Re: Can someone name this fallacy?

On Dec 5, 9:12 am, Jason Simons <Sim...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I run across this fallacious form of reasoning enough that I would like
to be able to name it.

The Titanic is sinking and one of the passangers says "quick, grab a
spoon and start bailing out the water." A second passanger says "That's
useless!" The first passanger says "Well, it's better than doing
nothing!"

No it's not!! The two options are equivalent! The ship sinks in both
cases... and at the same time.

I here this argument all the time. "Doing something is better than
nothing." What they really mean is that doing ANYTHING is better than
doing nothing. Obviously there IS something that is better than doing
nothing, but the something(s) (i.e. actions) that will actually make a
difference may not be available to perform.

Can anyone name this fallacy?

Thanks,

Jason

I'm not sure if that's so much a logical fallacy. You may call it an
equivocation. The speaker has equivocated "something" with
"anything." Or maybe he has wrongly equivocating "something" with
"something that will help prevent the ship from sinking."
.