What's Wrong with the Law of Attraction?
The “Law of Attraction” taught in The Secret uses the logical fallacy known as affirming the consequent.
It goes like this:
- If an animal is a cow, then that animal has four legs.
- This animal has four legs.
- Therefore, this animal is a cow.
In logical terms it looks like this:
- If A, then B.
- B.
- Therefore, A.
The argument The Secret uses is
- If A, then B.
- B.
- Therefore, A.
Where:
A = Times I had a bad attitude.
B = Times something bad happened to me.
Assertion: Every time something bad happens to me it is because
I had a bad attitude, and every time I have a bad attitude something bad happens to me.
(Or, all of my A's are B's and all of my B’s are A’s)
Logical Conclusion: False.
(Not all of my A's are B's and not all of my B’s are A’s.)
The Venn diagram looks like this:
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