I have been on this blockchain going on two weeks. In this short time span, I have noticed how reasonable and thoughtful the posts and comments have been. It got me to missing all of the different logical fallacies I would encounter daily while navigating other sites, so I thought I'd make a list of the 5 Logical Fallacies that i miss the most since joining Steemit.
What are Fallacies and Why Are They Important?
According to The Satndford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, fallacies are, "deceptively bad arguments." We can find many of these (the IEP states that there are over 200 of them) on many of our favorite online platforms. And for those of us that like watching the train-wreck that is Cable News (I'm looking at you CNN), there are an abundance of them.
The avoidance of fallacies are important, but difficult to accomplish all of the time. They are important to avoid because it signals to your audience (be it millions of people worldwide, or our coworker at the office) that we are honest in your disagreements. The avoidance of fallacies is a clear sign that we are more interested in learning, than we are about being "right" or "winning"the argument.
So these are the 5 Logical Fallacies that I miss the most since joining this community:
5. The Tu Quoque Fallacy (The Appeal to Hypocrisy)
This fallacy concerns itself with this notion: "I may have done something wrong, but you did something wrong, too."
Obviously, if we were to continue this argument to its logical conclusion, then neither of us would be to blame and it's neither of our fault.
This is when a question is asked, with the answer presupposed. So, basically, the question is framed in a manner in which it is difficult to answer in a way that is not how the person asking you the question wants you to answer. An example of this is, "have you stopped beating your wife?" It presupposes that you have been your wife up until now!
This is a very popular fallacy (the remaining ones all are), and it is very common in the media. It goes something like this: "Breaking News (isn't everything these days)! A former Senior Official has told CNN that blah blah blah." So just because he/she is in a position of "authority" we are to believe them?
2. Straw man
This occurs when someone builds up a completely different argument than the one you are expressing, in order to make it easier for their argument to sound more reasonable.
Finally...1. Ad Hominem
This is my favorite fallacy, because one doesn't even have to counter the argument... They can just be called "mean" or "crazy" and that's it.
So these are the 5 logical fallacies that I miss the most since joining Steemit!
Upvotes are welcome, comments are encouraged, and feel free to follow me
