Saturday, April 25, 2009

Logical Fallacies and Exercise.

Good stuff - we are evolved for survival not truth.....



these logical issues are really interesting to think through. I did 3 years of logic at university and there was some analysis of arguments like this.

One thing I remember was this idea of the material conditional: if A then B, usually expressed s A=>B. For example if it is raining, the grass will be wet.

One thing to be aware of though is that it doesn't go in the other direction: just because the grass is wet doesn't mean it is raining. You can't argue from the effect to the cause.

Just because athlete X trains with plyometrics or bands or kettlebells or whatever doesn't necessarily mean that those things are responsible for his success or his physique.

3 comments:

Skyler Tanner said...

That was actually at one of our studios. Great stuff.

Anonymous said...

I'm fully on board with Doug's contention (as expressed via the swim competition story), that one's end (i.e., trained-state)phenotype is largely predetermined; the larger, more interesting question to me is, how best to train these athletes once the natural vetting process (or accelerated evolution process)has taken place. IMHO, these are two totally different realms of "training".

Jessica said...

I find his comments about yoga and all the women doing it "because Madonna does it" to be rather condescending and narrow-minded. Is it not allowed anymore to do things simply because we enjoy them and they feel good?
I agree with what much of what he says, but it's hard to listen once I start to feel talked down to. Yes, most people do not understand how to use exercise to MAXIMIZE health, but that isn't everyone's goal, and I think we all tend to forget that our goals are not necessarily the average Joe or Jane's goals. Maybe stress relief and fun are more important to them, and that is OK!