When I was a teenager, I had an unquenchable thirst for motivational material. I listened to these motivational gurus on cassette tapes, many of which were hilariously warped from sitting in my hot car that when played, sounded like demon-poses

Reductio Ad Consequentia - Reducing the Argument to the Consequences

Apr 20th, 2019

People like to make rules to justify their positions. This can be a form of rationalization, but more often it is an honest and conscious attempt to provide a good reason for one’s position. The problem is, very often, the rules that one create

If You Could Only Save One, Would You Save a Child or a Thoudand Embryos?

Oct 23rd, 2017

Recently, science-fiction writer Patrick S. Tomlinson posted a question on his Twitter feed that he said he has been asking the "Life begins at Conception crowd" for decades. Ben Shapiro, American conservative political commentator, columnist,

It's a Conspiracy!

Aug 21st, 2017

The interesting thing about conspiracy theories is that some of them are actually true. This gives all conspiracy theories a hint of legitimacy in that no matter how ridiculous a theory might sound; there is a chance that it could be true. But

Arguing with a Presuppostionalist

Jul 31st, 2017

I received this question a while back, and thought it was worth reviving it.How do I respond to presuppositionalist’s claim that circular logic is not fallacious? Because presuppositionalists say that since every worldview commits this fallacy.

Welcome to the Upside Down

Jul 18th, 2017

I remember a bit from one of my favorite comedians, Eddie Murphy, in his video titled Raw. Without getting nearly as graphic as Eddie or being nearly as funny, I will paraphrase the joke: he talks about how a woman gets to be so enamored with a

Women, Rape, and Responsibility

Jul 11th, 2017

A question was asked recently about women, rape, and responsibility. Paraphrasing, the argument went something like this:Women have some responsibility in doing things to prevent rape. Women are (or at least should be) responsible for doing thi

Top Five Logical Fallacies in the Social Justice Movement

Jul 4th, 2017

There is a disturbing trend in the social justice movement where science, data, facts, and reason are sacrificed for ideology. Critics of the social justice movement often reject the overall ideas of social justice because of these reasoning fl

Beliefs: The More Emotion is Involved, the Less Evidence is Required

Jun 5th, 2017

Often people form their beliefs with strong emotions. One of the best examples of this is how the anti-vaccine campaigns win support by connecting autistic children to vaccine use. Beliefs have both emotional and logical components. The more em

What is the Evolutionary Benefit of Beliefs and How Can Beliefs Best Be Changed?

Jun 5th, 2017

From an evolutionary perspective, beliefs and knowledge should be seen as the same thing‚Äîjust on different ends of the spectrum. So in this sense, knowledge can be seen as beliefs where the confidence level is very high. In this regard, we ca

The Fundamental Attribution Error, Actor-observer Bias, and the Self-serving Bias. Oh My!

Jun 5th, 2017

If you have come across the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer bias, and the self-serving bias, you should rightfully be confused. So here is my attempt to clear these up.The fundamental attribution error is an observer bias where th

The Gentetic Fallacy and Probability

Nov 20th, 2016

I often see people call "fallacy" when someone makes a probabilistic statement rather than coming to a definitive conclusion based on a questionable source. For example:Person 1: I read on ConspiricyBlogs.com that our government comprises many

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