Talk:Loki's wager

This article was nominated for deletion on 12 February 2009 (UTC). The result of the discussion was keep.

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	Logic

References?

I could not find any references to this subject. I mean there are sources for Loki's Wager, but I cannot find any in reference to the use as term for a logical fallacy. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 21:49, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This remains unconfirmed as of September, 2009, and seems widely cited. If anyone has an actual source listing this as a fallacy, it would be greatly appreciated. Mephistopheles (talk) 11:15, 3 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The more I look into this, the more circular references I find to Wikipedia mirrors and forks, or to skeptic's blogs and such. Unless sources are forthcoming within a reasonable period of time, this article is heading to AfD. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 22:02, 25 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A reference has since been found. DS (talk) 13:44, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not for this being a recognized logical fallacy Mephistopheles (talk) 11:15, 3 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are no references in this article that state that the example given is a logical fallacy. User:DragonflySixtyseven claims that a reference has been found, and yet I do not see it within the article. This was almost a year ago. Any objections to me listing this under AfD? --Aseld ^talk 08:32, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

But it is a logical fallacy. My set theory knowledge is really really rusty, but it's confusing an induction like this:

1 if (A subset B) then X

2 if (A !subset B) then Y

3 B union C != NULL

4 B union D != NULL

5 C union D == NULL

6 therefore !B

7 therefore Y

which is correct, with something like this

1 if (A subset B) then X

2 if (A !subset B) then Y

3 B union C != NULL

4 B union D != NULL

5 C != D

6 therefore !B <--- wrong

7 therefore Y

It's a common enough error, but I long since threw away my college textbook which named the fallacy as such. -- Kendrick7^talk 19:21, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Whether or not that's true is irrelevant, since "Encyclopedic content must be verifiable", and a source would be the verification. So as it stands, it's not verified that this counts as a logical fallacy.Mephistopheles (talk) 15:27, 17 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Example?

It would be good to add an example here. Most frequently I'd see this kind of argument being made in theological discussions, i.e. over whether God exists, which would be sidetracked into endless debate over the nature of God (e.g. can God make a rock so heavy he can't lift it) which would result in never actually addressing the real question. Perhaps the most famous recent example would be Bill Clinton's quibble over "what the meaning of is is" which turns a simple question into some esoteric debate over the nature of existence. It might be nice to come up with an example that is theologically and politically neutral, but I don't think the anon's example quite captured the real meaning of the wager. -- Kendrick7^talk 19:45, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In Shakespeare

This kind of reasoning was used in The Merchant of Venice, where Shylock was permitted to take a pound of flesh but not entitled to injure Antonio in the process of doing so —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.253.117.67 (talk) 21:54, 10 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Foolish dwarves...

Interesting that some clever dwarf didn't offer to just take the top half of Loki's head, so that there would be no possibility of taking any of the neck. Seems that would have had the desired result. Applejuicefool (talk) 17:51, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They ended up sewing his mouth up, instead. The loss of his mouth (and as he fixed it up, his beauty) was viewed as sufficient punishment. Axel Löfving (talk)

Edgar Allan Poe Link

While "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" is among my favorite short stories, it isn't a good example of a Loki's Wager fallacy; it just shares a loose similarity in plot to the myth the logical fallacy is based on (making a bet where one's head is at stake.) I'm removing it right away so nobody sees it and gets confused as to the nature of a Loki's Wager fallacy. Smw543 (talk) 05:30, 4 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]