Philosophy
Belief is our default setting. We are wired to believe, and we'd rather believe a completely nonsensical answer than to have to face to the possibility that we don't know. Belief is easy. Questioning and investigating require work, and we are lazy.
But since belief comes so easily and automatically to us, there are many who try to exploit that cognitive quirk for their own ends, and they get us to believe in the most insane and asinine ideas one could imagine. Don't believe me? Just look around!
There are some tools we can use to protect ourselves from this kind of mental exploitation. Learning how to spot common logical fallacies is one, and in today's video, magician Penn Jillette offers some other tips, starting with the fact that the things we should question the most are the things that we desperately want to believe, and moving to the basic but important insight that it is all-too-easy for us to make category mistakes, and to equate things that should not be equated, like the kinds of things that should be thought about and the kinds of things that should be felt.
- Penn State's Other Disgrace: Academic Department For Sale
I've not written on the horrible events that have been uncovered in State College because I've no idea what to say other than how absolutely horrible it all is. A reporter this morning discussing the internal committee at Penn State that would...
- Alice And Beliefing
I'm teaching Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in my first year seminar this semester and we were having an interesting conversation Friday that led to a question I'm not sure I have a good answer for. In Through the Looking Glass,...
- Logical Fallacies Classification - Formal And Informal Fallacies
Logical fallacies are classified in many different ways since there is still no agreement between thinkers for that matter. What are logical fallacies? The best definition of a fallacy in logic is an argument with poor reasoning (critical thinking rules...
- Science Vs. Philosophy? Nigga Please...
When it comes to the question of the importance and relevance of philosophy, I'm not sure whether Lawrence Krauss just loves the attention of being polemic, doesn't get just how narrow-minded and simplistic his beliefs are, doesn't realize...
- Michael Shermer - The Baloney Detection Kit
In this blog we have featured previously a basic intro to logic and argumentation, a primer on the importance of critical thinking, a fun intro to informal logical fallacies, and many more relevant entries. And yet the main point cannot be emphasized...
Philosophy
Penn Jillette's Bullshit Detector
But since belief comes so easily and automatically to us, there are many who try to exploit that cognitive quirk for their own ends, and they get us to believe in the most insane and asinine ideas one could imagine. Don't believe me? Just look around!
There are some tools we can use to protect ourselves from this kind of mental exploitation. Learning how to spot common logical fallacies is one, and in today's video, magician Penn Jillette offers some other tips, starting with the fact that the things we should question the most are the things that we desperately want to believe, and moving to the basic but important insight that it is all-too-easy for us to make category mistakes, and to equate things that should not be equated, like the kinds of things that should be thought about and the kinds of things that should be felt.
- Penn State's Other Disgrace: Academic Department For Sale
I've not written on the horrible events that have been uncovered in State College because I've no idea what to say other than how absolutely horrible it all is. A reporter this morning discussing the internal committee at Penn State that would...
- Alice And Beliefing
I'm teaching Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in my first year seminar this semester and we were having an interesting conversation Friday that led to a question I'm not sure I have a good answer for. In Through the Looking Glass,...
- Logical Fallacies Classification - Formal And Informal Fallacies
Logical fallacies are classified in many different ways since there is still no agreement between thinkers for that matter. What are logical fallacies? The best definition of a fallacy in logic is an argument with poor reasoning (critical thinking rules...
- Science Vs. Philosophy? Nigga Please...
When it comes to the question of the importance and relevance of philosophy, I'm not sure whether Lawrence Krauss just loves the attention of being polemic, doesn't get just how narrow-minded and simplistic his beliefs are, doesn't realize...
- Michael Shermer - The Baloney Detection Kit
In this blog we have featured previously a basic intro to logic and argumentation, a primer on the importance of critical thinking, a fun intro to informal logical fallacies, and many more relevant entries. And yet the main point cannot be emphasized...