Comments on The Skeptic's Field Guide: Fallacy

Sage, my co-blogger and I have called this one "br...

2006-05-24T07:52:00.000+10:00

Sage, my co-blogger and I have called this one "browbeating" - it's in the list of fallacies on the right. I will now browbeat using text: YOU SHOULD LOOK IT UP, CLICK ON THE LINKS AND CHECK THE EXAMPLES AND SEE WHETHER THIS FALLACY MATCHES YOUR EXAMPLE.

I have one along the lines of Moving the Goalposts...

2006-05-23T23:32:00.000+10:00

I have one along the lines of Moving the Goalposts, but I'm not sure if it has a name. When someone's obviously losing an argument, instead of diverting, they begin to argue the point louder and louder and speak so quickly that nobody can possibly interject a rebuttal. Since nobody can argue against them, therefore, their argument must be solid. It is to laugh.

Touche

2006-04-26T23:30:00.000+10:00

Touche

Ah but I learnt from the master...

2006-04-26T23:10:00.000+10:00

Ah but I learnt from the master...

I think you make an interesting distinction Ben, a...

2006-04-24T20:24:00.000+10:00

I think you make an interesting distinction Ben, and you'd know, as you've always been an expert in uncastrated male bovine scat! :-)

Theo, I believe that you are missing another impor...

2006-04-24T11:22:00.000+10:00

Theo, I believe that you are missing another important category in this collection: "bullshit".

Now it could be argued that bullshit is a sub-category of humbug, however there is an important distinction between the two.

The humbugger is engaged in devious or deceptive conduct in order to mislead - they care about the truth, and they want you to believe what they are saying over it.

As Professor Harry Frankfurt, philosopher and author of 'On Bullshit', articulates, "The difference lies in the bullshitter's complete disregard for whether what he's saying corresponds to facts in the physical world: he 'does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all.'"

In other words, the bullshitter knows he's bullshitting and he knows that you know as well, but continues on regardless

Good real world examples of professional bullshitting can be found in every single advertisment in every single medium that has ever been produced. Ever.