Detecting Logical Fallacies

I had some lectures on formal logic as part of a university philosophy course and reading current news stories is making wish I'd paid more attention. There are many ways of twisting logic to persuade an audience for a dubious argument, known as logical fallacies.

Your Local Epidemiologist has just published an article describing five common logical fallacies, using statements by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as examples. It's an excellent article, cleanly written with clear explanations and lots of examples.

How do we address the firehose of inaccurate information that is flooding the internet right now? It’s tempting to try to play whack-a-mole, tackling one rumor after another, and there is certainly value in addressing individual claims.

But emerging research shows that a better (and less exhausting) method —“prebunking,” or teaching people to recognize falsehoods before they encounter them—is highly effective. If you can teach people to recognize the common rhetorical tricks that are used to sell falsehoods, they can identify them for themselves in the wild, instead of relying on scientists and doctors to chase down every individual claim, meme, or video (which is impossible).

With that, here’s a prebunking lesson for you.

I can't recommend this article highly enough. Read it, remember it, and apply it in your daily reading. You won't regret it.