The Church Did it

A logical fallacy is defined as an "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support (http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/. The claim that the plague happened because god was punishing everyone for sinning is not valid support. Monks were among the first to be affected by the plague. A monk is a "a man who has withdrawn from the world for religious reasons, esp. as a member of an order of cenobites living according to a particular rule and under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience" (dictionary.com). Monks are among the most religious people, they dedicate their lives to living a sin free life. So the claim that god was punishing everyone for sinning makes no sense since the higher death rates were in monasteries. Most were completely wiped out since monks live in close quarters and the plague spread quickly. Why would God punish people that do not sin and dedicate their lives to religion? It just doesn't support the claim. Another reason I feel the claim has no premise is is that people have been sinning for as long as religion has existed, people sin year year round. They don't stop for one season and continue in the next. So the claim is not supported by the fact that the plague died out in the winter and resurrected in the Spring. If God was angry and created the Plague, I don't think he would stop for one season and continue for the next.

The underlying assumption that made me believe this claim was false was the fact that monasteries were completely wiped out. The plague targeted most people religious and non religious. It just dosnt add up if God was punishing people for being sinful why would he punish the ones that are leading a sin free life. This automatically lead me to believe this claim had to be false.

Astronomical

The fact that a plague of disease that killed millions of people was a result of three planets alining is just ridiculous.  If the plague was caused by this then why did it only effect people in Europe and not in Asia.  The alining of three planets cannot just target one area of the earth, if this was the reason then why was it Europe.  Also due to the planetary orbits then it is very likely that the alining of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars would of aligned at least one more time in history, but there is no other case of such a plague as the "Black Plague."  Also, why was it only the alining of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars and not three other planets that caused the sickness and death? 

The only reason that the was given as a reason for the plague was because scientists of the time needed something to blame the plague on and also need to find a result for the alining of the planets.  So they decided to kill two birds with one stone and just said one had caused the other.  To believe that the "Black Plague" was caused by the three planets alining just doesn't seem reasonable or logical, I guess that's what makes it a logical fallacy

The Jews and Us

I’ll choose the claim of blaming the Jews for this horrendous ordeal. The first Logical Fallacy I’ll address is this claim that “ The Jews were believed to be “jealous” of the Christians ( because, it was thought, the Jews knew “ in their hearts” they were dammed). Now when I read this I think, isn’t so convenient for the Christians to have declared this “Prophecy”, this “Message”, about the Jews. Without going into any historical context, about how tough the Jews have proven to be over the centuries, haven’t all us humans proved one thing, and that thing being our desire to persevere. All our peoples have at one time or another been oppressed and have proven time after time to rise above. So this argument can be thrown out, based on what we humans have proved that we are, and none have ever succumbed to being dammed.

The next Fallacy I’ll tackle, is the Jews commissioning the Lepers to handle their dirty work poising the waters. It’s probably easy to laugh this one off based on modern day knowledge of how difficult it would be to pull off such an elaborate scheme. But then I’ll try to put myself in this time period, when you if dying of pneumonia, the Doctors of that time told you that pray for the stars to align. This is a time, where centuries before, Seas were parted and a Divine Man walked on water. So the fact is that I believe that there is a great chance that if we were living at that time, “Group Think” and also Racism” would have probably made this crazy notion plausible.


The assumption and my personal reactions are that the claims of “Blaming the Jews” is no different than blaming Hip Hop for Crime, or blaming Homosexuals for Aids. In every corner around the world, whether its peoples of different races or ethnic backgrounds, we have not changed much over time. Though we are now beginning to explore and possibly improve our most detrimental defect as humans, good old fashion racism is the culprit here.

Sanitation...

From my understanding, a logical fallacy is a logical step in an argument which is incorrect allowing for a conclusion to be drawn. It is certainly understandable how the people of that era could reach such conclusions about the causes of the Black Plague. The evidence given in regards to sanitation is one of the logical fallacies because it is definitely plausible that the widespread dumping of waste in small towns could have cause and or spread the debilitating infectious disease. However, it was later discovered that the Black Plague was indeed caused and spread by rodent and flea bites. This surely is a good explanation as to why the sanitation workers were the first to die.

The second logical fallacy is the "poisoning of the water supply". This reasoning isn't irrational for the people during this specific time period. The evidence for these beliefs was that they tortured confessions out of the Jews. Which in itself shows that they were indeed overpowered by these people.

The underlying assumption of this claim is that there were definitely other forces at work and that the Jewish people had something to do with it. I definitely feel that the assumption previously stated is unfair and is further from the truth. Their reasoning for their belief doesn't add up nor make any sense.

Blame the Jews.

The Jews poisoned the wells.

The claim by the masses blaming the Jewish people for the black plague is highly illogical. The first logical fallacy in this claim is that the Jewish people could successfully complete such a malevolent act. This belief relies on the assumption that the Jews had a vast network of communication spreading throughout Europe. In a time when little to no network existed among all peoples this makes the task a most daunting one. The shear logistics of an operation of this magnitude would be a substantial undertaking even by today’s standards utilizing modern technology. The background reading states that it took one person three months to travel from London to Rome. How could one group of people plan an operation that stretched to almost all corners of Europe in a few short years?

