Posts in "Logic"

By Brian Underwood at 5:47PM

Jan 12, 2012

The Supremacy of Logos

Plato and Aristotle

It's tempting when debating those with statist ideologies to just throw your hands in the air and shout, "Well how would you feel if someone wanted to tell you how to live your life?" It's tempting, but dangerous.

Why? Because emotions are not logical, i.e., they are not argumentative primaries. When responding that way, you play into the hands of the statists and allow them to respond with things like, "I don't mind -- we live in a democracy. Majority rules," or, "It doesn't bother me. The government can use my money to give to others and I'm completely fine with it."

Compare and Contrast Critiques

There are a few very useful tools that make certain people stop and think. I don't want to call them "bad" people, but that's how I think of them. Usually, they aren't really bad; it's just that they put more effort into avoiding the truth when they're wrong about it than into actually figuring out that they're wrong.

Yeah, that's a lot of people. However, most of them have good hearts, and so I like to try to help them. This essay is one of my attempts.

There are some people that understand the truth, but they work to hide it. Think Big Tobacco, or Timothy Geithner, or Ben Bernanke (sorry guys, but I've seen you sweat and I've heard you grasp authoritatively at straws. They are both convincing acts). I won't bother coming up with a word to describe them, and these useful tools I referred to usually won't make them stop and think because they already know their best bet is to alter the subject enough to distract you from the truth that these tools uncover.

Logic vs. Government

My latest column at the Daily Caller analyzes the logical fallacies contained in base progressive thought, using Jon Stewart's recent critique of libertarians as a perfect example of an illogical progressive argument, and then applies this analysis to the recent healthcare bill.

...An analysis of the history of government reveals that even government actions with good intent usually end up resulting in negative consequences. Just consider the governmental policies over the past 50 years intended to make home ownership affordable for all Americans. Such actions led directly to an economic collapse that specifically hit the housing market, and thus homeowners, like never before...
...With this view of logic in mind, one can now understand why libertarians are so upset with the recent health care reform. The government-minded leftist would argue that those against the reform do not think that everyone should have access to quality health care, or were content with the current system. Neither is true, and it is in fact often the libertarian’s desire to see affordable health care for as many as possible that drives the protests of Obamacare...

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By Bonnie Kristian at 5:08AM

Dec 25, 2008

Does government really keep us safe?

This past semester I took a course in logic, which included a very extensive discussion of a little over 15 major logical fallacies, such as the straw man argument or argument ad verecundiam, or appeal to false authority. By the end of the semester, my roommate - who was also in the class - and I would have whole conversations attempting to call each other out on fallacies (incredibly geeky, I know). Anyway, formal knowledge of logic and logical fallacies is particularly helpful in politics, because political rhetoric is frequently rife with unnoticed logical errors (I'd recommend a logic
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