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Message:: [QUOTE="xtronic, post: 975861, member: 24288"]Critical Thinking Great post Krispy. I think you and Cloud would really like a podcast that I found recently. It doesn't have an (known to me) agenda other than the encouragement of <a href="http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4073" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4073" rel="nofollow">critical thinking</a>. A recent (5 minute) episode was focused on the "Logical Fallacies" used to support views that lack evidence. You and Cloud do a great job of fighting some of these logical anomalies (ie. people that just KNOW :rollling: something is true) and thought you would like to see some of the tools used by those that lack evidence to support their views. Some of these tools are; <ul> <li>The Straw Man Argument Starling says: "People who commit minor offenses should be let out of jail sooner."     Bombo replies: "Emptying out all the jails would create havoc in society."</li> <li>Ad Hominem Starling: "I think Volvos are fine automobiles."     Bombo: "Of course you'd say that; you're from Sweden."</li> <li>Appeal to Authority "4 out of 5 dentists agree that X is good for your teeth!"</li> <li>Special Pleading Starling: "Homeopathy should be tested with clinical trials."     Bombo: "Clinical trials are not adequate to test the true nature of homeopathy."</li> <li>Anecdotal Evidence "I know for a fact that ghosts exist. My friend, who is a very reliable person, has seen ghosts on many occasions."</li> <li>Observational Selection Bombo: "The face of Satan is clearly visible in the smoke billowing from the World Trade Center."     Starling: "And in one of the other 950,000 frames of film, the  smoke looks like J. Edgar Hoover; in another, it looks like a Windows XP  icon; and in another it looks like a map of Paris."</li> <li>Appeal to Ignorance Anything that is insufficiently explained or insufficiently understood is thus impossible.</li> <li>Non-Sequitur "Corporations are evil, thus acupuncture is good."     "The government is evil, thus UFOs are alien spacecraft."     "Allah is great, thus all Christians should be killed.</li> <li>Post Hoc Starling: "I bought this car from you, and the heater is broken."     Bombo: "It worked before you bought it, so you must have broken it yourself."</li> <li>Confusion of Correlation and Causation Starling: "Chinese people eat a lot of rice."     Bombo: "Therefore the consumption of rice must cause black hair."</li> <li>Slippery Slope Starling: "It should be illegal to sell alternative therapies that don't work."     Bombo: "If that happened, any minority group could make it illegal to sell anything they don't happen to like."</li> </ul>I bet at sometime, we have all used some of these tools to help support a view that we lacked data on. Understanding these tools usage will help all of us learn to support and express our views in a respectful and intelligent way.[/QUOTE]

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