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Posted by $ blarman 11 years, 7 months ago to Pics
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Which is your favorite logical fallacy?

Got to get one of these to go with my "Who is John Galt?" poster...


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  • Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 7 months ago
    This is mine so I am not sure if it's what you are looking for.

    People who take Government handouts are Moochers.
    Ayn Rand accepted Social Security and Medicare.
    Ayn Rand is a Moocher.

    I hear this from Rand haters from time to time.
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  • Posted by Solver 11 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    By taking money for enough hammers, some gangs think they can stimulate the economy of any town.
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  • Posted by robgambrill 11 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Equivocation is most probably the funniest...

    Only solid objects may strike me.
    Lightning in not sold.
    Therefore, I cannot be struck by lightning.
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  • Posted by tdechaine 11 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    While not actually a logical fallacy, that certainly a good example of collectivist thinking.
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  • Posted by robgambrill 11 years, 7 months ago
    Ad misericordiam: This argument must be valid because there is suffering. As in "You must give up some of your property because that person has none of his own".
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  • Posted by Herb7734 11 years, 7 months ago
    There were some screwy Roman philosophers. One of their favorites:
    Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
    I was going to leave it un-translated, but that's not playing fair.
    "Following this, therefore because of this."
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  • Posted by Temlakos 11 years, 7 months ago
    My favorite logical fallacy?

    Argumentum ab auctoritate ("It's true because the best professors of economics say so!")

    And its close cousins:

    Argumentum a gradis (literally, "from one's grades". The form of this is: "How dare you criticize a person of my talents? Look at my grades, and look at your grades, and let's see who's qualified!")

    Argumentum a populo (argumentum a numeris, argumentum a multitudine): "You're in the minority. The majority can't be wrong." As if truth were subject to a vote.
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  • Posted by m082844 11 years, 7 months ago
    I hate them all but my least hated, and I guess my favorite, is: equivocation. Normally those are easy to point out and correct.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 11 years, 7 months ago
    Appeal to the expert. If a smart person says it, it must be right, without logical support.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 11 years, 7 months ago
    My favorite one is "middle ground." IMO, there is no nobility in "reaching across the aisle" when it results in surrenderihng freedoms or wrecking the economy (that includes ditching jobs for the "climate change" we've always had). And try to seek "middle ground" with a Muslim suicide bomber who will kill you for not converting from Christianity or for being born a Jew.
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  • Posted by mjsmolens 11 years, 7 months ago
    Henry Hazlitt's "The Broken Window Fallacy"...seeing only the immediate effects and groups' impacted by government policy while ignoring long term effects and other groups involved.
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  • Posted by BobWalters 11 years, 7 months ago
    "on a pedestal" like doctors, priests, presidents, etc., etc.
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  • Posted by tdechaine 11 years, 7 months ago
    Favorite as in most annoying: False Alternative.
    As in most serious: Misericordium - Appeal to Pity, because it is such a part of Altruism.
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  • Posted by CTYankee 11 years, 7 months ago
    "Governments = Roads" {sorry}

    When you say 'favorite"...???

    But I would say: Argument...
    from ignorance
    from silence
    to moderation
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  • Posted by Ranter 11 years, 7 months ago
    This doesn't really go along with a John Galt theme, but one statement that is a logical fallacy is: "This statement is false."
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 11 years, 7 months ago
    It's not really a fallacy, but one of the worst reasoning errors that comes natural to us all is to pick a conclusion and then look for evidence to support it.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 11 years, 7 months ago
    My favorite fallacy name is the "no true Scotsman" fallacy, which is a form of special pleading.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years, 7 months ago
    Too often I rely on my own experience. This falls under the anecdotal fallacy.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 11 years, 7 months ago
    You find many of them here in active use. We just prefer to be polite to each other.

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