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Understanding poor argument and being able to respond to it is so important to skeptical and critical thinking. A big part of this is being aware of logical traps. So, name your favourite logical fallacy; define it; and give an example or examples from actual things you have read, watched, or heard.

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6 Answers

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I don't think you have actually have a favourite logical fallacy, can you?

The ones I always come across are appeals to tradition and appeals to authority. Some people just seem unable to see past the idea that because something has been happening for a long time it must be true or, because someone they admire or look up to is doing/promoting something it must be right.

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Appeal to authority is one fallacy I think even the non-skeptic recognizes, except, unfortunately, when it is an authority she/he respects. What I really find disturbing about the appeal to authority is when I hear a skeptic accept another prominent skeptic's position without applying critical thinking. This really shows how persuasive the appeal to authority can be. I often feel vulnerable myself. I wonder if others feel the same way. – Awalmo Mar 4 at 0:07
Can I just link to recent post layscience.net/node/976, with some excellent logical fallacy joke combos. – Bonobo Mar 16 at 14:32
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I'm not sure what you mean by "favorite", because I don't like to see any of them. My favorite one to complain about is the appeal to nature fallacy, because it's so common. I see it constantly in commercials for foods and cleaning products, and it's the foundation of the organic food industry. The CAM field is also largely based on this fallacy. I also see it a lot when people try to justify certain ethical choices. For example, it's really common for people who think homosexuality is wrong to claim it's unnatural, and even some rape apologists will justify it by saying it had some evolutionary benefit for our ancestors. I have actually heard a few people argue that ducks rape, so it's ok for humans to do the same thing.

In reality, either everything is natural or nothing is. There's no good definition of "natural", but a lot of people consider things to be natural if our ancestors did those things. Of course, there's no distinct cut-off point, so what my own parents did might be considered less natural than what my ancestors of a thousand years ago did.

Even if we could define "natural", it wouldn't be very useful. Our "natural" state until just less than a century ago was pretty horrible and I wouldn't want to live that way. Nearly every family suffered the death of at least one child, and childbirth was a leading cause of death among women. Many people suffered from starvation and malnutrition, and they didn't have the basic luxuries that we take for granted today, like air conditioning, electricity, and indoor plumbing.

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As far as favourite, I was being ironic. As far as the appeal to nature, definitely a good one. I guess your right: appealing to nature is often not only meaningless, but can be regressive, or even dangerous. – Awalmo Mar 2 at 4:08
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There's a nice list over at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies which I go through once in a while. I find a new favourite every day.

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this is a good source. If you want the top 20, see theskepticsguide.org/resources/… – Awalmo Mar 2 at 20:47
Stack Excahnge is not a forum or message board. Answers should be well research and sources cited where possible. If there is an explanation on another site please summerise it in your answer in addition to just providing links. Refer to the skepticexchange.org/faq – rjstelling Jul 10 at 19:12
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I suppose I've always found the headline "50% OF PUPILS BELOW AVERAGE READING AGE!" to be quite funny.

I do like the appeal to nature one above - never thought about it until reading this - it's a good point.

Also the authority / culture fallacy is a painfully common one. Usually found in the bastions of conservative local councils where old men don't like change. Comfort in custom has its place, but not if it is at the expense of improvements.

However, I would like to repeat an answer I gave to one of ther first questions on here. the logical fallacy I really despise is the "effort made" fallacy, which goes like this:

Statement: "This project is fundamentally flawed and wholly useless." Reply: "I spent ages doing this and worked really hard on this."

This reply is not an answer to the argument - I could spend ages building a house out of sand, but in a slight wind it would be rubbish.

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I love stats. I especially love that stat: 50% below average! I will have to use that, somewhere. – Awalmo Mar 4 at 0:00
:-) Glad you like it!!! – Travelling Show and Tell Man Mar 5 at 15:07
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Appeal to nature is a particular favourite of mine - so much so I wrote a blogpost about it a while back.

The strawman fallacy is another that I find myself regularly having to expose and counter - even sceptics are quite bad for falling back on the strawman. It's so easy to misunderstand someone's argument and then offer a counter based on your perception of what they meant, rather than what they actually said. Of course, some people deliberately construct a strawman - which is always something fun to tear apart.

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Yeah, straw man: It's easy to argue against an argument that never was...that you effectively invent. Agreed, I think it is one of the most difficult fallacies to avoid. – Awalmo Mar 11 at 22:27
How dare you say that about me - I am not a strawman, I MAY have once said I thought cats were stupid, but that was a long time ago and I can't believe you are holding that against me after so many years. To be honest I don't know why I bother. I tear MYSELF apart over this every night. Ah yes - the thinking the world is all about you fallacy, which many listeners of comedians' jokes fall foul of some point in their career. :-) – Travelling Show and Tell Man Mar 12 at 10:29
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The False Dichotomy, closely followed by its cousins the Straw Man and the Slippery Slope.

Thinking of examples for these all of them seem to crop up in politics quite regularly. No surprises there, I suppose.

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Why do you choose these? – Awalmo Mar 19 at 4:30
Stack Excahnge is not a forum or message board. Answers should be well research and sources cited where possible. If there is an explanation on another site please summerise it in your answer in addition to just providing links. Refer to the skepticexchange.org/faq – rjstelling Jul 10 at 19:12

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