The Voice of Reason
Society is inclined to look at the past with a grim smile and yearn for golden days of past eras. We recognize with infallible knowledge errors and blessings of the past recollections which led us to the present moment. We are all in fact, children of our destiny.
Our emotions, thoughts and decisions shape our destiny. We create our destiny.
Every time we look back, we make a statement. We believe in the healing power of reinvention committing to a greater future. Therefore, each generation faces the debate of reason, knowledge, feasibility, and understanding. It is for this cause, I feel in love with the human race. We want to understand and criticize everything. Debate the possible, and turn credible the impossible.
It is with the previous proposition that I want to provide my argument: Most of people’s assertions are build on delusions to validate poor quality arguments.
I believe -this could be true or false- that we live in the most debatable period yet. Everything is up for discussion: The advantages of mathematics in the real world during breakfast before school. The best TV series ever made for lunch. Policies after dinner. Everything.
We analyze reasoning to determine legitimacy. And reasoning comes from what we believe are logical arguments. And these require building steps to carry their weight until proven true.
But do not worry, building a logical argument is not difficult, specially with proper help. On his book ‘An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments’ graduate student in the Engineering Systems Division at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University Ali Almossawi, very well illustrates the pitfalls behind our arguments, and the fallacies we dare to utter everyday.
It is with great wits that Ali Almossawi treats the subject of logical arguments, making these, as approachable as a kid’s book.
Let’s start with basic concepts. Every argument is made of prepositions or statements. As stated before, these can be true or false. An argument is a connected series of statements, intended to create a definite idea. These connected series are premises, and their function is to provide support to an argument’s conclusion. These explicit propositions (premisses) are evidence for accepting an argument.
Then we infer or prove, which are also a process to reach new propositions, and finally we arrive at the conclusion of the argument, which is another proposition, but stated as the final stage.
But it is not the end of it. There are two types of arguments: Deductive and Inductive argument.
Deductive argument is one in which if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true because it provides conclusive proof of its conclusions. For example, All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Inductive argument is one where the premises provide some evidence for the truth. It’s a discussion of how probable the premises are because the conclusion does not follow logical necessity, but probability. For example, Every time we measure the speed of light in a vacuum, it is 3 x 108m/s. Therefore, the speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant.
Sometimes an argument will not follow the order described above, which doesn’t make the argument invalid but harder to recognize. And many people disguise their writing or thoughts with assertions which cannot be described as arguments. Stated in the premise of my argument.
These idea comes from the necessity to overcome gaps of knowledge. It is human nature to survive, and survival includes daily social interaction. When trapped one must find a way out, and it is in that moment that many arguments, ergo people, fall into fallacies.
To investigate further into the structure of logical arguments would require discussion of linguistics and philosophy, but it is simpler to summarize what should be avoided when constructing an argument. A fallacy is by definition a mistaken belief, which in practical terms refers to technically incorrect arguments. We have three types of fallacies: Logical, Formal, and Informal fallacy.
Logical fallacy is an error in reasoning. It is trying to persuade with a bad piece of reasoning infringing the principles of good arguments.
Formal fallacy is an argument which is not deductively valid. This includes many arguments that would be accepted as good arguments and their conclusion is highly probable but not certain.
Informal fallacy comes form inductive arguments which are technically invalid with the strictness of deductive arguments. Inductive arguments are distinguished between strong and week. If and argument does not meet the standards required of inductive arguments, commits a fallacy. They are said to be a lack a good thinking.
With this in mind I selected six of the most common fallacies out there. Fallacies, I am sure, you have heard at least once.
The Straw Man fallacy is to misrepresent somebody else’s position with the purpose of attacking it more easily. It’s a fallacy because it fails to deal with the real arguments by misrepresenting or oversimplifying. For example: My opponent is trying to convince you that we evolved from monkeys who were swinging from trees; a truly ludicrous claim. This is clearly a misrepresentation of what evolutionary biology claims, which is the idea that humans and apes shared a common ancestor several million years ago. Misrepresenting the idea is much easier than refuting the evidence for it.
The Appeal to Fear fallacy is to play on the fears of an audience. In this case, rather than provide evidence to support a negative conclusion that may lead to fear, the arguments rely on rhetoric, threats or outright lies. For example: I ask all employees to vote for my chosen candidate in the upcoming elections. If the other candidate wins, he will raise taxes and many of you will lose your jobs.
The Hasty Generalization fallacy occurs when one forms a general rule based only on a few specifics, which do not represent all possible scenarios. For example: asking ten people on the street what they think of the president’s plan to reduce the deficit can in no way be said to represent the sentiment of the entire nation. This also applies to groups with particular interests.
The Guilt by Association fallacy is discrediting an argument because the idea is shared by some socially demonized individual or group. For example: My opponent is calling for a healthcare system that would resemble that of socialist countries. Clearly, that would be unacceptable. Whether or not the idea resembles what is demonized has no bearing whatsoever on whether it is good or bad. It is illogical.
The Slippery Slope fallacy states that should one event occur, so will other harmful events. Though it may be the case that the sequence of events may happen, each transition occurring with some probability, this type of argument assumes that all transitions are inevitable, while providing no evidence in support of that. The fallacy plays on the fears of the audience. For example: If we legalize marijuana, then we would have to legalize crack and heroin and we’ll have a nation full of drug-addicts on welfare. Therefore we cannot legalize marijuana.
The Appeal to the Bandwagon fallacy, also known as the appeal to the people, such an argument uses the fact that a sizable number of people, or perhaps even the majority, believe in something as evidence that it must therefore be true. Luring people into accepting that which is popular is a method frequently used in advertising and politics. For example: All the cool kids use this hair gel; be one of them.
Don’t they sound awfully familiar? The world of logical reasoning is one of great (undervalued) importance. All fallacies find a way to enter our lives from the easiest of arguments, and the shame lies on us. We find ourselves gullible between ideas and words.
Logic is the science of reasoning, proof, thinking, or inference. Logic allows us to analyze what it is around us. And while I do not have the evidence to claim that most people have delusions to support arguments, more than inference and experience, I can appeal to yours as well, and maybe you will give me reason.
That’s logic.
Text by [Alberto Lizárraga](albertolizarraga.svbtle.com)
Image courtesy of Ali Almossawi