Shooting From The Hip - 17 - 10 Common Logical Fallacies Of Thinking

Reasoning - refers to the process of making sense of things around us - to understand our experiences, draw conclusions from information & formulate & present new ideas require reasoning. We often reason without being aware of it

3 types of reasoning: Inductive, Deductive, Causal
Inductive Reasoning: - reaches conclusions through the citation of examples & is the most frequently used form of logical reasoning - the appeal of it is because it seems easy - but can be difficult to employ well.

Inductive reasoning, unlike deductive reasoning, doesn’t result in true or false conclusions. Instead conclusions are generalized based on observations or examples, conclusions are “more likely” or “less likely” This type of reasoning isn’t definitive, it's open-ended - though can still be valid & persuasive

Reasoning by analogy - a type of inductive reasoning that argues that what is true in one set of circumstances will be true in another. Reasoning by analogy has been criticized & questioned by logicians, since 2 sets of circumstances are never exactly the same. While this is true, our goal when using reasoning by analogy in persuasive speaking is not to create absolutely certain conclusions

support argument, use various types of supporting material: ideally raw data, statistics, testimonies of those involved directly

highlight significant similarities, by comparing 2 of anything they are never exactly the same, the argument can’t be airtight

better to acknowledge significant limitations of the analogy & provide additional supporting material to address concerns - than it is to ignore or hide limitations

Evaluating inductive reasoning - you must examine the examples that are cited in ways other than quantity: - that enough examples are cited to support any conclusion - more is better - If not, you run the risk of the hasty generalization fallacy

the examples should be typical, common - not chosen specifically to meet the point being argued - No Cherry Picking - citing only a few examples that best support bias: while failing to mention that these examples are a minority of all available examples

Deductive Reasoning: - derives specifics from what is already known - the preferred form of reasoning of the ancient rhetoricians: Georgias, Socrates, Plato & Aristotle
in which a conclusion is supported by major & minor premises. The conclusion of a valid argument can be deduced from the major & minor premises
common example “All humans are mortal. Socrates is a human. Socrates therefore is mortal” conclusion: “Socrates is mortal,” major premise: “All humans are mortal” minor premise: “Socrates is a human.”

Causal Reasoning: - argues to establish a relationship between a cause & an effect - the attempt to argue for a particular course of action based on potential positive or negative consequences that may result
example: Eating more local foods will boost the local economy & make you healthier - Rather than establishing a true cause-effect relationship, presenters use correlation which is often cited, which means there is a relationship between 2 things but there are other contextual considerations

Fallacies of Reasoning - Fallacies are flaws within the logic or reasoning of an argument. -10 common fallacies, more than 125 have been identified & named

It’s important to note that the presence of a fallacy in an argument doesn’t mean that it can’t be persuasive. In fact, many people are persuaded by fallacious arguments because they do not identify the fallacy within the argument.

Fallacies are often the last effort of uninformed or ill-prepared arguments. Awareness of these forms of reasoning & fallacies make for better: critical consumers of persuasive messages, which is of benefit when hearing arguments whether - personal, political & professional perspectives, opinions

10 Common Logical Fallacies:
1) Ad Hominem
2) Straw Man
3) Appeal To Authority
4) Slippery Slope
5) Bandwagon
6) Appeal To Ignorance
7) False Dilemma
8) Hasty Generalization
9) Red Herring:
10) Appeal To Tradition