fallacies
TagWhat Should Philosophers Teach in Quantitative Reasoning Courses? (guest post by Landon D.C. Elkind)
The following is a guest post* by Landon D.C. Elkind (University of Iowa) about the content of philosophy courses that satisfy general education requirements in quantitative or formal reasoning. It originally appeared on his blog. (more…)
Idiosyncratic Fallacies
P.D. Magnus collects fallacies, but not just any fallacies. He collects idiosyncratic fallacies, or “one-offs”. He explains: (more…)
Claims About Cultural Superiority (including guest post by Mollie Gerver)
All cultures are not equal. Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy. The culture of the Plains Indians was designed for nomadic hunters, but is not suited to a First World, 21st-century environment. Nor are the single-parent, antisocial habits, prevalent among some working-class whites; the anti-“acting white” r..
Do Philosophers Care Too Much About Fallacies?
I used to teach a course in critical thinking at Ghent University. As behooves a good skeptic, I first presented my students with the usual laundry list of fallacies, after which I invited them to put the theory into practice. Take a popular piece from the newspaper or watch a political debate, and try to spot the fallacies.
I no longer give that assignment. (m..
Logical Fallacies Through Funny Videos
There are online lists of logical fallacies , websites dedicated to explaining them, posters, children’s books, various videos, and, of course, memes. That many of the examples used to illustrate fallacies are humorous is no accident, as a lot of humor involves both upsetting expectations (e.g., saying something that deviates from what we think follows from what’s a..
Fallacy Ref Calls It
Fallacy Ref is the creation of Glen Welch, a performing arts critic for Red Publication. It’s “a series of image macros featuring an NFL referee calling fouls on invalid argument tactics and sneaky rhetoric.” Some examples:
I can see these coming in handy. You can read more about the project here and see more of the images on Fallacy R..
Colorful Fallacies Chart
The website Information Is Beautiful has put together a colorful chart of over 50 fallacies, sorted into six different categories. Created by David McCandless, it’s also available to purchase as a poster in multiple languages. Online versions are available in Chinese, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish.
UPDATE: Some of the entri..
On ‘Begs the Question’: A Poll
With alarming frequency I am hearing friends declare that we’ve lost “begs the question.” What used to be a distinctive phrase for the fallacy of assuming the truth of the very claim you are setting out to prove (aka petitio principii), “begs the question” is now widely used to mean “raises the question.” A Language Log post from over 4 years ago presented some data..