Another logical fallacy in the masses claim that the Jews poisoned wells across Europe to spread the plague is evidenced in the fact that many Jews died as well as Christians from the disease. Why would the Jews poison their own people? If they could plan such a great scheme why could they not be sophisticated enough to avoid fratricide? This should clearly show evidence that the Jewish people were not responsible for the Black Death.

Lastly, the claims of the masses are illogical because death rates among the nobility and the clergy were the lowest. If the Jews wanted to make the greatest impact because of their jealousy towards the Christian population these groups would be targeted. The Pope and other high ranking church officials would be priority targets much like in current day political coups. Nobility would also be targeted because their deaths would make a lasting impression on remaining Christians as well.

The Claim of the masses

First let’s state what they conveyed: Jews were jealous of the Christians Therefore they poisoned the wells.I think that such claim commits the Bandwagon fallacy which takes an argument as true just because it is very popular. As in this case, in the whole extract it says that “the Jews knew ‘in their hearts’ that they were damned”, this is an assumption that by the mere fact of being popular is accepted as true; In the same fallacy we see as well that “the Jews were believed to be ‘jealous’ of the Christians”, it is said their own word, “were believed”, there is no proof, no way to demonstrate this rather than thoughts from people, which is not tangible evidence. Also the red herring fallacy is present, in which the author introduces a different topic into the arguments. In such arguments it is said that “the lepers had been blamed for poisoning the wells and causing the typhus outbreak in 1320”. I don’t get the association between the typhus and the black plague, they are two different illnesses, and therefore there is no reason to make a connection between them two. It seems to me that one is trying to justify the other, which is the Typhus is justifying the spread of the Black plague. Plus the origin of the Black plague is not defined, but based on the background reading, the black plague emerged in 1347, and this argument is referring to 1320.
To me the assumptions mentioned above are unfounded; they are mostly based on a popular idea that was believed during the time; however there was no solid evidence to prove so, therefore the problem encountered by the people of that period is completely valid and justifiable.

Jews Responsible for the Black Plague

In reading about the Black Plague and the beliefs at the time of why and how it occurred, the belief that Jews were responsible for the Black Plague is certainly an illogical belief. At this time in Europe, Jews were a hated minority, treated with little regard and respect. When looking for reasons how and why such a terrible occurrence took place, the masses were quick to default and turn with a pointed finger towards the Jews. The claim itself that the Jews poisoned the wells is not believable considering that so many Jews themselves died of the Black Plague. The masses believed that the Jews were jealous of the Christians and knew in their hearts that they were damned. On the contrary, the Jews believe themselves to be God’s chosen people, therefore they would not have felt jealousy towards any other religion. When Jews were questioned about their involvement in the Black Plague, they were tortured until they agreed to say that they were involved in the Black Plague. This is not a true confession.

The Black Plague took place in Mid-14th Century. At this time, there were no developed sciences allowing the understanding of the abilities of bacteria. Therefore, the people of this time could not understand how bacteria could multiply, how this bacteria could be isolated and then be reproduced, how it could be contracted, what type of environment this particular bacteria needs in order for it to thrive, etc. Also, considering the time that the Black Plague took place, the communication of numerous people throughout a large area of Europe, spreading instructions only to each other to calculatedly poison the waters would not have been possible to occur due to the lack of basic technology of communication, travel and infrastructure. Also, considering the massive amount of water needed to be poisoned in order for the bacteria to become so widespread as it did, and the amount of bacteria needed to be placed in the water in order for this massive amount of water to not dilute the bacteria but to be able to maintain potency is not possible. The Black Plague could not have been used as a weapon by people to murder so many, so quickly and so vastly because it could not have been possible at that time.

My personal reaction to the assumption that Jews are to blame for the Black Plague is that such a claim is absurd and nonsensical. It is ignorant to dislike and persecute a group of people because their personal beliefs are different from those of the masses. For the Roman Catholic Church to use religion as a way to make money, control people, and direct these people to hate others is absolutely terrible.

God's Wrath

Question 1.

During the years of 1347 to 1351 when the “plague” occurred, the claim made by the Roman Catholic Church, seems to be the most accurate to me. Their claim was, that the plague occurred for the sole reason of God’s wrath. This in itself is a logical fallacy. According to the Church, the wrath of god is only bestowed amongst the people when there is a large amount of sin occurring. When God created this world, it is possible that he expected it to be perfect, without any flaws. As we see this was a failure since the very beginning of time, through the actions of Adam and Eve. There has been sin since the very start of this world and if the plague was created by God as a form of retaliation then it must very well be that he had enough of all the sins. The second fallacy stated by the Church is, The Church said, "Look around." Plunder, looting, rape, prostitution, war, and drinking were everywhere.” If this was the case, then I can see why God would perform such an action. All those actions stated above are all sins according to the bible. If these actions were steadily performed, and there was no way of stopping it, then I guess that was the only way of stopping it. In my view, the people of those lands, did it to themselves. I’m sure there were very religious back in those ages, and if they couldn’t respect the very own values and beliefs they followed, then they didn’t deserve to live.

