Gadarene Swine
From the Gospel of Luke:
8:26 And they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is over against Galilee.
8:27 And when he was come forth upon the land, there met him a certain man out of the city, who had demons; and for a long time he had worn no clothes, and abode not in any house, but in the tombs.
8:28 And when he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I beseech thee, torment me not.
8:29 For he [Jesus] was commanding the unclean spirit to come out from the man. For oftentimes it had seized him: and he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters; and breaking the bands asunder, he was driven of the demon into the deserts.
8:30 And Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he said, Legion; for many demons were entered into him.
8:31 And they [the demons] entreated him [Jesus] that he would not command them to depart into the abyss [Hell].
8:32 Now there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they [the demons] entreated him [Jesus] that he would give them [the demons] leave to enter into them [the swine]. And he gave them leave.
8:33 And the demons came out from the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the steep into the lake [the Sea of Galilee], and were drowned.
Gadarene swine are thus demon-possessed pigs that drown themselves. Sort of like lemmings with serious delusions. The term is sometimes applied to mass panic.
The Gadarene Swine Fallacy is a type of logical fallacy [here].
The GSF is the fallacy of supposing that because a group is in the right formation, it is necessarily on the right course; and conversely, of supposing that because an individual has strayed from the group and isn’t in formation, that he is off course. The individual may seem lost to the group but not off course to an ideal observer.
The group may be demon-possessed and rushing to commit group suicide. The individual who departs from the group may be the only sane one.
We offer these literary and philosophical references to those who need them. Just in case you were looking for a term to describe certain social movements. The terms “Luddite”, “enviro-loony”, “Global Warming Alarmist”, and “Congressperson” are overworked, and we have been guilty of that, and are fatigued of those terms.
“Gadarene swine” is a handy substitute. Now, if we happen to use it in the future, you will know what we’re talking about.
