# "If everyone thought that way..."\[Kind of fallacy\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711 "2008-10-27T01:56:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/1 "2008-10-27T01:56:21Z")
What fallacy is that statement? Irrelevant conclusion, since it’s a useless and impossible If? I’m tired of people telling me to vote because “if everyone thought that way”, we’d have anarchy. I’d like to have a name for the fallacy and call them out on it. So far I’ve just been saying “You shouldn’t have come here today. If everyone thought that way, it’d be crowded in here. Better not drive down I-whatever, or wear that shirt, or sit in that chair. Things would be bad if everyone wanted to do it that way.” ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/2 "2008-10-27T02:08:56Z")
It’s not necessarily fallacious reasoning. Read up on the [tragedy of the commons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/3 "2008-10-27T02:12:42Z")
It’s called the [Categorical Imperative](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative), but it’s not usually considered a fallacy. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/4 "2008-10-27T02:18:11Z")
Edited thread title to give better idea of subject. If everyone thought the way you did, we wouldn’t need descriptive thread titles. 😉 Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/5 "2008-10-27T02:19:14Z")
also sounds kind of slippery slopish ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/6 "2008-10-27T02:27:18Z")
Who cares if you can give it a particular label? It sounds like, for your situation, the proper reply to “Well, if everyone thought that way…” is “But they don’t, so it looks like I’m safe.” Or just the sort of responses you’ve been giving. Or extended discussion of just what it the problem is with that method of argument. That’s much more effective than trotting out “Aha! You have succumbed to The Fallacy of the Morchivicated Exponential; one point for me.” will be. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/7 "2008-10-27T03:56:39Z")
Hypothetical Generalization? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/8 "2008-10-27T04:54:08Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > It’s not necessarily fallacious reasoning. Read up on the [tragedy of the commons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons). And then read up on the [tragedy of the anti-commons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_anticommons). ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/9 "2008-10-27T04:57:04Z")
I always respond ‘then I’d be a damn fool to think any other way.’ thanks Joe! ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/10 "2008-10-27T10:53:46Z")
> [@IntelSoldier](#): > > What fallacy is that statement? Irrelevant conclusion, since it’s a useless and impossible If? I’m tired of people telling me to vote because “if everyone thought that way”, we’d have anarchy. I’d like to have a name for the fallacy and call them out on it. So far I’ve just been saying “You shouldn’t have come here today. If everyone thought that way, it’d be crowded in here. Better not drive down I-whatever, or wear that shirt, or sit in that chair. Things would be bad if everyone wanted to do it that way.” In the example of not voting, the statement doesn’t seem fallacious; it rather just seems like a criticism of [free riding](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem). The other examples are not examples of free riding, since no socially desirable effect is to be produced by everyone using the same road, or wearing the same shirt (which distinguishes these from voting, recycling, conservation, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/11 "2008-10-27T14:01:05Z")
> [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](#): > > In the example of not voting, the statement doesn’t seem fallacious; it rather just seems like a criticism of [free riding](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem). The other examples are not examples of free riding, since no socially desirable effect is to be produced by everyone using the same road, or wearing the same shirt (which distinguishes these from voting, recycling, conservation, etc.). And is again distinguished from something like everyone driving on the same side of the road, where, unlike the free rider situation, there are negative effects for the individual acting differently. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/12 "2008-10-27T14:32:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s called the [Categorical Imperative](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative), but it’s not usually considered a fallacy. I’m with you, it is almost certainly a popularized form of the categorical imperative, but to the extent that one can apply _just that_ reasoning without making a lot of other Kantian or maybe just deontic assumptions and have it be considered valid is a question far outside the scope of GQ. I have never heard this kind of reasoning described as a fallacy, no matter what one’s opinion on Kant is; and I am not sure how it could ever be considered a fallacy. The person is not asserting that everyone does think this way, but is using the hypothetical situation of elevating something to a universal law as a means of judging the soundness of the rule in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/13 "2008-10-27T15:53:11Z")
I call it Yossarian’s Law, from this exchange from _Catch-22_: Yossarian-“Let somebody else get killed.” Somebody else I don’t remember-“But suppose everybody on our side felt that way.” Yossrian-“Then I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn’t I?” ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/14 "2008-10-27T17:18:03Z")
kind of reminds me of the southern baptist church i attended, where the pastor said “homosexuality, taken to its logical conclusion, means the complete eradication of the human race in one generation.” don’t know if it’s a recognized fallacy, but something doesn’t have to be labeled a fallacy to be idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-everyone-thought-that-way-kind-of-fallacy/469711/15 "2008-10-27T17:36:27Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I call it Yossarian’s Law, from this exchange from _Catch-22_: > > Yossarian-“Let somebody else get killed.” > Somebody else I don’t remember-“But suppose everybody on our side felt that way.” > Yossrian-“Then I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn’t I?” It was Clevinger, IIRC