hasty generalization

 

This image describes a logical fallacy called hasty generalization. It's when someone draws a conclusion without providing enough supporting evidence according to ENVISION IN DEPTH. The dog has concluded a theory of all things with four legs is cat. There are various types of animals with four legs that is not a cat. The author of this image is inferring that the dog has not observed another animal with four legs except a cat. Therefore the dog thinks they’re the same. Although the dog had four legs similar to the cat it is impossible to assume a hypothesis as such. The image portrays the dog to be questioning itself and the way the picture is drawn could be taken in consideration also. The author makes the image childlike, drawing it as if it were a comic book. I think the author is referring to young children taking in the scope of the world. For example when a parent is showing their children the sound and the way an animal looks the child may say, “a dog says meow", just as they would say for a cat. This exemplifies how inexperienced animals and people assume all things with similar features are alike until they are exposed to the reality of the world and are able to begin distinguishing the differences of things. Moreover, the dog is questioning itself because it realizes the cat looks nothing like it but has no other evidence to think otherwise of its hypothesis because it has not seen anything that has the same characteristics as itself but the cat.