Logical Fallacies: The Fallacy Files
English Composition 1: Rational Appeal
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, make up a means of persuasion called the three appeals — three ways of persuading an audience (Covino and Jolliffe 15). Logos translates as "word" or "reason," and in rhetoric, logos refers to different systems of reasoning, working together to persuade an audience. Logos, pathos, and ethos are different but complementary methods of persuasion. Ethos moves an audience by proving the credibility and trustworthiness of the rhetor, pathos seeks to change the attitudes and actions of the audience by playing to the emotions of the audience, and logos persuades through the powers of reasoning (Covino and Jolliffe 17). Developing Logos For the ancient Greeks, logos meant more than logic or reasoning alone: it meant "thought plus action" (Covino and Jolliffe 17), "thought" being the ideas themselves and "action" being the way in which those ideas are presented to the audience.
Cliche List — The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
15 Logical Fallacies You Should Know Before Getting Into a Debate - TheBestSchools.org
Logical fallacies are flawed, deceptive, or false arguments that can be proven wrong with reasoning. These are the most common fallacies you should know about. Arguments and debates are an important part of college and academic discourse. But not every argument is perfect. You'll hear logical fallacies in the classroom, during televised debates, and in arguments with your friends. This article lays out some of the most common logical fallacies and how to identify them. What Is a Logical Fallacy? Logical fallacies are flawed, deceptive, or false arguments that can be proven wrong with reasoning. A formal fallacy is an argument with a premise and conclusion that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.An informal fallacy is an error in the form, content, or context of the argument. — Ad Hominem An ad hominem fallacy uses personal attacks rather than logic. Ad hominem arguments are often used in politics, where they are often called "mudslinging." Study Tool — Straw Man straw man argument — Appeal to Ignorance
Eliminating Wordiness | Undergraduate Writing Center
In concise writing words pull their own weight. Each carries meaning essential to the content of the sentence. Try to identify which words add meaning to the sentence and which just take up space. As you revise your work, keep these enemies of concision in mind. 1. Weak words Some words are the written equivalent of “um.” Generally speaking writers can kind of rely on certain online indexes of journals to basically start their research. The words in boldface have little to do with the point of the sentence; they can go. 2. We’re used to seeing some words paired: each and every, true and accurate, full and complete. The end result was brighter in color than we had hoped, but we plan to repaint the wall in the future . This sentence only needs the italicized words, not the bold ones: The result was brighter than we had hoped, but we plan to repaint the wall. 3. If you can think of one word to replace several, use the word. Pared down, the sentence reads like this: 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Daryl Bem proved ESP is real. Which means science is broken.
It seemed obvious, at first, that Jade Wu was getting punked. In the fall of 2009, the Cornell University undergraduate had come across a posting for a job in the lab of one of the world’s best-known social psychologists. A short while later, she found herself in a conference room, seated alongside several other undergraduate women. While most labs in the psych department were harshly lit with fluorescent ceiling bulbs, Bem’s was set up for tranquility. “Well, extrasensory perception, also called ESP, is when you can perceive things that are not immediately available in space or time,” Bem said. It occurred to Wu that the flyer might have been a trick. “I know this sounds kind of out there,” Wu remembers Bem saying, “but there is evidence for ESP, and I really believe it. As Bem went on, Wu began to feel more at ease. In truth, Bem had no formal funding for his semisecret research program. “Reading it made me physically unwell.” Daryl Bem has always had a knack for not fitting in.
How to Make Sentences Clear and Concise
How to Make Sentences Clear and Concise ( printable version here ) Richard Lanham, a professor of English at UCLA, invented an easy-to-use method for making your writing clearer and more concise. The Writing Center strongly advocates Lanham's "Paramedic Method" for your writing. 1a. Original : In this passage is an example of the use of the rule of justice in argumentation. 1b. Original : The point I wish to make is that fish sleep with their eyes open. 2. Original : Burning books is considered censorship by some people. 3. Original : The theory of relativity isn't demonstrated by this experiment. 4. My opinion is that.... Want more information? Back to ' Focusing/Connecting Ideas ' Writer's Web | Writing Center | Make an Appointment | Library Copyright 2010
100 Questions That Help Students Think About Thinking | TeachThought
100 Questions That Help Students Think About Thinking by Terry Heick Last year I wrote a post on how to help students think for themselves. TeachThought reader Peter Duckett wrote me a few months later with these questions below that he added in order to facilitate their use in the classroom. I’ve added some myself, and am going to continue to add more after giving you a chance to do so. In the comments below, suggest a question for one of the categories below and I’ll add them to the list. Leave your twitter username and I’ll credit you next to the question. Let them watch their predictions play out What do you think will happen? Let them form theories, and immediately test and revise those theories based on observation What do you think? Give them the right collaboration with the right “mind” at the right time With whom could you work to figure this out? Allow them to read with choice–without guidelines or external pressure What would you like to play with? What parts do you see in this?
