Spotting Flawed Arguments
Argument types:
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Red Herrings
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Emotional Manipulation
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Appeals to authority
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Personal attacks (ad hominem)
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Misleading use of evidence (such as statistics and graphs)
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The truth but not the whole truth
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particularly common in politics these days
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I was never told (but I read about it)
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I didn't meet with him (but we spoke on the phone)
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He never came to my office (but I had dinner at his house)
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Universities now receive more funding than ever before
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No staff will be sacked (but no contracts will be renewed)
The key to spotting flawed arguments is to ask difficult questions
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You won't always be able to find the answers
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But at least you will have thought about the possibilities
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Semester 1 2005