30,690 research outputs found
On the difference between fallacy and sophism
The translation into French of the English word “fallacy” opens a discussion on the difference between fallacy and sophism in English. The two words are sometimes synonyms, but a difference is sometimes made on the ground that a sophism is deliberate and a fallacy is non-deliberate. In a second part of the paper this distinctive criterion is taken seriously to discuss the relative frequency of sophisms and of fallacies for a typical kind of fallacious argument. I claim that this aspect should be taken into account by a theory of fallacious argument
Deconstructing climate misinformation to identify reasoning errors
Misinformation can have significant societal consequences. For example, misinformation about climate change has confused the public and stalled support for mitigation policies. When people lack the expertise and skill to evaluate the science behind a claim, they typically rely on heuristics such as substituting judgment about something complex (i.e. climate science) with judgment about something simple (i.e. the character of people who speak about climate science) and are therefore vulnerable to misleading information. Inoculation theory offers one approach to effectively neutralize the influence of misinformation. Typically, inoculations convey resistance by providing people with information that counters misinformation. In contrast, we propose inoculating against misinformation by explaining the fallacious reasoning within misleading denialist claims. We offer a strategy based on critical thinking methods to analyse and detect poor reasoning within denialist claims. This strategy includes detailing argument structure, determining the truth of the premises, and checking for validity, hidden premises, or ambiguous language. Focusing on argument structure also facilitates the identification of reasoning fallacies by locating them in the reasoning process. Because this reason-based form of inoculation is based on general critical thinking methods, it offers the distinct advantage of being accessible to those who lack expertise in climate science. We applied this approach to 42 common denialist claims and find that they all demonstrate fallacious reasoning and fail to refute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming. This comprehensive deconstruction and refutation of the most common denialist claims about climate change is designed to act as a resource for communicators and educators who teach climate science and/or critical thinking
State Personhood, Reality or Fiction? The Divergent Views of C. Escudé (1994) and A. Wendt (2004)
This paper counterpoises Carlos Escudé's 1994, 1995 and 1997 treatment of anthropomorphic metaphors of the state, with Alexander Wendt's 2004 treatment of the same subject. It stresses the need for a historical memory in IR scholarship, suggesting that the lack of an epistemological equivalent to the concept of ‘discovery’ in the harder sciences may open the way for less-than-scholarly attitudes towards precedents, making the accumulation of knowledge less likely. It discusses whether or not state personhood is actually a fiction. Finally, it explores the consequences, for IR theory in general and peripheral realist theory in particular, of state personhood being indeed a harmful fiction. The author argues that if anthropomorphisms of the state lead to fallacy, then Hedley Bull’s domestic analogy is likewise fallacious. And if this is the case, the hierarchy of the structure of the interstate system is exposed, together with Waltz’s error in postulating an anarchy.
Bell's theorem: Critique of proofs with and without inequalities
Most of the standard proofs of the Bell theorem are based on the Kolmogorov
axioms of probability theory. We show that these proofs contain mathematical
steps that cannot be reconciled with the Kolmogorov axioms. Specifically we
demonstrate that these proofs ignore the conclusion of a theorem of Vorob'ev on
the consistency of joint distributions. As a consequence Bell's theorem stated
in its full generality remains unproven, in particular, for extended parameter
spaces that are still objective local and that include instrument parameters
that are correlated by both time and instrument settings. Although the Bell
theorem correctly rules out certain small classes of hidden variables, for
these extended parameter spaces the standard proofs come to a halt. The
Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) approach is based on similar fallacious
arguments. For this case we are able to present an objective local computer
experiment that simulates the experimental test of GHZ performed by Pan,
Bouwmeester, Daniell, Weinfurter and Zeilinger and that directly contradicts
their claim that Einstein-local elements of reality can neither explain the
results of quantum mechanical theory nor their experimental results.Comment: 13 page
Can Cogency Vanish?
This paper considers whether universally—for all (known) rational beings—an argument scheme or pattern can go from being cogent (well-reasoned) to fallacious. This question has previously received little attention, despite the centrality of the concepts of cogency, scheme, and fallaciousness. I argue that cogency has vanished in this way for the following scheme, a common type of impersonal means-end reasoning: X is needed as a basic necessity or protection of human lives, therefore, X ought to be secured if possible. As it stands (with no further elaboration), this scheme is committed to the assumption that the greater the number of human lives, the better. Although this assumption may have been indisputable previously, it is clearly disputable now. It is a fallacy or non sequitur to make a clearly disputable assumption without providing any justification. Although this topic raises critical issues for practically every discipline, my primary focus is on logical (as opposed to empirical or ethical) aspects of the case, and on implications for practical and theoretical logic. I conclude that the profile of vanishing cogency of the scheme may be unique and is determined by a peculiar combination of contingent universality and changing conditions
The Alleged Fallacies of Evolutionary Theory
The neo-Darwinian theory of evolution is the currently accepted paradigm to explain the history and diversity of life on earth. Yet, since the publication of Darwin\u27s Origin of Species, it has been under attack on a variety of grounds. Some of these criticisms have been put forth in the philosophical arena, where evolutionary theory has often been accused of being incoherent or logically fallacious
An Analytic View of Delusion
The present article proposes a logical account of delusions, which are regarded as conclusions resulting from fallacious arguments. This leads to distinguish between primary, secondary, ..., n-ary types of delusional arguments. Examples of delusional arguments leading to delusion of reference, delusion of influence, thought-broadcasting delusion and delusion of grandeur are described and then analyzed. This suggests finally a way susceptible of improving the efficiency of cognitive therapy for delusions
Argotario: Computational Argumentation Meets Serious Games
An important skill in critical thinking and argumentation is the ability to
spot and recognize fallacies. Fallacious arguments, omnipresent in
argumentative discourse, can be deceptive, manipulative, or simply leading to
`wrong moves' in a discussion. Despite their importance, argumentation scholars
and NLP researchers with focus on argumentation quality have not yet
investigated fallacies empirically. The nonexistence of resources dealing with
fallacious argumentation calls for scalable approaches to data acquisition and
annotation, for which the serious games methodology offers an appealing, yet
unexplored, alternative. We present Argotario, a serious game that deals with
fallacies in everyday argumentation. Argotario is a multilingual, open-source,
platform-independent application with strong educational aspects, accessible at
www.argotario.net.Comment: EMNLP 2017 demo paper. Source codes:
https://github.com/UKPLab/argotari
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