Question 2

In the Roman Catholic Church, their claim was based on the assumption of the past actions God has taken on mankind, such as Noel’s flooding and the disappearance of the people of Gomorrah and Sodom. I most definitely agree with their assumption. All the reasons were in place for this event to take place. God’s wrath had already occurred once before, so why hasn’t anyone changed their attitudes or behaviors? They argue about why changing their attitude wouldn’t help, but that is pure non sense. In nature, people who make mistakes and generally learn from them, also become better people.

The Jews Poitioning The Well

According to the reading, the claim that the "Jews poisoning the wells" has two logical fallacies.
1. Due to the fact of the death rate which was more higher in poor than among the nobility people. since the poor's did not had clean hygienic environment they were not able to resist the plague. According to the "Background Reading" that "some towns the death toll was 90 percent -- in others 10 percent." It can not be Jew's poisoning the wells because there would be similar percent of death rate in every town since there would be need of water for every human being. I believe the nobility people were able to control the plague and drop the percentage among poor because of the clean hygiene. Therefore poor's towns were completely gone.
2. Transportation was a big issues at times the plague accord. The needs of the transportation was either via ships or mainly animals. According to the "background reading" that " The plaque died out in the winters and was resurrected in the springs" is noticeable that transportation must be clogged in the winter due to the bad weather. i believe that it was more like the animals spreading the disease from one country, town to another.
To summarize, i would definitely not agree with this claim " The Jews are poisoning the wells."because it was not the water contaminated with poison but a disease.

The overuse of Religious Influence

1. Identify at least two logical fallacies in your chosen claim. It is not enough to state, for example, "Relying on Anecdotal Evidence." You need to identify the logical fallacy and explain how it applies specifically to your chosen claim.

Blaming the Jews for the Black Death is not only an act of ignorance but outright evilness. In fact, the phrase “poisoning the well” originated from the Black Death and was coined by John Henry Newman, who referred to this phrase as "a logical fallacy where adverse information about a target is pre-emotively presented to an audience with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing everything that the target person is about to say. Poisoning the well is a special case of argumentum ad homenem ” (http://www.The Fallacy Files.com: Poisoning the well [Assisted by Google search engine]). This type of fallacy is defined by philosophical society as “a common fallacy in which someone argues against a position or claim by assailing the proponent of it. The truth or falsehood of a position doesn’t depend on who does (or doesn’t) espouse it.” During this period in history, Christians were at the top of the religious hierarchy while Jews were at the bottom. With that being said, it is highly probable that the messages disseminated to society were along the lines of, “The Jews are the cause to this epidemic because they are jealous of us [Christians] and we were able to force confessions out of them. Besides, they cannot be trusted anyway, they are Jews.” To further the discussion of manipulative language through logical fallacies is the analysis of the use of prevarication by the Christians.

Another logical fallacy in the “Jews poisoned the wells” theory is the use of prevarication. It is highly probable that the Christians utilized prevarication techniques to pin the epidemic on the Jews. Since Catholics were high in the social hierarchy, their claim that the Jews were victims held weight in and out itself without any credible evidence. The rational mind might analyze the fact that many Jews were not immune to the Black Disease yet Christians were able to manipulate many in society with a racist theory using prevarication (http://www.philosophicalsociety.com/Logical%20Fallacies.htm).

2. On what underlying assumption does the claim of your choice rely? What are your personal reactions to that assumption?

The underlying assumption of “The Jews Poisoned the Wells” is: “Christians tortured “confessions” out of Jews. The Jews were believed to be “jealous” of the Christians because, it was thought that the Jews knew “in their hearts” that they were damned. The lepers had been blamed for poisoning the wells and causing the typhus outbreak in 1320; after the Black Plague, it was believed that the Jews set them up to it” (Dana Milstein Plague Activity). From a contemporary viewpoint, the aforementioned causes for investigation are not nearly sufficient. These reasons for blaming the Jews are a blatant action of prejudice and discrimination. There ought to be sufficient “hard” or “soft” evidence pointing towards the Jews in addition to a systematic procedure for making such assumptions public. The reputation of the Jews was tainted by these remarks and hence, there should have been a more sophisticated process of law before these actions were taken. In brief, the Christians’ assumptions were bogus and should not have been published.

The Jews did it.

Blame it on the Jews that what all of history has been doing so just one more thing that the Jewish people are at fault for.  To say that the Jews where “jealous” of the Christians it’s outrages. Jewish people have always been proud of there heritage and made an afford to hold on to it. So to say they where “jealous” does not work.  Secondly the plague spread thru places where Jewish people where not living at so how where they able to poison does areas. It don’t seem that they had a lot of people that would be willing to help them out. As well there was no emails or txt messages the information did not travel very fast from place to place. Also the only way that anyone would be able to get a confession out of the Jews that they in deed started the plague was by torture, if you are been tortured you would confess to anything as well just for them to stop.

