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Epoch Times - Making the Case for Climate RealismRecently, I attended a conference in New York City entitled "Global Warming: Was It Ever Really a Crisis?" Sponsored by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based nonpartisan public policy think tank, it was attended by over 600 scientists, economists, and policy makers who cha …
The latest "Obama = Hitler" shenanigans: Too stupid even for the Hitler Zombie...Remember the Hitler Zombie? He doesn't show up all that much anymore. The reason is not because a lot of brain dead Nazi analogies aren't being used to demonize political opponents.
When Talk Radio Rants Go Wrong - Conor Friedersdorf on Republican HyperboleIn an earlier post, I promised to grapple with the way political ideas spread. The medium that's interested me most lately is talk radio. Though every host is different, I've spent some time listening to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.
5 Ways 'Common Sense' Lies To You EverydayAlbert Einstein said common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of 18. It is also a result of some pervasive and extremely stupid logical fallacies that have become embedded in the human brain over generations, for one reason or another.
Public Intellectual 2.0Good news! There's access to this Chronicle of Higher Ed article! So go read it, all ye public intellectuals! Right now! By DANIEL W. DREZNER
Racism Without Racists One of the fallacies this election season is that if Barack Obama is paying an electoral price for his skin tone, it must be because of racists. On the contrary, the evidence is that Senator Obama is facing what scholars have dubbed "racism without racists."
The Most Dangerous Economic Fallacies of Fact and TheoryThings I think about while driving: What is the fallacy of fact and fallacy of theory that the reasonably well-informed layperson believes about economics that are most in need of correction? That is, which ones do the most damage? Here's are my nominees:
The Woolly-Thinkers Guide to RhetoricHere you'll find top tips for besting your enemies. As employed by the world's best woolly-thinkers.
Ben Stein has been talking a lot about evolution, science, and freedom of speech, recently. Ben says that "Darwinism" (that manufactured and undefined hobby-horse of American religious cranks) should be opened up to criticism.
At OpEdNews: Hillary's Favorite FallaciesAny student of logic has to be astonished that the five most important arguments being advanced on behalf of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination are fallacious.
Hillary Clinton has claimed that she brought peace to Northern Ireland, that she was instrumental in bringing about the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), that she was sent on dangerous missions as first lady that were far too dangerous for the President himself, …
If you search Newsvine's full text for "no true Scotsman," you will find that fallacies are alive and well, here. Mostly you will find it because they are often identified and labeled as such, and yet somehow this does not seem to stem the tide.
Open Houses DO NOT Sell Real Estate... Surprise!One of the least effective ways of selling a house is by holding an Open House! Why do people still insist on having them?!?
In his article What Feminism Has Rot [sic], author TheSharpenedPen asserts that feminism is killing us, and makes the following argument:Violence among young girls is sharply on the rise.Reported problems dealt with by teachers differ sharply between those reported in 1940 and th …
How the Right Wing Embraces and Promotes "Magical Thinking"The GOP is a like a bowler with a lucky shirt, an angler with a lucky lure. Every right-wing failure is wiped out with a single, coincidental success. Magic is just the slick cover story that people are prepared to buy into for emotional reasons.
I'm sure many of you are well aware of the concept of logical fallacies. For instance, everyone probably knows about the straw man, the ad hominem, the non sequitur, and so on. What surprises me is how few people know about one of the most common logical fallacies: equivocation.
You'll regularly see this implied argument used online and on Newsvine-- "Oh, yeah? Well, [infamous person X] totally agreed with you! We know how crazy he was!" This is the classic "Guilt by Association" tactic, which is a subset of an informal fallacy known as a "Red Herring. …
I have lately been confronted by individuals assuring me that I should accept their arguments based on the fact that they are an authority on the subject under discussion.
Very often in personal conversations and in online debates, arguments can become heated. Assertions fly, and tempers flare. Almost inevitably, the conversation reaches the following impasse: I'm entitled to my opinion. Is this, in fact, true?
At one time in America, there were people who thought the mullet was cool. I kid you not.
Edward Kennedy, the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, opposed the nomination of Supreme Court judicial nominee Robert Bork. Shortly following the announcement of his nomination, Sen. Kennedy made the following statement on the Senate floor:
This is the fourth in a series on logical fallacies. The previous articles discussed argumentum ad hominem , strawman, and tu quoque.
Tu quoque translates literally into "you too.' This logical fallacy is a form of ad hominem and is therefore a fallacy of relevance. In this fallacy, a premise is refuted on the basis that the person stating the premise makes the same error.
This is the second in a series on logical fallacies. The first article discussed argumentum ad hominem and can be found here.
In the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey makes the assertion that if you want to learn something, teach it.
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