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Jan 24, 20223 min read
No True Scotsman
Of all the elements in the critical-thinker’s tool bag, fallacies tend to have the coolest names, such as Argumentation from Outrage, Tu...
Mar 25, 20214 min read
Ethics Bowl - Correlation
Continuing to look at ways to apply critical-thinking principles to ethical dilemmas, including those making up national cases for this...
Feb 14, 20214 min read
But What About...?
Is there anything to be learned from the just-ended Impeachment II? What about whataboutism?
Oct 31, 20203 min read
Getting the Vote Count "Right"
Nowhere is the gap between human belief in the perfection of numbers, and their grubby reality more apparent than during an election count.
Oct 24, 20204 min read
Deliberation
The final presidential debate demonstrates how deliberation is where critical thinking and democratic politics meet.
Oct 16, 20203 min read
Equivocation
When it comes to critical thinking, the ambiguity inherent in language can easily lead to the fallacy of equivocation.
Sep 30, 20204 min read
Argumentation from Outrage
The first 2020 presidential debate is the new champion example of the informal fallacy argumentation from outrage.
Sep 26, 20204 min read
Donald Trump: Acting Base (Rate)
Donald Trump's TV Spots: Argument from Fear and Base-Rate Fallacies
Sep 17, 20205 min read
Joe Biden: Cool Kid and Rooster
What fallacies can we find in campaign commercials? First up: Joe Biden's "Laughed At" and "Timeline".
Sep 10, 20203 min read
Fallacies
Fallacies are errors in reasoning that occur so frequently they have been given names, some of which go back centuries.
Sep 3, 20207 min read
A Complex Argument for Opening Schools
How well does New York Times columnist @NickKristof make his case for school reopening?
Aug 27, 20205 min read
Countdown to the Next Big Count
Certainly something as ridiculously simple as counting can't lead to chaos and error. Can it?
Aug 18, 20207 min read
Apples to Apples
Mathmatical fallacies, like comparing apples to oranges, can have deadly consequences
Aug 13, 20203 min read
Rates of Confusion
How much do stats, including ones we need to measure our success fighting a pandemic, represent ideal numbers vs. a messy world?
Aug 8, 20203 min read
Playing with Numbers
What happens when our faith in the numeric information leads us astray?