Rhetoric & Fallacies. Atheism: Logic & Fallacies. [ Español / Spanish ] Introduction There is a lot of debate on the net.
Unfortunately, much of it is of very low quality. The aim of this document is to explain the basics of logical reasoning, and hopefully improve the overall quality of debate. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines logic as "the science of reasoning, proof, thinking, or inference. " There are many kinds of logic, such as fuzzy logic and constructive logic; they have different rules, and different strengths and weaknesses.
What logic isn't It's worth mentioning a couple of things which logic is not. First, logical reasoning is not an absolute law which governs the universe. Second, logic is not a set of rules which govern human behavior. John wishes to speak to whoever is in charge. Unfortunately, John may have a conflicting goal of avoiding Steve, meaning that the reasoned answer may be inapplicable to real life. Arguments Many types of argument exist; we will discuss the deductive argument . Valid or invalid Propositions. Logical Fallacies. Fallacies. Dr.
Michael C. Labossiere, the author of a Macintosh tutorial named Fallacy Tutorial Pro 3.0, has kindly agreed to allow the text of his work to appear on the Nizkor site, as a Nizkor Feature. It remains © Copyright 1995 Michael C. Labossiere, with distribution restrictions -- please see our copyright notice. If you have questions or comments about this work, please direct them both to the Nizkor webmasters (webmaster@nizkor.org) and to Dr. Other sites that list and explain fallacies include: Constructing a Logical Argument Description of Fallacies In order to understand what a fallacy is, one must understand what an argument is. There are two main types of arguments: deductive and inductive.
A fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning. What is a logical fallacy? A "fallacy" is a mistake, and a "logical" fallacy is a mistake in reasoning.
There are, of course, other types of mistake than mistakes in reasoning. For instance, factual mistakes are sometimes referred to as "fallacies". However, The Fallacy Files is specifically concerned with logical errors, not factual ones. A logical error is a mistake in an argument, that is, a mistake in an instance of reasoning formulated in language. Atheism: Logic & Fallacies. Fallacy List. 1.
FAULTY CAUSE: (post hoc ergo propter hoc) mistakes correlation or association for causation, by assuming that because one thing follows another it was caused by the other. example: A black cat crossed Babbs' path yesterday and, sure enough, she was involved in an automobile accident later that same afternoon. example: The introduction of sex education courses at the high school level has resulted in increased promiscuity among teens.
A recent study revealed that the number of reported cases of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) was significantly higher for high schools that offered courses in sex education than for high schools that did not. 2. SWEEPING GENERALIZATION: (dicto simpliciter) assumes that what is true of the whole will also be true of the part, or that what is true in most instances will be true in all instances. example: Muffin must be rich or have rich parents, because she belongs to ZXQ, and ZXQ is the richest sorority on campus.