Logical Fallacies

[GandK]

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/assets ... herRes.jpg

[Dragline]

That's a nice summary. Most public discourse/opinion articles seem to contain one or more these. I find a good way to save time is to stop reading/listening as soon as I see or hear one.

[jacob]

@Dragline - That would be the fallacy fallacy (upper right corner)

[Dragline]

Touche!

[Dragline]

Here's the Extended Dance Remix version I ran into this evening:

https://bookofbadarguments.com/?view=flipbook

[GandK]

Nice!

[FreeyourShackles]

Pretty cool, yet it's best to attempt a logical debate, then to be silenced by fools.

[Dragline]

I have to tell you, though, that the false dilemma is one of the most successful parenting strategies. As in "Would you like to go to bed with a snack, or just a glass of water?"

We fall for this all the time when we only see the choices that are presented (never retire and consume lots of stuff or work 45 years and retire to consume lots of stuff) and not the ones that are possible (don't work so long and consume less stuff). And then people often get angry when you order off the menu or leave the restaurant altogether.

[Dragline]

Yes, I agree. A lot of these correlate to observations in Behavioral Economics about irrational actions of human beings in controlled (and uncontrolled) settings.

And one of its practical precursors, Marketing 101. People don't continue to read Eddie Bernays 1928 classic, "Propaganda" for nothing! Logic is only persuasive with limited audiences and for limited periods of time.

[GandK]

The debater that would stick to the rules would probably win the battle but lose the war.

Very true. We all get to see many practical examples of this in every election cycle.

[Dragline]

Had to share this -- the adventures of "Fallacy Man":

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/9

[Felix]

[Seneca]

I particularly loved "gold guy" wearing the V for Vendetta shirt.

[jennypenny]

David McRaney, author of You Are Not So Smart, is doing an entire season of podcast episodes on logical fallacies. He suggests starting with the first episode (Fallacy Fallacy), but I don't think it's entirely necessary. It's an interesting episode though. They discuss 'fallacy spotting' and dismissing someone's conclusion because of a fallacy in their argument, both of which happen occasionally here. McRaney mentions Paul Graham's 2008 prescient essay How to Disagree as a kind of basis for the series. There won't be much new for you bias/fallacy experts, but I always enjoy McRaney's discussions.

1. Fallacy Fallacy

2. Strawman Fallacy

3. Black and White Fallacy

4. No True Scotsman Fallacy

[Dragline]

+1 -- I've been listening to those.

[BRUTE]

you know who else committed logical fallacies? hitler!

[Dragline]

you know who else committed logical fallacies? hitler!

Hah! Brute is forgetting to only talk about himself and his views in the third person.

The new leitmotif grows on me.

[BRUTE]

brute fails to see where he referred to himself in the quote. he did use a direct second person pronoun instead of using another human's name, but since the quote was actually a quote of someone else, brute decided it was ok to violate directive. maybe he should have used quote marks.

in any case, brute appreciates the neural network inside of Dragline's grey matter getting accustomed to his patterns.

[jennypenny]

I'm really enjoying these. I liked this week's on the conjunction fallacy. I liked the point about distinguishing between plausible and probable. Anyway, here are more links ...

5. Texas Sharpshooter fallacy

6. The Dunning-Kruger Effect: Why we are unaware of how unaware we are (David Dunning is the guest)

7. How to get the most out of realizing you are wrong by using Bayes’ Theorem to update your beliefs

8. Begging the question

9. Special Pleading and Moving the Goalposts

10. the Genetic fallacy

11. the Conjunction fallacy (no link yet, but available on itunes)

[daylen]

Many of these fallacies are implicitly learned from studying logic, mathematics, and statistics. Perhaps that is why so many people are susceptible to them (lack of mathematical education).

I know people say this about every subject, but....they should teach this stuff explicitly in school.