10/30 Classes Canceled

Due to Hurricane Sandy, Rowan has canceled all classes for Monday, October 29th, and Tuesday, October 30th.

This changes our schedule around slightly. Our last two group presentations--groups #5 and #6--were scheduled to present on Tuesday. Those groups should now be prepared to present in class on Thursday, November 1st.

Let's Be Diplomatic: Straw Figure

Here's some stuff on the straw man fallacy:

• Politicians love to distort their opponents' positions. Even Obama does it.
• Politicians aren't alone: we do it, too. Often we distort arguments for claims we disagree with without even realizing it. This is because we have trouble coming up with good reasons supporting a conclusion that we think is false, so we have a tendency to make up bad reasons and attribute them to our opponents.
• Hire your own professional straw man!
• Here's the Critical Thinker's video explanation of the straw figure fallacy:
  
  
• I recommend the Critical Thinker's podcast.
  

Also, speaking of red herrings, here's a cute cat picture:

Wait, we weren't just speaking of red her--Oh. I see what you did there.

Clever.

Midterm

The midterm will be held at the beginning of class on Thursday, October 25th. It's worth 15% of your overall grade, and will cover everything we've done in class so far:

• definitions of 'logic,' 'reasoning,' and 'argument'
• evaluating arguments (Chapter 6)
• types of arguments:
  -deductive (aim for certainty, are valid/invalid and sound/unsound) (Chapter 8)
  -inductive (generalizing from examples, are evaluated based how large and representative the examples in the premises are) (Chapter 7)
  -args by analogy (evaluated in terms of how similar the things compared are, and how relevant the similarities are to the conclusion being drawn) (Chapter 7)
  -args about cause/effect (correlation vs. causation) (Chapter 7)
  -abductive (inferences to the best explanation, evaluated in terms of coherence with background theories, simplicity, predictive power, falsifiability, etc.) (Chapter 12)
• the 10 or 11 fallacies covered in class so far (Chapter 5)

Get to studying!

Begging the Hot

I couldn't resist giving you some stuff on begging the question:

• Here's a psychology paper (pdf) about the success of offering question-begging reasons to use a copier.  The psychologists dubbed these nonsense reasons "placebic information."
• Warning: my explanation of that study is a bit oversimplified.  Here's an excellent explanation of what the study actually showed in the service of a larger point: even the most careful of us unintentionally distort and oversimplify the results of scientific studies.
• Here's a video for Mims's logically delicious song "This is Why I'm Hot":

That's an Ad Hominem, Jerk

Here are some links on the ad hominem (personal attack) fallacy:

• Sure, some critics of Obama are racist, but does that mean we can dismiss their arguments? As much as we might want to, logically, no we cannot!
• Some variants on the personal attack: tu quoque (hypocrite!) and guilt by association (she hangs around bad people!).
• I should note that tu quoque isn't always fallacious reasoning.
  
• "The ad hominem rejoinders—ready the ad hominem rejoinders!"
• Remember our rallying cry: "STUPID PEOPLE SOMETIMES SAY SMART THINGS."
  

Get to studying, you dodo-heads.

Homework #2: Fallacies

Homework #2 is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, October 18th.  The assignment is to complete the worksheet on fallacies that I hand out in Tuesday's class.  If you don't get a copy, you can click here to download a .pdf version of the worksheet.  Homework #2 is worth 30 points (3% of your overall grade).

Fallacies, Fallacies, Everywhere

Looking for links on fallacies and equivocation? This is your post! First, there's a nice series of short articles on a bunch of different fallacies, including many that aren't in our book.... but also an entry on equivocation.

Speaking of, my best friend the inter-net has some nice examples of the fallacy of equivocation. Here is one good one:

P1) A feather is light.

P2) What is light cannot be dark.

C) A feather cannot be dark.

Ockham Weeps

What do you think: is this woman's explanation the best? Or should Ockham take out his razor? Let us know in the comments to this post.

Murder on the Abductive Express

I think abductive reasoning is the most effective tool we have when faced with the myriad uncertain, ambiguous issues and decisions that everyday life throws our way.  Here are some links:

• Here's a paper (pdf) that explains why I disagree with our textbook's explanation of the scientific method. It's important to consider and test multiple possible explanations rather than a single hypothesis. 
• (NOTE: Platt uses the word "inductive" in a more general way than we do in class, to refer to any non-deductive kind of reasoning--that is, arguments that don't attempt to absolutely prove their conclusion.) 
• I'm 75% through reading this book: Inference to the Best Explanation by Peter Lipton. 
• Remember when I was talking about Einstein's theory of general relativity having predictive power? This is what I had in mind.  
• Everything you ever wanted to know about William of Ockham and his famous razor.
• Lastly, here's a dinosaur comic murder mystery.

Child Abduction

Psychologist Alison Gopnik gave a great TED talk recently on how children are natural abductive reasoners; playing and making pretend is often about coming up with and testing various hypotheses. Here's the talk:

Gopnik's book, The Philosophical Baby, is great.

Correlatious

Here's yet another stick-figure comic (for those keeping track, that's five total on the blog so far). This one's about correlation.

Fun Thursday #1: Belief and Evidence

You still have a chance to do the Fun Thursday assignment if you missed it in class last Thursday. Just print out the following worksheet (pdf) and fill in your answer for each statement.

(There will be some points off if your absence on Thursday was unexcused.)

Group Presentations

Here are the assigned groups for the group presentations on fallacies, along with your topics and the tentative date of each presentation (those dates may be pushed back):

1. Ad Hominem & Appeal to Force (October 16th): Elijah, Garrett, Joe, Michael K., Ricky
2. Appeal to Pity & Popular Appeal (October 16th): Breanna, Brooke, Jon, Jose, Samantha B.
3. Appeal to Ignorance & Begging the Question (October 18th): Izetta, Michael Be., Mike Bo., Raj, Sam E.
4. Straw Man & Red Herring (October 18th): Abrianna, David, Dawn, Kevin, Nick
5. Appeal to Authority & False Dilemma (October 30th): Greg, Jessica, Justin, Michael S., Rebecca
6. Slippery Slope & The Naturalistic Fallacy (October 30th): Conor, Erik, Ryan, Tyron

If you haven't been assigned to a group yet, let me know as soon as possible.  Below are more details about the presentation.

During our section on fallacies, groups of 4-5 students will present short lessons on two specific fallacies that their members have researched on their own.

Groups are free to choose how to present their topic to the rest of the class. Be creative! Think about puppets, posters, cartoons, songs, skits, handouts, whatever. Part of your grade will be based on how creative your presentation is. Remember, though, that you are expected to teach these fallacies to the rest of the class. Although they will have read about your fallacies in our textbook, the rest of class will probably not be as familiar with the material you are presenting as your group is. Here are some helpful suggestions of things to include in your presentation:

• DEFINITION: A formal definition of each fallacy
• A slow, clear explanation in plain English of what those definitions mean
• EXAMPLES: Lots of specific examples of arguments that commit each fallacy
• Explanations of how it is that these example arguments commit the fallacy
• WHY BAD?: An explanation of why each fallacy is a mistake in reasoning

I also recommend incorporating class participation of some form into your presentation. At the end of each presentation, the group will answer questions from the rest of the class.

The presentation is worth 150 points (15% of your overall grade). Except in unusual circumstances, each group member shall receive the same grade. There will not be any time set aside in class for groups to research and prepare for their presentation, so you should meet outside class to work on this presentation.