 

The underlying assumption that my claim relays is that during does days as many others times in the future people have seen the Jewish people as the “ Antichrist” not understand there ways of doing things. When you don’t share the same believes as someone else you always try to show that you are right and they are wrong and when majority of people where Christian and the church was so powerful then obviously it is the Jews that are trying to knock them down. They just made assumptions without actually knowing what the Jews where doing. In 1349 Landgrave Frederic of Thuringia writes to the council of city Nordhausen telling them “how he had burnt his Jews in honor of God and advising them to do the same”.  Jewish people got blamed for nothing more then their religion and that would be the last time as well. I guess we never learn from history.

Two Fallacies

In the reading, Logical Fallacies and the Black Plague four popular opinions were held as hypotheses as to why the Black Plague took place. Two of these opinions could not be true because they are logical fallacies. A Fallacy is an argument that may convince others but is not sound. The two arguments that were put forward that do not have a sound foundations are: God's wrath -- it was a punishment for the people's sins and the Jews are poisoning the wells. These ideas were held with great religiosity to be true. Previous to the Black Plague, the 13th was a time open mindedness to other cultures dealing with trade throughout Europe and the Orient. However this tolerance quickly vanished as the masses became gravely ill and death spread throughout Europe. Any argument became true to the masses, two of the arguments came from the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church was sought as the voice of reason and nobility of the church unquestioningly began to point fingers quickly and manically at the masses. With the tolerance of trade and acceptance people began exploring other areas of enlightenment that were considered mortal sins within the Catholic Church. They compared the events of the day to that of time of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah. The people of world had sinned greatly and now God was sending down his Wrath. This idea is a logical fallacy due to several facts. These same exact sins had been going on for centuries so why did God choose this time than any other to destroy the world. Also by using the Catholic Church's own arguments, God will not reign a plight like this on the world. In the time of Noah God said created a covenant with Noah and his people that he would “never again ...would destroy all flesh.” Genesis (9.9) also as the catholic church believed in Jesus and the New Testament. The god of the new Testament offered his “only son for the sins of the world” (John 1:64) If that was true Jesus would have already been sacrificed for such sins and would not send such a plague.

The second fallacy was the Jews were poisoning the water with lepers. Jews lived in a rough time in Europe. Antisemitism became rampant in Europe Africa, and Asia due to the belief of early persecutions against Ishmael and Jesus. Both religions blamed the Jews for atrocities against these religious figures. The masses believed the Jewish were jealous of their salvation. However the Jews were not the cause of the Black Plague. First and foremost the Jewish people were dying just like the rest of the world, this plague would kill them off as well. Secondly people everywhere were dying even areas that had no Jewish communities so they could not possibly travel to remote areas so quickly to spread the Plague. Third the plague was traveling inhumanly fast to different areas. No one had the capabilities to travel so quickly to spread the Plague throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Over all these two ideas were popular but truly they made no sense. However everyone was looking for an explanation with such a chaotic plague which took the lives of millions within a short time. People were looking at all possibilities and making chaotic choices, perhaps seeking salvation before death. My own personal opinion is that rationality began to take hold of Europe in the 13th century, there was a sense of acceptance of diversity and trade with other cultures. When the Black Plague came about in the 14th century the Catholic Church used a Logical Fallacy that the commoners would believe to gain control of the masses like they had in the Dark Ages. Since the people were wanting salvation and help they would believe anything that the Church would tell them. It is a sad part of history but we have learned much from listening to Logical Fallacies and the repercussions of believing such fallacies with out using rationality.

The Jews Poison the Wells

I found the claim of the masses: “the Jews are poisoning the wells”, the most unreasonable and ridiculous claim.
Firstly, if Jews were jealous of the Christians as the masses said, then why the Jews only poisoned the poor people, and not the rich nobility. I can tell from the claim that Jews were minority, and they were not living too comfortable. It doesn’t make sense to be jealous of others who are as poor as them, and leave the rich nobility alone. If Jews really did poison the Christians due to “jealousy”, the nobles and the nobility of the church would definitely be Jews’ first target. They wouldn’t just kill the poor and leave the nobility alive.
Secondly, the plague died out in the winters and was resurrected in the springs. If the real cause of the plague was Jews poisoning the wells, then why would they stop in every winter and restart at spring? This doesn’t even make sense at all.
I think this claim implied that the Jews were minority and nobody liked them. Therefore, when this deadly plague happened, people just blamed the Jews. My personal reaction is not to blame the fault on someone else if you don’t have real evidence. Otherwise, you might cause someone trouble or even one’s live.

