In another segment of the film, King Arthur finds himself in the midst of a witch Trial. He listens to the towns people as they confront Sir Bedevere the Wise. The towns people accuse a woman of being a witch, because she is dressed like one (even though they are responsible for her outfit). Sir Bedevere states that there are other ways of determining whether the woman is a witch. He starts his explanation by stating that witches burn, and asks the peasants what else burns, to which they reply, “wood.” He then inquires the villagers as to how they can tell if the woman is made of wood, and they determine that since wood floats, if the woman floats, then she is made of wood. Nevertheless, before the villagers can test their theory, Sir Bedevere
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The towns folk’s enthusiasm to see a witch burn creates a prejudice against the woman. Due to their bias, they are not being autonomous, and therefore they do not allow themselves to inform their conscious of the right and most loving thing to do (which would be to let the woman go). We can also see the that Sir Bedevere the Wise, is not quite as wise as he appears. Sir Bedevere’s logic creates a fallacy of relevance against the woman. He ignores the issue that a woman is on trial to be burned to death or not, and instead attempts to discredit her. This takes the form of a formal fallacy. When Sir Bedevere asks what else burns the villagers reply that wood burns, and therefore witches are made of wood. However, many other things burn, and it is also obvious that the woman is not made of wood. Sir Bedevere then states that wood floats, however not all wood floats. Woods like Lignum Vitae sinks in water (Vincent, 2008). Sir Bedevere goes on to explain that ducks also float on water and therefore, anything that weighs the same or less than a duck, floats, and is therefore made of wood, which burns, and since witches burns, if the woman weighs the same or less than a duck, then she is a witch. The argument lacks the formality of deductive arguments, seeing as the first premise, witches are made of wood, has no correlation to the second premise, wood floats. Due to the lack of form we can see that Sir Bedevere lacks the ability to think autonomously, and therefore, does not use good reasoning
The towns folk’s enthusiasm to see a witch burn creates a prejudice against the woman. Due to their bias, they are not being autonomous, and therefore they do not allow themselves to inform their conscious of the right and most loving thing to do (which would be to let the woman go). We can also see the that Sir Bedevere the Wise, is not quite as wise as he appears. Sir Bedevere’s logic creates a fallacy of relevance against the woman. He ignores the issue that a woman is on trial to be burned to death or not, and instead attempts to discredit her. This takes the form of a formal fallacy. When Sir Bedevere asks what else burns the villagers reply that wood burns, and therefore witches are made of wood. However, many other things burn, and it is also obvious that the woman is not made of wood. Sir Bedevere then states that wood floats, however not all wood floats. Woods like Lignum Vitae sinks in water (Vincent, 2008). Sir Bedevere goes on to explain that ducks also float on water and therefore, anything that weighs the same or less than a duck, floats, and is therefore made of wood, which burns, and since witches burns, if the woman weighs the same or less than a duck, then she is a witch. The argument lacks the formality of deductive arguments, seeing as the first premise, witches are made of wood, has no correlation to the second premise, wood floats. Due to the lack of form we can see that Sir Bedevere lacks the ability to think autonomously, and therefore, does not use good reasoning