#257: No True Scotsman, the Merchant and the Fisherman & Being Enough

3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Being Enough

I. No True Scotsman

Bob: All Scotsmen prefer scotch over gin.
Sara: But my brother is a Scotsman and he likes gin better.
Bob: That just means your brother isn’t a true Scotsman.

A vast generalisation is usually the starting point for the No True Scotsman fallacy, aka an Appeal to Purity. The broader the statement, the easier it is to refute it with a simple counterexample. By invoking her Scottish brother, Sara falsifies Bob’s argument, who then resorts to the Appeal to Purity.

In a last-ditch effort to save his generalisation from falling apart, Bob strips Sara’s brother of his Scottishness for personal gain. He retroactively invokes a vague, rather emotional and subjective criterion of authenticity. Bob deliberately set a bar that Sara’s brother can never pass. In Bob’s eyes, he’ll never be Scottish enough. But let’s be honest: Yer bum’s oot the windae, Bob.

👉 For more informal fallacies, check out my article on 11 Argumentative Errors Worth Avoiding

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II. The Merchant and the Fisherman

The Merchant and the Fisherman is a parable about what happens when two very different ways of living collide. Here’s a short version of the story:

A fisherman lay on a sunny beach, pole in the sand, line in the surf. A merchant, walking off his stress, stopped and said, “You won’t catch many fish like that. You should be working!”

The fisherman smiled. “And what would be my reward?”
“You’d get bigger nets, catch more fish.”
“And then?”
“You’d make money, buy a boat.”
“And then?”
“Buy a bigger boat, hire workers!”
“And then?”
“You could build a whole fleet! Sail the world! Become rich!”
“And then?”
“You could retire,” the merchant snapped. “Sit on a beach all day, watching the sunset, without a care!”

The fisherman chuckled, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”

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III. Being Enough

To put our subscriber milestone in perspective, here’s a thought inspired by Jim Carrey’s famous Golden Globe Awards presenter speech.

I am Chris Meyer, a writer with 4,000 subscribers on Substack. You know, when I go to sleep at night, I’m not just a guy going to sleep. I’m a guy with 4,000 subscribers on Substack going to get some well-needed shut eye.

And when I dream, I don’t just dream any old dream. No sir. I dream about being a guy with 5,000 subscribers on Substack.

Because then I would be enough.

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🎉 Wow! Over 4,000 subscribers in 116 countries. Thank you all so much for reading my newsletter and all your likes, shares, comments, messages and donations! 🐘

Have a great week,

Chris
themindcollection.com