Once upon a time, I ran a Fallacy Friday! segment on my social media accounts. I was so tired of seeing my friends resort to fallacies in their discussions and arguments, and I wanted to help them talk about things with a bit more reason.
I know. It’s not unlike throwing silly putty into a raging river to try to stem the flow. Still, I felt I should do something.
Anyway, I’ve preserved those posts here, and you can check them out if you want. You can also search my site for various fallacies if you want to find a specific one.
The Full Fallacy Friday! Collection
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… Diminished Responsibility!
This fallacy occurs when we argue that our behavior should be excused because of impaired judgment, e.g. telling your teacher that they should grade your exam leniently because you were hung over and “it’s not my fault.” It is a contemporary fallacy that has arisen out of the misappropriation of the American legal concept, “diminished…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is…Appeal to Spite!
This fallacy occurs when someone uses existing spiteful and bitter feelings in order to dismiss an opponent’s position. Instead of actually evaluating evidence for the opponent’s position, they are exploiting the emotions of those listening in order convince them. We do this to ourselves if we justify disagreeing with someone out of existing spite instead…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is…There Is No Alternative!
(TINA , Get Over It, the fait accompli, Taboo, I wish I had a magic wand.) An extension of the false dichotomy, this fallacy occurs when someone states that a position must be taken because there are no other realistic alternatives, that all other options are irrelevant, or that since a decision has been made,…