Blog of Andreas Eschenbacher

  Logical Errors (and no Happy End) Statement: Luna has four legs and a fur. All animals with four legs and a fur are cats. Therefore, Luna is a cat. Response: What you just said is not true. Not all animals with four legs and a fur are cats. Therefore, Luna is not a cat. (Argumentum ad logicam). If I live in Seattle, I live in the United States of America. Currently, I am in the United States of America. Therefore, I live is Seattle. A burglar broke in last night in the house next to us. Jim never had money, but now he drives a new car. So, he must be the burglar. The menu is served either with bread or with rice. Alice does not like bread. Therefore, Alice ordered rice. (No, because Alice ordered neither of them). Our universe cannot come from nothing, therefor it must have been created by God. Logical induction: also God cannot come from nothing therefor must have been created by another God, and so on. (Special Pleading) Scottish people do not behave badly. The next day

  Belittlement / Making Fun (of You) Smoking is dangerous for your health. Sure, but so does crossing a street in heavy traffic. To a Darwinist: what do you say: was your animal ancestor on your father’s or on your mother’s side? “Looks to me like it’s going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie”   Use of emotional language What is more effective, saying: health care cost goes up, or: It’s a shame that an old grandmother, who worked hard for her entire life, cannot afford anymore going to the hospital and is left to die. How can you fight for animal rights if there are so many children who suffer from malnutrition? (Wrong dilemma) Are you really for vaccinations and in favor of the ever-greedy pharmaceutical industry? (Emotional language and bundling of questions that need to be answered separately). Statement: A suicide bomber will immediately enter paradise and their parents will be proud of them. Response: this is a wrong behavior. Counter statement: you are a r

  Belief and disbelief Statement: Your dog has bitten the postman. This was witnessed. Response: No, I don’t believe this. This cannot be true. My dog would never do this. (Denial of facts). The priest abused children. Response: No, a priest would never do this.   (Denial of facts). We prayed for a sick person and they got better. Our prayer helped. (post-hoc-fallacy / hindsight bias) We prayed for a sick person and they didn’t get better, so, God must have had other plans. (post-hoc-fallacy /hindsight bias) John was part of a successful team of web developers, so we must hire him. (Not necessarily true, since John could have been the weakest one of the group). Bob, Alice, Michael and Linda are very good cooks. If we team them up, they will make a delicious meal (must not necessarily be true; many cooks spoil the broth) Lotto: chances of winning 6 plus Super Number is roughly 1:140 million. I won. Why exactly did I win? Must be God’s will or karma! Unidentified flying o

  Use of words with more than one meaning (Ambiguity, Equivocation) A piece of cake is better than nothing. Nothing is better than eternal bliss. Therefore, a piece of cake is better than eternal bliss. I believe in God. I believe in science. (Believe has different meanings) We are all familiar with using the same sentence with different intonations (inflexions): You are a genius (voice up) vs. You are a genius (voice down) – or – The political party is always right (voice up) vs. The political party is always right (voice down).   Wrong or misleading correlations Vaccinations are responsible for autism. (Well, all scientific studies deny this; wrong correlation) Using face masks stopped the virus spread. (Sounds as wearing a face mask was the only reason why the spread of the virus was stopped; other preventive measures are not mentioned; this argument is a simplification (reduction) to just one cause, instead of many, like distancing, disinfection, airing a room). Ani

Red Herring and other fishy things Here are some Red Herring examples (i.e., someone deliberately tries to derail the discussion from the relevant issue to a different one ) I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem! “It’s locker room talk, and it’s one of those things. I will knock the hell out of ISIS. We’re going to defeat ISIS. ISIS happened a number of years ago in a vacuum that was left because of bad judgment. And I will tell you, I will take care of ISIS.” Darwinism has had a bad influence on people’s morale, and must therefore be wrong. (Ignorantio elenchi: argumentation not relevant for original question about whether evolution theory is true or not; ignorantio elenchi is similar to the effect of a Red Herring, i.e., the use of (intentionally) misleading arguments or facts). Straw man Response A Straw Man is a form of response where the opponent’s statements are not p

  Method of triggered Associations You don’t believe in God. Also, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot didn’t believe in God. (So, you are like them) OK, so you want to issue laws to protect animal rights, but you do know that also the Nazis were very prolific issuing laws for animal protection. This KZ-survivor’s memory got several things wrong. Therefore, there never were KZs. (Argumentum ad logicam) Nazis murdered people. Israel murders people (therefore Israelis are like Nazis) Accusations Windows-User vs. Apple-User: you are only for Apple because you don’t like Bill Gates. You are only for Windows because you follow the mass and don’t respect quality. If we let homosexuals marry, the next step will be marriage with more than one spouse, with children, with animals, … (Slippery Slope argument) Holocaust was terrible, but the Jews provoked it. No-one ever got rich through honest work. So, everyone who got rich must have stolen it. Because I’m not rich, the wealthy and mighty pe