:31, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

A fallacy?
Should it be called a fallacy or a cognitive error? "Fallacies" is usually applied to things done by the opposing site in a debate, but this is more of a tripping stone of the mind.--ZooGuard (talk) 18:02, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
 * You're assuming that it can be unintentional, but if it's intentional and used as part of a debate (see wingnut pushing their sides by saying that theoretical predictions be interpreted literally), then it should be a fallacy. LEFTY  GREEN  MARIO 18:07, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
 * It does not matter if something is used in a debate as to whether or not it is a fallacy, a fallacy can be any kind of belief derived from bad logic. Nullahnung (talk) 18:10, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah, that too. And this since one is from bad logic intentional or not, it does qualify as a fallacy. But it is used in debates, so even by going with your definition, it's still a fallacy. LEFTY  GREEN  MARIO 18:12, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't "fallacy" mean "a thing that is false"? Wouldn't any instance of "mistaking" automatically qualify? 21:19, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Both wiktionary and the OED mention connotations of deceit and sophistry, or specious argument. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 21:30, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Attribution
Some content from http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism and http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Reification 22:50, 13 November 2015 (UTC)