LFotW: False Continuum

This is the idea that because there is no definitive demarcation line between two extremes, that the distinction between the extremes is not real or meaningful: There is a fuzzy line between cults and religion, therefore they are really the same thing. This fallacy is especially important to understand in the context of medicine; most human traits vary according to a Bell curve of variation. “Unhealthy” is often defined as being too far out to one extreme or the other. The false continuum logical fallacy is sometimes used to argue that these extremes are merely part of a continuum of variation, and therefore have no meaning or significance. However, this is like saying that “short” and “tall” have no meaning because human height is a continuum of variation. Blood pressure is a good example. We can meaningfully define high blood pressure because it correlates with increased risk of certain disease, such as heart attacks, even though high blood pressure is at the upper end of a continuum of variation.

In part this logical fallacy represents discomfort with the concept of a fuzzy line of demarcation between two extremes. But such fuzzy lines are more the rule than the exception in this complex world.