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Entries Tagged as 'Fallacy Friday'

Fallacy Friday: The Genetic Fallacy

February 11th, 2011 16 Comments

A fallacy related to the one we looked at last week (the Ad Hominem fallacy) is the genetic fallacy. One commits the genetic fallacy if one argues that a proposition is false on the basis of where the idea originated from.  Like the ad hominem, this fallacy invokes a kind of psychological transference where one transfers one’s […]

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Fallacy Friday: The Ubiquitous Ad Hominem

February 5th, 2011 37 Comments

In my previous posts, What is an Argument? and Assessing Arguments, I spelt out some basics as to what an argument is and how to assess arguments. There I noted that a sound argument is one where the premises of the argument is true and the argument is valid. It is impossible for an argument which […]

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Fallacy Friday: Assessing Arguments

January 28th, 2011 9 Comments

In last week’s post, Fallacy Friday: What is an Argument?, we established that an argument is a set of reasons (or premises) offered in support of a conclusion. We noted that arguments always have  two components: premises and conclusions. We also observed that premises sometimes can be implicit or unstated. Of course knowing what an argument […]

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Fallacy Friday: What is an Argument?

January 21st, 2011 45 Comments

When I was doing my PhD at the University of Otago, Madeleine and I would try to save up for a “date night” once a fortnight.  Often we would go to the movies. On more than one occasion we would stand in the theatre and look at various options. Madeleine would suggest we see one […]

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Fallacy Fridays

January 21st, 2011 5 Comments

Over the past few years I have occasionally been asked by para-church, church and home-schooling groups to put together a critical thinking or “mini logic” course, with a focus on fallacy spotting, and teach it to their youth. I have done this from time to time and have often found as many adults in attendance as youth; […]

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