Lecture 14B: Fallacy Fest and Cognitive Biases

Business:
1.  HW 14A:  I was hoping people would actually look a study abstracts...
2.  How to find studies:  wikipedia, PLOS medicine, Google Scholar
3.  Problems with Peer Review: (You may use these as blog/podcast reviews)
Online "peer review" journals accept horrible paper
Online "peer review" journals accept horrible and plagiarized peer review papers

Fallacies Continued 
Subjectivist (aka Relativist) Fallacy:  Claiming something is true for one person, but not for someone else when, in fact, it is true for everyone (objective) as demonstrated by empirical evidence.  The subjectivist fallacy is most obviously committed in regards to empirical (observable) claims.  More controversially, they might apply to moral or value claims.

Logical Form:
Person 1 claims that Y is true.
Person 2 claims that Y is true for some people, but not for everyone (even though empirical evidence states otherwise)

E.g.,  (from Nizkor Project)
Jill: "Look at this, Bill. I read that people who do not get enough exercise tend to be unhealthy."
Bill: "That may be true for you, but it is not true for me."


Jill: "I think that so called argument you used to defend your position is terrible. After all, a fallacy hardly counts as an argument. "
Bill: "That may be true for you, but it is not true for me."


Bill: "Your position results in a contradiction, so I can't accept it."
Dave: "Contradictions may be bad on your Eurocentric, oppressive, logical world view, but I don't think they are bad. Therefore my position is just fine."

False Dichotomy:  When it is assumed that there are only two possible choices when in fact there are other possible choices.

Structure:

(P1)*  Either A or B

(P2)  Not A

(C)  B

*(P1) is false

Note:  The structure isn't always explicit: it can be implied

E.g. Either you use Axe deodorant, or you will stink to high heaven. You don't want to stink, so you better buy Axe.

E.g., Either you're gay or you're straight. 

E.g. According to Paul, radical Muslims are not radical because they have drunk deeply from the trough of an expansionist, racist and murderous ideology, but rather because American actions abroad have brought about the natural response of resistance.[2]

  --Joel Richardson on Ron Paul's foreign policy

E.g. Either you support the war in Iraq or you're unamerican.

Perfectionist Fallacy:  The perfectionist fallacy is a special version of the false dichotomy.  It assumes a policy/theory/treatment etc... must work perfectly or it is to be rejected.  Often the dichotomy structure isn't explicit

E.g.,  Evolution can't explain X, therefore creationism is true. 

E.g., There's not point in having gun control laws; criminals aren't going to follow them anyway.

E.g., Scientific facts get overturned a lot, instead we should use our intuition to seek truth about the world.

E.g., Some uninsured people haven't signed up for Obamacare.  It's time to scrap it.

E.g.  Up to 4% of people who have been vaccinated get measles.  Vaccines don't work.

E.g.,  We need to get rid of the new crime policies.  People are still getting robbed.

Argument from final consequences:

1. God has to exist otherwise there'd be no morals.

Fallacy Fallacy: When you assume that you've proven a conclusion to be false because the opponent's support for the conclusion commits a fallacy.  Pointing out a fallacy only defeats that particular line of argument, it doesn't necessarily prove the conclusion to be false.  However, if you show that all your opponents arguments commit fallacies, then his/her claim has no support and is unlikely to be true.

A:  Try these snacks they're really healthy.  They're all natural.

B:  Ah Ha!  You just committed the naturalistic fallacy!  

A:  Um, ok, but it doesn't mean that the snacks aren't healthy.

Fallacy Fest and Resources
Here's a link to a handy fallacy guide (and here) with explanations to all the fallacies (and more) that we've discussed in class.  Wikipedia is also a good source for explanations of the various fallacies as well as the cognitive biases.

Here's a list from the course
Naturalistic Fallacy (3 types)  (a) Natural is better, (b) that's the natural order of things (i.e. for moral arguments), (c) ascribing natural properties not non-natural things.
Argument from authority/antiquity/ancient wisdom/tradition
Ad populum
Appeal to emotions (usually pity, sympathy, fear, guilt, or disgust)
Genetic fallacy
Argument from personal incredulity
Ad hominem
Poisoning the well
Tu quo que
Ad hoc rescue
Moving the goal posts
False dilemma
Perfectionist fallacy/negative confirming instances: sub-category of false dilemma
Post hoc ergo proptor hoc (confusing correlation with causation)
False premise
Non-falsifiable hypothesis
Subjectivist fallacy
Hasty generalization
Red herring
Strawman
Non-sequitur
Begging the question
Texas sharp shooter fallacy (also considered a cognitive bias)
Appeal to force
Two wrongs fallacy
Confirming instances fallacy (related to confirmation bias)
Argument from Ignorance/inappropriate burden of proof/demanding proof a negative


Biases and Cognitive Biases:
Handy-dandy chart and explanation of the most common cognitive biases
Appeal to anecdote (also could be categorized as a fallacy)
Confirmation Bias
Selection Bias
Motivated Reasoning
*Negativity Bias
*Halo effect
*Bottom line effect