29 Oct Glittering Generalities – FT#160
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theresa may Tag
17 Dec Survivorship Bias – FT#89
Show Notes The Survivorship Bias Fallacy is committed when someone makes an argument based on a biased sample that only includes items that have survived some kind of selection pressure. Trump We started out with this clip of Trump literally talking to a group of survivors: We followed that with this Trump tweet: And finally...
08 Jul Argument from Personal Incredulity – FT#29
Show Notes The Argument from Personal Incredulity describes a situation where someone dismisses a claim for no other reason than they find it difficult to believe. In fact, the person may be having trouble believing something simply because it doesn’t conform to how they currently think, or even that they simply...
11 Jun Single Cause Fallacy – FT#27
Show Notes The Single Cause Fallacy is committed when the speaker assumes a complex outcome to have one cause, thereby making it easier to blame on somebody or propose a solution. The reality is that many real-world issues are caused by a combination of factors, some of which may even be...
28 May Kettle Logic – FT#26
Show Notes Kettle Logic is when multiple arguments are presented at once, often overlapping or contradicting each other, without acknowledging the contradictions. We started out with the Donald tweeting this excuse for committing tax fraud or possibly losing a billion dollars: ...
17 Apr Poisoning the Well – FT#23
Show Notes Poisoning the Well is a kind of Ad Hominem fallacy where the attack on the person making a claim happens in advance. By attributing negative traits to someone before they even have the chance to make their argument, the well poisoner primes the listener not to believe what they are...
11 Mar Ad Hominem – FT#21
Show Notes Ad Hominem is Latin for 'to the man' and describes an argument where the focus of the attack is not on the views a person holds but on the person themselves. It is an attempt to distract from the matter at hand by introducing irrelevant details aimed at discrediting...
11 Feb Lying with Statistics – FT#19
Show Notes Lying with Statistics can involve using highly specific numbers to make it seem like you know what you're talking about, using a true statistic out of context to bolster a particular point of view, or simply using made up statistics and hoping your opponent doesn't check them. We started out...