Category: Essays
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Arguments in Evaluative Language—Essentially Contestable
Is it cruel to kill cattle in slaughterhouses where live cattle can smell the blood of the dead? Or to spank children in order to teach them how to behave? The point is not that we couldn’t argue our way to one position or the other on these questions; it’s only to say that when […]
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Neil Tyson and the Argument From Ignorance
The frailty of the human mind: just another reason to remain skeptical. I recently found this video of Neil Tyson explaining the fallacious appeal to ignorance. As Tyson explains with his unique humor, the appeal to ignorance pervades all of human nature. The appeal to ignorance, also called the argument from ignorance or argumentum ad […]
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Facebook & Video Games: An Introduction to the Narrative Fallacy
“I am a god. Level ten all alone!” My brother’s face glowed blue from the television as he completed another level in the Call of Duty minigame. The fact that most people sleep at 3 a.m. didn’t phase his concentration as he simultaneously killed zombies and trashed talked his friends. His confidence rose as he […]
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Fluid Strategy
( Photo: Josh Liba on flickr) I was with some friends breakdancing the other night. At one point, a more experienced dancer was showing me what I was doing wrong in my six step. She is considerably shorter than me, and pointed this out by suggesting that I bend my knees to condense myself and […]