News and Articles

Definition

A Hasty Generalization fallacy, also called secundum quid Jumping to Conclusions or Anecdotal Evidense, is a logical error when you reach a conclusion not supported logically or by sufficient evidence. The key here is a generalization. Similar to a stereotype where a small sample size leads to an incorrect deduction.

For example, the DMV (department of motor vehicles) employee is moving so slow. I’ve been waiting forever. The hasty generalization example is

9 October 2020 - 15 October 2020

How We Choose

We’ve selected for you the most engaging news (tweets) from Australian news agencies.

How did we understand them being the most engaging? That’s simple. Those that have comments with logical fallacies of a particular kind. For example, if a comment contains Ad Hominem, we consider this tweet a bit triggering, or if it contains False Dilemma, then it’s probably a Food for Thought. You see the idea. So we prepared a couple of pieces of news for each group: “Triggering”, “Food for Thoughts” and “Team, Status Quo, and Better Life”.

Definition

Syllogistic fallacies are usually formal fallacies occuring in syllogisms.

Syllogism Definition

A syllogism (Greek: συλλογισμός, syllogismos, ‘conclusion, inference’) is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true.

Syllogistic arguments are usually represented in a three-line form, for example:

All mammals are warm blooded
Bats are mammals
Therefore, bats are warmblooded

Definition

The slippery slope argument asserts that the initial step taken is a precursor to a chain of events that eventually lead to undesirable or disastrous results. Thus, the course of action is rejected. The slippery slope is often view as a logical fallacy because the trajectory of actions tends to be assumption based. It is acknowledged that non-fallacious forms of the argument can exist given the proper rigor of evidence-based conclusions between each step.

Definition

Circular Reasoning also called circular logic or circulus in probando is an informal logical fallacy meaning arguer uses the same reason as the conclusion. Here is Circular Reasoning example with just rewording same statement.

Everyone must obey the law, because it’s illegal to break it.

Sometimes it forms longer chain: “A is true because B is true; B is true because A is true.” And if chain of propositions longer than that the circularity will be difficult to recognise.