

42 Fallacies - danso
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=2139

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FreakLegion
Nota bene:

1\. Informal fallacies are highly sensitive to context. Even ad hominems can
be valid under the right circumstances.

2\. In actual arguments, trotting out fancy-sounding fallacy names is rarely
the correct play. You'll either be wrong and look foolish [1], or be right and
look like a bully. It's lose-lose. Better to think of arguments like
debugging: you need to explicitly step through the other side's statements,
locate the problem(s), etc.

(These are general observations from a former rhetoric and argumentation
teacher. They're directed at no one in particular.)

[1] Straw man, ad hominem, appeal to authority, and appeal to popularity seem
to be the most common offenders.

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deadcyclo
I completely agree with you. On the other hand, good knowledge and
understanding of them can be very useful when formulating ones own arguments.

But running around telling people their argument is invalid because it is X,
simply makes one look like an ass.

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seagaia
Wow, this is pretty cool, thanks for sharing. Interesting to see a name put on
all of these argumentative structures that pop up.

