The beloved sitcom, How I Met Your Mother aired in the fall of 2005 and continued for nine seasons, ending in early 2014. Over the years, this CBS sitcom gained popularity as a funny and heartwarming show that filled the gap left by the end of the popular TV show Friends when it ended in 2004. Like many television shows, How I Met Your Mother also includes many key examples of logical fallacies, often to add comedic drama, conversational dialogue, or reveal errors in the character’s reasoning.
Logical fallacies are any kind of error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. This can include distorting or manipulating facts, drawing false conclusions, or distracting from the actual issue. There are many types of logical fallacies, but we will focus on events that include Ad hominem, circular reasoning, and post hoc.
In the Season 3 episode, Dowisetrepla, Ted, Barney, and Robin are talking about an argument that their married friends, Lily and Marshall, were fighting about. While Ted and Barney made guesses based on observation, Robin knew what Lilly and Marshall were fighting about because of a conversation she had had with Lilly.
Robin says, “I know what they were fighting about, and it wasn’t peanut butter.” Rather than listening to her, Ted replies, “I know what they were fighting about, and it wasn’t peanut butter.” An Ad Hominem argument attacks the individual making the argument while ignoring the argument itself. Ted’s retort had nothing to do with Robin’s argument but instead insulted her to undermine her argument.
In the season 5 episode Dual Citizenship, Robin, originally from Canada, is deciding whether or not to apply for American citizenship. During a conversation with her friend Barney, Barney states, “It’s not gonna be easy, this test. It’s not like the Canadian citizenship test.” When Robin asks how Barney knows the Canadian citizenship test is easy, he replies, “It’s Canada.” This is an example of circular reasoning because it relies on the conclusion being confirmed for the premise to be true. In this case, Barney believes the Canadian citizenship test is easy because it’s a Canadian citizenship test.
A post hoc fallacy claims that because two things occurred sequentially, the first event caused the second. This fallacy is the central piece of How I Met Your Mother, as the narrator, Ted, uses this argument to support his cause for storytelling. At the beginning of the show, Ted is sitting with his children and decides to tell them the story of how he met their mother. Although the way he met their mother is unrelated to the majority of the stories in the series, as Ted only meets his future wife in episode 207 out of 208 episodes. Still, because the events that occurred in the first 207 episodes eventually led to the day he met their mother, he includes them in his story.
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