The Jews are Poisoning the Wells

The Jews were poisoning the wells is a logical fallacy. There are a few logically fallacies to that statement. There isn't any solid proof that the Jews were behind the black plague, beyond the confessions of those who were tortured. To that point there have been studies done since then that show that a person (or people) who is tortured will confess to anything given the method of torture and the length of time tortured. Groups such as the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights and Physicians for Human Rights have documented the psychological and physical effects of torture on humans. Torture isn't the most accurate method of gaining a truthful confession from anyone. The person (or persons) tortured will agree to anything even death to get the torture to stop. Being that this was the method for extracting the confessions it doesn't have much validity.
Also one must take a look at the fact that there were many Jews that died during the plague sheds some light on how ridiculous this theory is. Why would any race, community or civilization knowingly poison itself because they were "jealous of Christians"? Beyond that question, it can't even be proven that they Jews were jealous Christians because they were "damned". Another factor that makes the above statement ridiculous is the fact that the plague hit different regions with different levels of mortality. "Some towns had 90% dead while others only had 10%." One would think that if the Jews were poisoning the water there wouldn't be such a wide variance on the number of those who were affected. If it were a systematic destruction of the water system the mortality levels wouldn't vary as much as they did from town to town.
What about the areas that did not have any Jews, those areas were affected as well?

The underlying assumption during the time was that of anti-Semitism. Europe during the middle ages was largely Christians and any other religion, including Judaism, would be in the minority. It can be easy for a majority group to mistreat and persecute a minority group. There was a destructive disease sweeping across the continent at a rapid pace, and people were looking for an explanation. They were grasping at straws, they needed a quick and easy solution for their problem, and they chose the Jews as the explanation for their problems.

“The Jews are poisoning the Wells.”

Question.1
I found that the claim “The Jews are poisoning the Wells.” Has logical fallacies. One of them is that the claim was based on the rumor made by the masses. Even though they did not have a clear source supporting their claim, the influence or power of the masses was huge once it is likely to be true for them. Before it was accepted by the masses, it had to be checked whether it was true or not. However, they accepted the rumor as the truth due to non-logical procedure. Another fallacy is the lack of reasonable thinking or communication. The actual cause of plague is poor sanitation as the mayors and town-controlling nobles claimed, but the masses did not pay attention. Because of plague, they were extremely emotion by just looking at the bodies of families; they were not possible to think reasonablely. If they were thinking reasonably, they could have a communication with the Jews before such tragic event happened.

Question.2
I assumed that the Jews were discriminated by the masses. My personal reaction is that think and think before you say a word. Even a tongue can take many lives away.

God’s Wrath

The Roman Catholic Church’s claim is the best explanation of this massive death issues in 1347-1351. The church made a statement that it was a punishment for the people’s sins which is very true. In order to support this claim I choose two logical explanations from my view point. First, just think about a minute why we are in the world? How we came here and after the death where are we going? What is the purpose of living in the world? While I was reading the background of the story these questions came to my mind. I simply figure out from the religious view point is that the God creates the world and the human bean for some specific reasons such as we should pray for the God, live a discipline life and so on. But we the human bean forget all about the purpose of the creation of the God and do whatever we like. Many times people don’t have any control of their behavior as a result the crimes increase. It is not necessarily true that individual’s behavior can’t change the God’s wrath. The problem is if everyone thinks them as an individual to commit the crimes then it will increase day by day. The people at that time were much illiterate, so they only saw that the alter individuals behavior is not a solution of this problem and some what they were determine not to change their horrific behavior. For an example, instated of doing my assignment of this class if I go to a bar with my friends can’t help me to get an A in this class. On the other hand, if I spend time in a library to complete my assignment will definitely help me to get a good grade. Secondly, the nature has ability to keep a balance in the earth. If the crimes increase so much that it is not preventable then the nature takes actions automatically. To make it simple I could say it is similar with the ECO SYSTEM. For an example, if deer increase in a forest then there is a possibility to increase the tighter in the same area. As a result, in few days the deer of this forest will decrees because the tighter will kill more deer. Long after, the tigers will be dying for not to having enough deer. This rotation will keep continue until it makes a balance. As the church says, “Look around, plunder, looting, rape, prostitution, war and drinking were everywhere” the statement and after the massive death from 1347-1351 makes a clear significant of the Eco System. If the disaster doesn’t happen then the society can’t keep balance between bad and good. The church was just trying to send a message about the deserter and be aware people about their own behavior. I personally agree with the church.

Mayor and Town Controlling Nobles

The claim made by Mayors and town controlling nobles contains at least two logical fallacies. The revolutionary claim says,” dumping waste in the streets leads to sickness”. Definitely dumping waste in the streets leads to sickness but it does not have to be a Plague. In the reading it is mentioned that most of the deaths were from the plague… stale food does produce bacteria but it necessarily does not lead to plague… there are lot of other sickness such as Malaria, cholera etc but coming out of waste. The second claim says “the sanitation workers were among the first to die, and other diseases were suspected to be related to poor sanitation”. If the sanitation workers were to be died then, it would have continued to die where as it says that after sometime, they felt that sanitation workers had a good immune power and they were able to resist the poor sanitation related problems. Their claim contradicts in itself.

