On 10/7/2014 1:19 AM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
This is VERY simple, and crucial, stuff. And yet I see SOOO many grown adults,
even ones with advanced graduate degrees, consistently fail completely and
uttery at basic logical reasoning in everyday life (and we're talking very, very
obvious and basic fallacies), that it's genuinely disturbing.
I agree with teaching logical fallacies. I believe one of the most important
things we can teach the young is how to separate truth from crap. And this is
not done - I'd never really heard of logical fallacies until after college. (I
was taught the scientific method, though.)
I.e. logical fallacies and the scientific method should be core curriculum.
Ironically, I've seen many researchers with PhD's carefully using the scientific
method in their research, and promptly lapsing into logical fallacies with
everything else.
It's like sales techniques. I've read books on sales techniques and the
psychology behind them. I don't use or apply them with any skill, but it has
enabled me to recognize when those techniques are used on me, and has the effect
of immunizing me against them.
At least learning the logical fallacies helps immunize one against being
fraudulently influenced.
