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If You Want To Win An Argument Don T Make These Mistakes 1672939876

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30 views18 pages

If You Want To Win An Argument Don T Make These Mistakes 1672939876

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Jumba
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© © All Rights Reserved
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If you want to win an

argument, don't make these


mistakes:
10.5k Likes 2.0k Retweets 250 Replies
First things first: The best way to win
an argument is to not enter one in
the first place.

However, we don't always have that


luxury and can sometimes find
ourselves needing to defend a point
of view.

If this happens, here are 15 logical


fallacies to avoid:
Anecdotal (vs. Empirical Evidence)

Using a personal experience or an


isolated example to try and prove a
point instead of empirical or more
compelling evidence.

Humans tend to believe and relate


to stories, but don't fall into this
trap.

What's true for you isn't always true.


Likely or Plausible Fallacy

Likely: Incorrectly assuming that


just because something is possible
means that it is likely.

Plausible: Incorrectly assuming that


just because something is plausible
means that it is true.
Begging The Question

Involves presenting a circular


argument where the conclusion is
included in the premise.

Examples:

1/ "Of course smoking causes


cancer. The smoke from cigarettes
is a carcinogen."

2/ "Circular reasoning is bad mostly


because it's not very good."
Inverse Fallacy

Incorrectly assuming the probability


of A happening given that B has
happened to be about the same as
the probability of B given A.

Example: Terrorists tend to have an


engineering background; so,
engineers have a tendency towards
terrorism.

Nope, not the case.


Post Hoc Fallacy

Believing or starting that, "since


event Y followed event X, event Y
must have been caused by event X."

"The rooster crows immediately


before sunrise; therefore the
rooster causes the sun to rise."

Correlation does not equal


causation.
Moral Equivalence

Thinking that two things are morally


equivalent when they're not.

For example, thinking that racist


language and an assault have the
same severity.

No. One is an act of violence while


the other is words.

Different wrongful conduct has


different severity.
Ambiguity

Using a double meaning or


ambiguity of language to mislead or
misrepresent the truth.

"Sure philosophy helps you argue


better, but do we really need to
encourage people to argue? There's
enough hostility in this world."

Politicians are often guilty of this


fallacy.
Red Herring

A deliberate diversion from a relevant or


important question.

John: It's morally wrong to lie to your spouse,


why on earth did you do that?

Steve: But what is morality exactly?

John: It’s a code of conduct shared by


cultures.

Steve: But who creates this code?


Middle Ground

Claiming that a compromise, or


'middle ground', between two
extremes must be the truth of a
matter.

Sometimes a thing is simply untrue


and a compromise of it is also untrue.

Half way between truth and a lie, is


still a lie.
The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy

Cherry picking data to suit your


argument, or finding a pattern to fit a
presumption.

Named after a Texan firing gunshots


at a barn, then painting a shooting
target around the tightest cluster of
hits and claiming to be a
sharpshooter.
No True Scotsman

Claiming an appeal to 'purity' to


dismiss another argument.

Person A: "No Scotsman puts sugar


on his porridge."
Person B: "But my uncle Angus is a
Scotsman and he puts sugar on his
porridge."
Person A: "But no true Scotsman puts
sugar on his porridge."
Genetic Fallacy

Claiming something is good or bad on


the basis of where it came from, or
from whom it came.

It's the belief that the origin of


something determines its worth.

Example: "The news article is a


conservative publication, so you know
whatever it says is true."
Poisoning the Well

Presenting negative information that is


irrelevant before presenting an
argument, which makes that argument,
or person, seem untrustworthy.

"Before you listen to what he has to say,


may I remind you that he has been in
jail."

Also called a smear tactic.


Appeal to Consequences

A type of appeal to emotion.

It's an argument that attempts to prove


a premise true or false because the
consequences of it being true or false
are desirable or undesirable.

The desirability of a premise's


consequence does not make it true or
false.
Appeal to Authority

Claiming that because an authority or


someone of status thinks something,
it therefore must be true.

Authority or status holds no bearing


upon whether claims are true or not.

Assess the argument, not the origin of


the argument.
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