Personally I feel that mayor and town controlling noble person were not able to perform what they were supposed to do and with the incident of plague, they blamed their frustrations to others. We can still see such behavior in today’s world. Just look at the Wall Street, one after another corporate house is submitting a loss balance sheet and blaming it to the Financial Crisis.

The Jews are Poisoning the Wells...

One of the fallacies I identify is that “The Jews were believed to be jealous of the Christians.” I consider that is not true because there is no true evidence of that statement. Christians believe that everyone that is not a Christian is wrong. Christians think that if somebody does not follow the Christian’s beliefs is committing a sin and is going to go to hell. I do not believe the Jews were jealous of the Christians, I am more certain the Christians were probably jealous of the Jews because they actually had the gods to believe in something different and express their own religion. Furthermore, the plague was for everybody at that moment, not only for certain people of certain religion.

The other fallacy stated by the mass is that “The Jews are poisoning the wells.” That statement is false since it sounds like complete discrimination. By facts and according to the background reading, the plague “died out in the winter and was resurrected in the springs.” Clearly, the plague was seasonal and it had nothing to do with the Jews. The religion of one person does not affect an infection at all. The masses were discriminating the Jews and they were making excuses to blame them for the plague.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa used to describe the Jews in one of his theological writings describing Jews as “slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, enemies of God, haters of God, adversaries of grace, enemies of their fathers' faith, advocates of the devil, brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, leaven of the Pharisees, congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, stoners, and haters of goodness'.” That shows us that there has always been discrimination against Jews and that the claim of the masses “The Jews are poisoning the wells” is a complete fallacy, a true act of discrimination.

The Jews Poisoning the Wells

I chose the claim that the Jews were poisoning the wells because I can see there are some logical fallacies with the statement. Firstly, since Jews were the minority and the Christians were the majority, they discriminated Jews as someone very jealous and unique. That is why the Christians considered that the Jews must be the one who are envious and wanted to kill the Christians. This claim as I can see later is totally false because the plague spread to places where there were no Jews. Then how come they were the one spreading or causing the disease. Many Jews died too then that does not make sense that they were infecting their own communities and killing themselves.
Secondly, the statement that Jews were poisoning the wells since 1320 after the typhus breaks is completely false because the Christians came up with this claim long after the typhus break started. They thought the Jews were doomed and the Jews knew that that is the reason they poisoned the wells. But the typhus outbreak was in 1320 long before the Black Plague started. So, this reason claims that the Christians were totally wrong in their thinking. Since they believed they were the “masses”, they thought of the Jews as someone poor, unhealthy, and dangerous. They just tried to relate it somehow and blame it on the Jews.
The claims above I discussed are the fallacies at that time. I personally believe that since one was born Jew does not mean that he or she is bad. And what the “masses” believed at that time was completely wrong. The Jews did not cause the disease because the reasons I claimed above proves that. There must be other reasons that caused the disease and people did not think of the main cause at that time and blamed the minorities, the Jews.

The Church

1. The church claimed that the reason the plague came about is that God's wrath was falling upon the people. The sins of the people were the cause of the plague. I would not be surprised if a major part of society believed this was the cause. By the church saying that sins were the cause of the plague and using examples, such as the Great Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah, you would think the church would see that mankind had not changed since those times and the same sins that were never taken out of the society. Instead of pointing fingers, the church should have made a bigger campaign for social reform and call upon people's souls to decide whether they wanted the plague to continue, or for it to stop. Also, it would be for the generations to come who would have to eventually face another wrath of God. Although I don't think this would ever realistically happen. People are always selfish and rarely looking out for the common good. I kind of agree with the people's attitudes of just letting people be because the wrath had already come down. I find it interesting that people, whether now or then, have that kind of dismissive attitude. In a way, I think I would have done the same thing. I would have thought rather than deprive myself of the forbidden things I enjoy, why not take advantage of what's going on and forget about the consequences. I wouldn't think about the consequences because they would already be occuring and there would be no reason to think about what's going to happen in the future for your misdeeds, because you are already paying for your misdeeds. Also, you figure you can be sinful because everyone else is and you feel if you try to do the right thing, it won't matter because the bad outweigh the good.


2. I think that the church has always played a big role in history, especially in Judeo-Christianity. I find the people to let an authority, like the chuch, tell you when/where/why/who/how. The church is notourious for using tactics to get people to try to get people to reform. For example, telling a child they are doing something bad doesn't exactly mean the child will obide by not doing it. However, if you tell a child not to do something or else they will get a spanking, they will usually obide by the rule. The church can do the same. They can tell the people that they should not do what they are doing or they will go to hell, and the people are more likely to pay attention.
I find this tactic common, however it is sad that this is what has to happen for people to obide by God's laws. I'm not sure that I would actually listen to the church if they told me this, because I don't listen to people when threatened or chastised. However, I feel like the church does the same thing throughout history. I don't find it wrong but don't find right either. I'm fairly indifferent to it being right or wrong.

