The essay, On Nation and Race, by Adolph Hitler poses a contention that, with an open mind, would seem like it posed some strong arguments; however, after closer inspection, the weight of the argument relies heavily on a false analogy. A false analogy is one of the many common fallacies found in everyday comments and opinions. Hitler hoped that by presenting a commonly known fact to his readers and comparing it to something that seemed related to it, that the one could give evidence for the other; nevertheless, like most analogies, his argument was very descriptive without offering any proof of the connection between the two things being compared.
Hitler tried to argue that because “every animal mates only with a member of the same species,” people of different races couldn’t mate with each other, because it is also unnatural. His goal of the argument was to get the reader to recognize this connection as proof that “racial purity” is validated by nature. He actually makes a thorough comparison by using examples like finches and finches can only mate together, and field mice and field mice can only mate together, and not in any other combination. Then he drifts form this argument into another argument based more on natural selection than on his first contention based on the “natural analogy”.
Hitler’s argument is a faulty argument for two reasons. The argument tries to compare two things that cannot accurately be compared. One cannot hold that the human race naturally behaves like the animal kingdom, because they are not naturally similar in most ways. For instance animals do not mate for the same reasons that humans may mate.
The Essay on Arguments for and Against Keeping Animals in Zoos
Zооs аrguе thаt thеy sаvе еndаngеrеd spеciеs аnd еducаtе thе public, but аnimаl rights аctivists bеliеvе thе cоsts оutwеigh thе bеnеfits, аnd the viоlatiоn оf thе right оf thе individuаl аnimаls is unjustifiаblе. Rоаdsidе zооs, pеtting zооs, аnd smаllеr аnimаl еxhibitоrs tеnd tо kееp thе аnimаls in smаllеr pеns оr cаgеs. Sоmеtimеs, bаrrеn cоncrеtе аnd mеtal bаrs is аll а tigеr оr bеаr will knоw ...
The argument also attempts to convince its readers that a specific human race and the human species are the same thing. He wants the reader to assume that they are the same so that it fits the analogy. Hitler contends that because a dog and a cat cannot naturally mate, then a person that is from one race cannot mate with another person of another race and have it be natural; nevertheless, if compared correctly, the argument would be that because it is not natural for dogs and cats to mate, then it is not natural for humans and cats to mate. Nature proves that it is impossible for unlike species to mate, but it is perfectly natural for specific types in that similar species to mate. For example, the cat and dog cannot mate, but a Siamese cat and a Calico cat could mate. Similarly, a human and a cat may not be able to mate, but a black person and an Asian person could mate. Thus, the race of a human is not the same as the whole of the species, and Hitler is simply comparing two thins totally unrelated.
Reading Hitler’s argument under closer examination allows its reader to discover that it is faulty, and most likely invalid for that reason; however, imagining what the impact that the argument would have had on someone who did not examine it carefully, reveals the influence it may have had on Hitler’s followers. Recognizing fallacies is an important tool in analyzing the validity to arguments. So important, that it may have saved 11 million lives.
