PHILOS 2CT3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Formal Fallacy, Informal Fallacy, Confirmation Bias
4 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
A fallacy = an intentional / unintentional error in reasoning where: 1) the conclusion does not follow from the premises. 2) one or more of the premises are false: 3) irrelevant or misleading elements are included in an argument. Formal fallacy: an error in the formal structure of an argument that makes it invalid. Informal fallacy: an error in the contents and context of an argument that makes it unsound / unpersuasive: something that sounds like it could be true but something has gone wrong: there is something missing. Cognitive biases: irrational / fallacious habits or tendencies of thinking and belief formation that we engage in both subjectively and socially: wanting to have closure: importing or abolishing certain information. Ways that we trick ourselves into behaving / acting / thinking a certain way. If we were thinking more rationally, we would be less inclined to engaging in this behaviour. Subjective biases: erroneous individual behaviours, belief sand decision making.
