Spot the Fallacy

Why bother learning these?

Bad arguments are not rare and they are not only made by other people. They arrive in advertising, in politics, in the comments, across the kitchen table — and they come out of our own mouths when we are tired or losing. A fallacy is simply a move that feels like a reason but isn’t one, and most of them work precisely because nobody stops to name them.

Learning to name them does three things. It makes you harder to manipulate, because a trick you can see coming has lost most of its power. It makes you fairer to the people you disagree with, since you start answering what they actually said instead of the worst version of it. And it makes your own case worth listening to, because you stop reaching for the cheap moves.

“He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.” — Proverbs 18:17

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21

One warning worth having up front: spotting a fallacy tells you the argument failed, never that the conclusion is false. People do reach true conclusions by poor reasoning. That mistake has a name too, and it is in this game.