Common Fallacies Of Logic And Rhetoric

[psia-antique]

Common Fallacies of logic and rhetoric:

• Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.

• Argument from "authority". Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavorable" decision).

• Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).

• Special pleading (typically referring to god's will).

• Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).

• Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).

• Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).

• Misunderstanding the nature of statistics

• Inconsistency Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down.

• Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect.

• Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).

• Excluded middle -considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is).

• Short-term v. long-term - a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?").

• Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle -unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).

• Confusion of correlation and causation.

• Straw man - caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.

• Suppressed evidence or half-truths.

• Weasel words - for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. "An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public" .

[Steph]

There are whole courses taught to help identify and understand these.

But people don't care about the mechanics of it. If it entertains 'em they watch. If it bores 'em they move on. If it gives 'em a headache, they get grumpy.

[steves mibs]

well imagine that

a post that can actually teach you something useful in life if you are just willing to let it

nice

thanks psia

steve

[Pinx]

Reference, please???

[LouisCamp]

Geeze, now we need reference? I thought Galen did away with the need for them a looooooong time ago.

Lou