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Good Reasons to Study Logic
Logic In Validating Arguments
If we train ourselves to construct complex arguments and are able to spot the weak ones, we can move towards what is authentic and avoid the traps.
Being able to study internal reasoning is a useful skill in any field.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Convince Them With Confidence
- Speak confidently, be concise, and try not to repeat yourself.
- Give the appearance that you truly know what’s right from the beginning, even if you don’t have all o...
Avoid Common Argument Fallacies
Winning an argument often comes down to who can go the longest without contradicting themselves and keeping sound logic, not direct persuasion of the other party.
Anecdotal Fallacy
Using a single personal experience as the foundation of your argument or your big piece of evidence.
For example, your phone may have broken right after you bought it, but you can’t use that to argue that those phones are not worth the purchase for others.
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Key Ideas
The Gish gallop
It is a rhetorical technique that involves overwhelming your opponent with numerous vague arguments, with no regard for accuracy, validity, or relevance of those arguments.
Examples of Gish gallops
A classic example is when a proponent of some pseudoscience bombards an expert with many weak arguments and start a new argument each time the expert successfully refute one of them.
But Gish gallops also appear in less formal contexts. E.g., someone who wants to support an unfounded stance on social media might post a huge list of irrelevant sources that they didn't actually read.
Arguments within a Gish gallop
When responding to specific arguments within a Gish gallop, you can use certain techniques to respond effectively to the flawed arguments.
- When someone states there is support for their stance, you can ask your opponent to list the specific evidence they claim support their view.
- When responding to generalised claims, show that they contradict the scientific consensus on the topic.
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Key Ideas
Cherry picking
It is a logical fallacy and it happens when we choose and focus only on evidence that supports our views and arguments while ignoring anything that may contradict us.
The problem with cherry picking
- It fails to take into consideration all the available information
- It presents information in a misleading way.
- It might lead to improper analysis and might cause someone to paint a misleading picture of a certain outcome.
The principle of total evidence
Also referred to as Bernoulli’s maxim, it states that, when assessing the probability that a certain hypothesis is true, we must take into account all the available information.