There are a lot of arguments in society. A lot. Too many are done badly, being little more than a chain of assertions or disconnected claims. This blog is devoted to assessing them and suggesting better ways to discuss things.
Also, this blog is in support of my U. of Minnesota class, "Analysis of Argument," and students will be posting here.
You may consider this your inaugural comment.
ReplyDeleteI have the same complaint as you do, except when I am making the unsubstantiated assertions.
I am a student of logic (or the lack thereof), and I am looking forward to your work here.
By the way, another problem with most debates is that each sides relies almost solely on composition fallacies.
ReplyDeleteThey assume if they provide an example of their assertion, they have substantiated the position that it is universally true.
Seconded by Straw Man, Post Hoc, and whatever you call the fallacy where you define a source as finding someone who agrees with you somewhere in the universe.
How nice to have a comment that isn't selling me prescription drugs. You might also wish to consider adding the concept "epistemic closure" to your tool set should you not have it already. This is exactly the concept that the validity of a source is judged entirely by its level of agreement with the person's opinion.
ReplyDeleteI see this term used in political debate also, more to mean that one has decided what the truth is and considers any evidence to the contrary, thus irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteI guess that is a similar definition, now that I think about it.
By the way, when will you next post be up? I have VERY interested.
ReplyDeleteGo over here for my personal blog
ReplyDeletehttp://gyroscopejpn.blogspot.com/