Logic Fallacies #4 (and taking a break)

Logic fallacies #4 - and maybe the last for a while

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/common-logical-fallacies

https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/

I’ve been looking at Logic Fallacies (and, as I am discovering, there are a lot of them)!!

#11 The Burden of Proof Fallacy

If I say “There is global warming” but don’t offer proof, I really have not presented a whole argument.  There are some people who ‘believe’ there is global warming and others that believe there isn’t - or what we have is part of ongoing cycles of heating and warming (like the ice age).  

If I say “there is global warming” because John Doe says so, unless John Doe is a well-known scholar on global warming, this also doesn’t work.  

But I can also say “there is global warming” and cite 20 people.  It is possible for the opponents of my argument to cite 20 people who do not accept the concept of global warming. Such arguments/debates cannot be fully settled - but studied more.  

I found an article (one) that said coffee can save your teeth.  I printed the article to take to my dental hygienist.  There are articles on the other side as well - and as far I know, that issue has not been settled.  The research is inconclusive at this point (but, I wanted to show that it is being researched).

Evidence is important in formal debate/arguments.  I am seeing ads (internet since I don’t have a television) where “Congressman Smith supports veterans” - but without proof.  “Congressman Smith supports health care for people in his district - but without proof.  Did Congressman Smith create a health care proposal?  What did that proposal say?  Has it been analyzed?

Congressman Smith supports apple pie, motherhood, and baseball.  I guess that’s nice - and how does that affect me as a voter?  Where is the proof and where is the relevance to me?

How did Congressman Smith vote on the LGBTQ anti-discrimination bill?  (On-the-record he voted against it)

If a person says “I said that statement but I don’t have proof” is unsubstantiated.  (These type of arguments occur in sports - 

Person 1: “Mickey Mantle was the best baseball player ever”

Person 2:  “No way!! Willie Mays was the best baseball player ever”

Unless the criterion is definition better, there can’t be a winner.

“Mickey Mantle was the best centerfield player to play over 500 games batting at least .330 and having fewer than 10 errors and having a slugging average of at least .600.” 

#12 The Personal Incredulity Fallacy

Just because you don’t believe something is true, doesn’t mean it is false.  I can’t understand how you take two gases (hydrogen and oxygen) and it becomes a liquid (water).  I think that a gas mixed with a gas should be a gas.  But, H2O is water!!!

*****

There are more - and I want to look at them again, but maybe next week (or later).  

Hugs - LOVE WINS!!!

Karen