Circular Reasong

Circular reasoning is defined in urban dictionary as reasoning that provides validity for a certain assertion, which assumes the validity of the assertion. In class we related this idea of circular reasoning to Morton's justification of his belief in white, male superiority. While it is easy to justify this use of circular reasoning as a simple misunderstanding/misuse of statistics, circular reasoning continues to pervade our modern society. A frequently given example of circular reasoning deals with modern society's view of smokers. The circular reasoning argument for a person's ability to quit smoking would go something like this: A person can quit smoking as long as they have the willpower to quit smoking. This argument is circular in that it essentially assumes that people can quit smoking because they can quit smoking. The second assertion is reworded slightly so that is sounds different than the first premise, while in reality, it is saying essentially the same thing.