I know what logic is. I explained it. Very standard definition.
The Fallacy Fallacy Why you shouldn't go looking for faulty reasoning everywhere.
- Thread starter Hume
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T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
Not true. Inference is used when there are gaps in the available data or information. The primary means by which logic is applied is through facts and hard data. Without some basis in fact and data, inferences cannot be made. On the other hand, with facts and data at hand, inferences are not always necessary.
No. Logic is about the relation between statements. It is not about whether a statement is true or false.
It is raining. I better wear a rain coat is an inference.
False.
If 'A' is true, then 'B' is true. Basic logical form of inference.
Notice, correct inferences can be made from a false statement.
T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
It's basis however is in the facts and data presented. Without those, the statements themselves are meaningless.
It is not.
T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
No, it isn't. You simply left out the intermediate steps getting to that conclusion.
It is raining.
I don't want to be rained on.
My choices to keep that from happening are a raincoat, umbrella, etc.
I have a raincoat but lack an umbrella.
I should wear a raincoat.
Inference is something like Democritus, a Greek philosopher, postulating that because you can divide things into smaller parts of the whole there must be something smaller than can be seen allowing that and called that thing atomos. He couldn't observe but only infer that atomos existed.
That's what inference is: Using available facts and filling in gaps with reasoned possibilities.
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Right, inference.
T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
None of that is inference. It is all factual statements. Inference occurs when you lack sufficient or complete data or information.
Inference is the basis of logic.
Logic is basically saying, if this statement is true, what else is true because of it.
Crepitus
Verified User
somebody call @Into the NightIn my experience, fallacy theory is not just useless—it can be actively harmful. It encourages intellectual laziness, offering high-minded excuses to dismiss any argument you don’t like. It impoverishes debate by pretending that messy, real-world disagreements can be resolved with the blunt tools of formal logic. You end up like my students: slightly paranoid, dismissive, and, ironically, less critical than when they started.
The Fallacy Fallacy
Why you shouldn't go looking for faulty reasoning everywhere.www.persuasion.community
Into the Night is a psycho. Mentally ill.
Into the Night
Verified User
A fallacy is not a theory, Hugo. Denial of logic. You can't blame your fallacies on anybody else. They are YOUR fallacies. Only YOU can do something about them. You can't make them go away either.In my experience, fallacy theory is not just useless—it can be actively harmful. It encourages intellectual laziness, offering high-minded excuses to dismiss any argument you don’t like. It impoverishes debate by pretending that messy, real-world disagreements can be resolved with the blunt tools of formal logic. You end up like my students: slightly paranoid, dismissive, and, ironically, less critical than when they started.
The Fallacy Fallacy
Why you shouldn't go looking for faulty reasoning everywhere.
Crepitus
Verified User
It follows me around the forum telling me about all the "fallacies" I'm committing.
Yes, he does that to everybody. Year after year after year.
Into the Night
Verified User
Denial of logic. Redefinition fallacy.