God's Wrath

Question 1:
During the medieval times the Roman Catholic Church played a dominant role in society, which is why the people believed what they were told by the church. This is a logical fallacy because the church was able to make people believe that the black plague was caused by God’s wrath due to its size and influence on the people of this time. It can be argued that this was not the case at all. Now we can argue that the plague was caused by bacteria spread by fleas with the help of the black rat, which lived close with the lower class people. Poor sanitation also contributed to the disease being spread so vastly.
Another Logical Fallacy is the statement by the Roman Catholic Church that “it was a punishment for the people's sins.” This is incorrect because even monasteries which were filled with religious people such as monks were greatly affected by the plague. Monks are known to be strictly religious people and wouldn’t commit sins. Also even the nobility of the church was affected by the plague to a certain extent. Not greatly because they lived in better living condition than the lower class. Therefore, if people that were not sinners were dying, then people sinning would not be a logical reasoning for why the people were dying.

Question 2:
Had the Roman Catholic Church not been such a dominant entity in medieval European society, this statement would not have been believed by anyone. I believe that the church saying that the plague was a result of god’s wrath to punish the sinners in society was used in order to scare people into doing the right things and following the word of church and god more strictly to be better christians.

The Jews Are Poisoning The Wells

The claim I chose is the masses: The Jews are poisoning the wells. I felt that this claim is not reasonable in many ways. The most obvious one said that “the plague is died out in the winters and was resurrected in the springs.” What if Jews are poisoning the wells, then why they stopped poisoning the wells during the winter? It can only tell us that whatever killing the people are not by the poisonous water, but the toxic gas from the Italian ship on the black sea dock in Messina, Sicily. In addition, if Jews were jealous of Christians, why did they kill other races of people? Plague was spread throughout the whole Europe and not just a specific country. I don’t believe that Jews were planning to kill all the Europeans. It did not accord with the law of Jews. From what I know, most Jews did everything in accordance with the Bible, the Bible is their law. So it is not reasonable for them to kill. They must not allow to poison the wells and kill the people.

From my opinion, those four claims all have some mistakes. If I have to choose one, I would rather say that bad sanitation is one of the most reasonable causes that can spread the disease of Europe, because just as the article said that poor and anyone live in close quarters were having highest rate of death. People who lived in close quarters for some reasons must had worse sanitation than other areas. So it was much easier for them to spread germs of the plague.

The Strength of the Church

For the Black Plague assignment I chose to speak about the claim that the Jews were poisoning the wells. It is important to remember that during the 14th century there was no such thing as the internet (obviously) and most people were illiterate. Because of this the primary way of educating oneself was through stories and pictures (paintings). Now there was only so many places one could do this, in your home from parents and elders or the Church. Beliefs and morals were passed down from generations past. So it is natural, that Jews were believed to the cause of many of the world’s hardships, because they were the focus point or blame for hundreds of stories which became traditions. The Christians felt that the jews had to get back or punish those who have longed hurt them. Now take into account that Jews were being tortured into confessing and you had an explanation of why and the answer of whom. For most people this was enough to put to rest any more questions. The one thing lacking was how, like I said earlier there was no internet which then includes any sort of expedited news or communication services. This meant two things first it meant it would be impossible for a group of individuals to organize such a massive attack, and the method of poisoning would not be known between different countries. Information on all topics of life was very secular as evidence between neighboring countries; even closely situated towns had completely different traditions and values. The one common thing between people was the Church, the church was more powerful than the government because those laws were created by man, yet the laws of the church were mandated from Heaven. It is very easy to understand and side with the assumption that the church was the view of reasoning and discovered the final answer to many issues. The use of divine right and the word of God was very powerful today, let alone 600 years ago. As evidence from the story, Science and Medicine was largely based on the use of Astronomy and Astrology, this school of thought was nowhere near the reasoning and power of the Catholic Church. The logical fallacies of this answer to the black plague was simply the inability to organize an attack like this, and the fact that jews were among those who died, no person is going to poison themselves to avoid an accusation, and if this in fact was a way for jews to get back at the Church then more of the nobility of it would have been affected and evidence shows this was not the case.

Triple Conjunction

I chose the argument on the triple conjunction because it seems to be the road less taken and I figured I would change things up a little. Reading that the cause of a deadly plague, which was responsible for wiping out 1/3 of Europe, was an astronomical event seems a bit comical to someone living in a time of advanced medicine and technology. During the 14th century however, astrology was used to explain medical issues. Similar to how some people used to believe paying money to wipe away sins would grant them their spot in heaven, some people believed the stars were responsible for more than illuminating the night sky.

