Logic is a challenge for all of us. To get through life we make a lot of leaps that are probably not justified. That said it is helpful to sit back and think through the leaps we are making. Bo Bennett has put together a compilation of logical fallacies. These range from some classic ones that can be shown to be always incorrect to some that are harder to show formally but illustrate challenges in thinking. Bennett even names some of his own logical problems. These are often found on the internet.
Appeal To The Common Folk
Bennett suggests a common fallacy is the Appeal to the Common Folk. This, he suggests, is prevalent in politics. Rather than offer evidence for a viewpoint one just argues that common folk think that and so it should be accepted. Appeal to the Common Folk is:
In place of evidence, attempting to establish a connection to the audience based on being a “regular person” just like each of them. Then suggesting that your proposition is something that all common folk believe or should accept.
Bennett, 2017, location 944
Just In Case And Nirvana Fallacies
I liked the “Just in case fallacy” as this is something I see a lot. It is possible for almost anything to go wrong. Still, I’d argue that we must focus on the issues more likely to happen and that will cause a significant problem if they do happen. If you agree with me the important thing to note is that one can be too careful. We all recognize this every day. After all, few people wear a helmet while on the couch watching TV. The risk of head injury they are accepting just isn’t significant. (Although I guess you could fall off the couch and hurt your head if you were ridiculously unlucky).
He notes the Nirvana Fallacy — nothing to do with the band. This is comparing a realistic solution with an idealized one. I see this regularly when people argue against good plans because they don’t go far enough. If the plans go as far as they can go this is still progress. Holding out for the unobtainable doesn’t seem like a great idea.
Logical Problems With Big Data
He describes what many do using big data — post-designation — as a fallacy. This is deciding what you are looking for after you look.
When you fish for data, you are bound to catch something.
Bennett, 2017, location 4821
In big data you will find something, a lot of it will be random nonsense, the solution is to pre-designate, i.e. have a good reason to look for what you are looking for before you look. If you find a result after pre-designation (looking for it) then it is less likely to be nonsense.
Kettle Logic
The final fallacy I will note is a common argument in politics when you don’t want to give in. This involves offering a bunch of contradictory statements. ‘He didn’t do it, even if he did it then it wasn’t the bad, and even if it was bad everyone does it’. Bennett classes this as Kettle logic. It would be nice to see this and other similar logical problems go away.
For more on decision-making see here.
Read: Bo Bennett, (2017) Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies, Archieboy Holdings