I realised that I don't have anywhere dedicated to the title of this blog.
I am going to start this out as a blog but I have a feeling that I will re-read and decide that it needs to be developed and posted as a page of its own.

Wikipedia actually has a decent explanation of what 'Ignoratio Elenchi' means.

I've pirated some explanations and added to some. Particularly things which develop why I have chosen this as a name.

It translates as an irrelevant conclusion, or sometimes as a thesis that does not follow the line of arguments.

Other definitions include:
  • An argument which purports to prove one thing instead proves a different conclusion.
  • A purported refutation of a proposition that does not in fact prove it false but merely establishes a related but strictly irrelevant proposition.
  • the fallacy of proving a conclusion not pertinent and quite different from that which was intended or required. 
  • My Man terms it as 'ignorance of the nature of how something is refuted'.
  • And finally, most appropriately, it is simply an ignorance of proof. -- One suggested direct translation of the Greek words.
This life that I lead makes sense to someone, I am sure. However, it seems that my thesis makes very little sense with the argument that embodies it. I didn't choose my life motto 'non sequitur' as a title because Ignoratio Elenchi is more specific. The first can be translated much more broadly and, as much as I love it, doesn't help explain what this website is about. The second, and its may translations and descriptions explain my struggle

I am attempting to line up my argument with my thesis or be aware of the proof. Finishing my MA and not planning life out immediately are small steps to align my life with my end goal.

The last translation is an arrow to my heart.
I wish I did not choose ignorance (the state of being uninformed). For me this is paying little attention to the proof that surrounds my life and developing a logical, but unrelated, thesis for myself. I then tend to use my life and the experiences that have come out of it to prove something that is only (sometimes at that) separately true. It is afterwards that I realise that I'd settled upon an Ignoratio Elenchi.

Now the journey begins to remove wilful ignorance and continue in my search to find a thesis that matches my proof. 





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