This "theory" of the triple conjunction, only believed by just the physicians and academics, contains many logical fallacies that render it unacceptable as truth. The biggest logical fallacy that sticks out to me is the number of triple conjunctions that have occurred which were not followed by any plagues or other natural disasters responsible for eradicating a significant number of the population. According to nationmaster.com, which is an online encyclopedia, there have and will be a total of 79 triple conjunctions between 1800-2100. In fact two triple conjunctions are due to occur this year alone. Maybe with the combined power of two triple conjunctions the economic recession will come to an end. Doubt it. If a triple conjunction was responsible for the Black Plague, the world would have been hit with at least 56 more disasters in the last 100 years alone. This theory just doesn't hold water when considering the history of triple conjunctions.

The second biggest logical fallacy I found is the fact that some towns showed a death toll of 90% while others had a death toll of 10% and the fact that people living in close quarters died at a much higher rate than the nobility and the nobility of the church. If an astronomical event were to cause the Black Plague it wouldn't discriminate from town to town or between the rich and the poor. An astronomical event should be distributed evenly over an area, the way both the rich and poor can see the little dipper and the way someone from the Bronx and someone from Long Island can both see an eclipse. There should be no discrimination.

Academics and physicians, then and now, always seek an explanation for out of the ordinary events. Explanations beyond those of the religious sector and popular belief. The main tool on the belt of physicians and astronomers in the 14th century was astronomy. A triple conjunction is an event that certainly doesn't happen every year. In fact, according to nationmaster.com, their average occurrence is generally once every ten years. While ten years is a relatively short time when it comes to current science standards, ten years was considered a much longer time 600 years ago. When the Black Plague broke out, academics and physicians scrambled for an explanation and all astronomy granted them was a rare occurrence that happened two years before the first outbreak. The academics and physicians offered up their explanation and rightly, no one believed it. 

Black plaque and Ignorance

My observation after reading this article point me to the following two wrong hypothesis;

1. The Church was the most powerful organization in that time in whole Europe. They were also the most richest organization too. Every historical facts will prove that. I believe that church took the chance to deceive the ignorant mass people by their religious feelings. People believed church more than than anything. Moreover, church took this chance to increase it's power and wealth more by deceiving them. Still, Prostitution, rape , murder and other crimes happen everyday.We can not blame anyone without us for that. As an example, a doctor can use a scissors to save a life where as a murderer use that for killing life. We can not blame scissors here. We must have to blame the user behind it. God never plays a role here. The church tool their stunts only to increase more power and wealth in that time which is completely illogical.

2. Astrology and astronomy have nothing to do with this black plague. People believe zodiac signs when they feel helpless. People were helpless in that time. They did not know whom to blame. Astrologers and academicians of that took that chance to deceive the helpless mass people. Astrology and astronomers do not have anything to do with plague. So, it was a complete false logic to say that it was the result of triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars on March.

Jews Poison Water Wells

The Claim I chose is the Jews were responsible for the Black Plaque because they poisoned the water wells

Question 1

The first thing that’s wrong with this claim is that during the 1340s the only means of transportation were boats which took months to travel to other countries. This makes it impossible for one group of people to travel to another country poisoning the water wells because the disease wouldn’t have spread as quickly. Also there were no phones or anyway to simultaneously communicate with other groups to carry out such a global attack. Another thing that doesn’t make sense is the amount of people that died, even if someone was poising the well it would have took a very strong poison that didn’t affect the taste or color of water and tons of it to kill all of those people. Even in today’s world which is much more advance carrying in out such a plot to kill so many people by poisoning the water would be difficult.

Question 2

The underlying principle behind this explanation for the black plaque is the basis that the Jews confessed to carrying out the attacks and that they were jealous of the Christians. I think this assumption is ridiculous because anyone being tortured like the Jews were would have agreed to anything for the torturing to stop. For arguments sake lets say the Jews poisoned all of the wells, then where would they drink water from, in order to prove the Jews were responsible you would then have to prove that they were affected the least by the plaque. Even if they were “jealous” of the Christians why would they carry out such a vicious attack that not even they could escape from? The death rates of the nobility and the nobility of the church were low and if the Jews were attacking the churches they would have been among those most affected.

Santation

I choose the claim of “Poor Sanitation” because there were some fallacies by the background reading. One was rate of people’s death and the second was time concerns.

 

1)   According to the background reading, “the death rates among the nobility and the nobility of the church were very low”, if the plague caused by sanitation, no matter who should be dying, there were undependable situation. Why only nobility or the nobility of the church didn't dye? Everyone was at the risk of getting disease or dying from the poor sanitation. 

 

2)   If it was really caused by poor sanitation, it won't stop unless someone takes actions to avoid it. According to the reading “The plague died out in the winters and was resurrected in the springs.” It is started from Italian ships on the Black Sea, however if it was by water then wouldn’t have season to resurrect.

 

3)    In my personal opinion, none of those evidences make no sense to me. Evidence of the Roman Catholic Church was “God's wrath -- it was a punishment for the people's sins.” It could be the way of advocate people to trust or interest about the religion. Surprisingly they were many religious protests during the time therefore plague could be caused by religious prospect.