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Entries Tagged as 'Series'

Contra Mundum: Separating Church and State

September 2nd, 2011 87 Comments

Co-authored by Matthew and Madeleine Flannagan The late Philosopher Richard Rorty once described religion as a “conversation stopper”, something that polarises discussion and ends or prevents fruitful dialogue. Rorty was an advocate of, “the happy, Jeffersonian compromise that the Enlightenment reached with the religious. This compromise consists in privatizing religion — keeping it out of [...]

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Contra Mundum: Religion and Violence

June 1st, 2011 40 Comments

On 1 May 2011 the world received the news that Osama Bin Laden was dead; gunned down in Pakistan by an elite team of US Navy Seals. Even before his death Bin Laden had become a legendary persona. Not only was he a terrorist leader responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents but he [...]

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Friday Fallacy: Affirming the Consequent

May 13th, 2011 1 Comment

In my last Friday Fallacy post, I looked at the fallacy of  denying the antecedent. There I discussed conditional statements, statements of the form “if P then Q”. Examples would be statements such as “if it is raining then the grass will be wet” or “if the US had not shot Bin Laden then he would still [...]

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Fallacy Friday Podcast on Apologetics 315: Ad Populum (Appeals to Popularity)

May 13th, 2011 No Comments

Apologetics 315 are producing an audio version of Matt’s Fallacy Friday series. The Fallacy Friday Podcasts are released every Friday on Apologetics 315. You can subscribe using: • RSS Feed • iTunes • One-Click The Mp3 of Ad Populum (Appeals to Popularity) is here. To navigate the series in print, use the Fallacy Friday tag, to navigate MP3 [...]

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Contra Mundum: Stoning Adulterers

May 2nd, 2011 90 Comments

Back in 2005 there was a minor furore when Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary stated he agreed with the Koran’s teaching that people who engaged in homosexual conduct or who committed adultery should be stoned to death. In the media spiral that followed, some commentators pointed out that it was not just Islam that held this [...]

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Fallacy Friday: Denying the Antecedent

April 30th, 2011 30 Comments

This week I will look at the fallacy of denying the antecedent. Before I can elaborate exactly what is involved in this fallacy, it is important to introduce and analyse some valid arguments that are superficially similar. Modus Ponens One of the very first valid inferences one learns in logic is modus ponens. To use [...]

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Fallacy Friday Podcast on Apologetics 315: Petitio Principii (Begging the Question)

April 28th, 2011 No Comments

Apologetics 315 are producing an audio version of Matt’s Fallacy Friday series. The Fallacy Friday Podcasts are released every Friday on Apologetics 315. You can subscribe using: • RSS Feed • iTunes • One-Click The Mp3 of Petitio Principii (Begging the Question) is here. To navigate the series in print, use the Fallacy Friday tag, to navigate MP3 [...]

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Fallacy Friday Podcast on Apologetics 315: False Cause & Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

April 22nd, 2011 No Comments

Apologetics 315 are producing an audio version of Matt’s Fallacy Friday series. The Fallacy Friday Podcasts are released every Friday on Apologetics 315. You can subscribe using: • RSS Feed • iTunes • One-Click The Mp3 of False Cause & Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc is here. To navigate the series in print, use the Fallacy Friday tag, [...]

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Friday Fallacy: Equivocation

April 16th, 2011 14 Comments

In my post on Assessing Arguments I noted that a valid argument is one where it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. I gave the following example: Premise: All men are under 10 feet tall; Premise: John is a man; Conclusion: John is under 10 feet tall. This argument [...]

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Fallacy Friday Podcast on Apologetics 315: Division and Composition

April 13th, 2011 No Comments

Apologetics 315 are producing an audio version of Matt’s Fallacy Friday series. The Fallacy Friday Podcasts are released every Friday on Apologetics 315. You can subscribe using: • RSS Feed • iTunes • One-Click The Mp3 of Division and Composition is here. To navigate the series in print, use the Fallacy Friday tag, to navigate MP3 series use [...]

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