Straight and Crooked Thinking
Encyclopedia
Straight and Crooked Thinking, first published in 1930 and revised in 1953, is a book by Robert H. Thouless
which describes, assesses and critically analyses flaws in reasoning and argument. Thouless describes it as a practical manual, rather than a theoretical one.
Robert H. Thouless
British academic Robert H. Thouless is best known as the author of Straight and Crooked Thinking , which describes flaws in reasoning and argument....
which describes, assesses and critically analyses flaws in reasoning and argument. Thouless describes it as a practical manual, rather than a theoretical one.
Synopsis
- No. 3. proof by exampleProof by exampleProof by example is a logical fallacy whereby one or more examples are claimed as "proof" for a more general statement.This fallacy has the following structure, and argument form:...
, biased sampleBiased sampleIn statistics, sampling bias is when a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population are less likely to be included than others. It results in a biased sample, a non-random sample of a population in which all individuals, or instances, were not equally likely to...
, cherry picking - No. 6. ignoratio elenchiIgnoratio elenchiIgnoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question...
: "red herring" - No. 9. false compromise/middle groundMiddle groundArgument to moderation is a logical fallacy which asserts that given two positions there exists a compromise between them which must be correct.An individual demonstrating the false compromise fallacy implies that the positions...
- No. 12. circular cause and consequence
- No. 13. begging the questionBegging the questionBegging the question is a type of logical fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the premise....
- No. 17. equivocationEquivocationEquivocation is classified as both a formal and informal logical fallacy. It is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning or sense...
- No. 18. false dilemmaFalse dilemmaA false dilemma is a type of logical fallacy that involves a situation in which only two alternatives are considered, when in fact there are additional options...
: black and white thinking - No. 19. continuum fallacyContinuum fallacyThe continuum fallacy is an informal logical fallacy closely related to the sorites paradox, or paradox of the heap...
(fallacy of the beard) - No. 21. ad nauseamAd nauseamAd nauseam is a Latin term used to describe an argument which has been continuing "to [the point of] nausea". For example, the sentence, "This topic has been discussed ad nauseam", signifies that the topic in question has been discussed extensively, and that those involved in the discussion have...
: "argumentum ad nauseam" or "argument from repetition" or "argumentum ad infinitum" - No. 25. style over substance fallacy
- No. 28. appeal to authority
- No. 31. thought-terminating cliché
- No. 36. special pleadingSpecial pleadingSpecial pleading is a form of spurious argumentation where a position in a dispute introduces favorable details or excludes unfavorable details by alleging a need to apply additional considerations without proper criticism of these considerations themselves. Essentially, this involves someone...
- No. 37. appeal to consequencesAppeal to consequencesAppeal to consequences, also known as argumentum ad consequentiam , is an argument that concludes a premise to be either true or false based on whether the premise leads to desirable or undesirable consequences...
- No. 38. appeal to motiveAppeal to motiveAppeal to motive is a pattern of argument which consists in challenging a thesis by calling into question the motives of its proposer. It can be considered as a special case of the ad hominem circumstantial argument...