Observations on the world and its inhabitants
It is a reasonable assumption that people who have been through university should not make basic errors of thinking. They have been selected for ability, trained in a subject, and surrounded for years by argument, evidence, and criticism. History does not support the assumption. This article follows from Critical Thinking 2.0, in 2023. Educated people ...
Arguments often appear convincing when they drift away from the main point while still sounding relevant. This can give the impression that an issue has been addressed when it has not. One of the most common ways this occurs is through the fallacy of irrelevant thesis. This mistake involves offering a conclusion that may be ...
The fallacy of misplaced concreteness, also known as reification, is a logical fallacy where an abstract concept is treated as if it were a concrete, tangible object. This error involves attributing a physical reality or concrete qualities to something that is abstract. Alfred North Whitehead introduced the term to critique the way certain abstract scientific ...
The question “If a tree fell in a forest but no one saw or heard it fall, did it fall?” is a philosophical thought experiment that explores the nature of reality and our perception of it. I approach this problem from the angle of logic and reasoning: Based on these logical arguments, some would argue ...
Thought disorder is not a diagnosis nor do I allude to a mental condition in Bloggs below. In psychiatry when thought disorder is observed, it may point to any of a dozen underlying mental disorders. But note carefully that the environment of observation would be clinical and not extend into the wider world. However, many ...
In the following weeks I’ll be doing an exploration of several logical fallacies and errors of thinking. I’m returning to this area because it is a difficult one to recall a taxonomy of categorised fallacies and errors. There are some 300-plus logical fallacies on record. Most people cannot name one. What’s the importance of this? ...
As some will know I spend time on certain social media forums. The reasons have been explained before but I will again just in case someone has stupidly forgotten or won’t take the time to find out. Statement of intent I spend time there observing human thought processes. No – I’m not ‘psychoanalysing’ or psychiatrising ...
Well, I know that I do not throw away things that are/were of value to me. I found the book FALLACY: The counterfeit of argument, in a storage box in my garage today 2022-05-29 around 12:30PM. It means I’ve kept that book for just over 40 years! Snapshots below. It is/was an important book because ...
One of the big reasons I hang out and interact on social media, is to explore cultures and ways of thinking/behaviour. So when you see some of the same represented in the utterances of Stupid (that imaginary impish figure in my mind), you know where that came from. The example below shows that individuals feel ...
Belief and believing (etc) have been a big part of my attention for many years. Having read a lot on this, I decided to start all over. What I mean is, I’m going back to the roots of belief. There are things that determine beliefs and I will go into that as well. Why should ...
I should have been spending time on Netflix – but over the last few hours (near midnight on 22nd Jan 2022), I came across the video below (which could disappear). It is about Dawkins among a panel and a bunch of people in the audience. This triggered me to explore – again – the nature ...
It’s the name of a book! In the event that you don’t know Dr Bo Bennett, you are expected to jump on the net and start Googling madly. After all, you don’t know who’s who in this world – and everybody out there is a guru of some sort – right? I mean – like ...
As some will know, I have conversations with an imaginary character called Stupid. I haven’t explained much about Stupid before now. The particular features of Stupid: The above is not a full list, of course. How did this character develop? Over the years I’ve heard so many stupid utterances from people, that I have had ...
What a strange question? After all, everybody knows and believes that ‘planning‘ is a good thing and it must be useful. Having thought about things people say and what they do, I have to say that overall it is a useless activity. Should I say, “Don’t get me wrong…. “? Okay – I’ll say it! ...
It’s usually a good idea to define what one is talking about. Fallacy is derived from the Latin word, fallacia which means trick, deceit or fraud. Logical fallacy is an argument containing faulty reasoning. Also note that ‘reasoning’ itself depends on applications of the rules of logic – which stand rather separately. So – misapplication ...
As usual this is triggered by my interactions in the background, with one or two who are gluttons for punishment – with exceptionally thick callouses on their backs! ? Oh yes – the beatings over the years has caused this. Obviously they derive some ‘masochistic’ pleasure from this! Just to be clear, I do not ...
No true Scotsman – read about it (or not). But even if you read it, understand it and accept it, you’ll have no trouble not applying it. If you want more in the odd chance, go NTS at Rational Wiki.
There is a danger in feeling one is ‘right’, which is slightly different from feeling ‘justified’. Obviously, one may know one is not right in taking a certain course of action, but still feel justified based on some personal sense of revenge, need to retaliate, or defend etc. But for this exploration I’m concerned only ...
Facing the existential vacuum is not everybody’s cup of tea (especially on a Sunday morning, when this is written). Sure – most ‘normal’ people will be in a building designed for religious believers, learning how great God is and re-confirming ‘his’ goodness and purpose. Instead, my thoughts this morning do quite the opposite. I’m considering ...
Captain Walker
Captain Walker
