5 Common Thinking Errors
by Paul Marsek
The five common thinking errors as listed in the readings book are Non Sequiturs, False and Vague premises, Ad Hominems, Begging the Question, and Red Herrings. When trying to reason, these errors must be avoided. They often present themselves in everyday life.
1. A non sequitur, is a phrase or argument with logical premises or statements with a conclusion that does not follow and seems illogical. A good example of a non sequitur is when Tom Cruise, being a very public person, hid his and Katie Holmes's child from the public, causing them to think that the child either didn't exist or had some kind of deformity.
Premises
1. Tom Cruise, a public person has a child
2. People often try to hide deformities
Conclusion
3. Tom Cruise's baby is either deformed or doesn't exist.
These rumors, were proven to be false when the child was displayed in a photo spread. source
In an example of false and vague premises, the conclusion logically follows, but because the premises are false, so is the conclusion. In chapter 24 of The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield is guilty of forming a conclusion off of false and vague premises. When he wakes up and finds Mr. Antolini petting his head, he assumes that Mr. Antolini is perverted, and runs out of the house.
Premises
1. All Adults are phony perverts
2. Mr. Antolini is an adult
Conclusion:
3. Mr Antolini is a pervert
Holden, hadn't previously recieved much affection from his father, and didn't realize, that it is a common fatherly thing to do to watch your child sleep and maybe pat his head.
In an Ad Hominem, someone will attack the person or the credibility of a person stating an opinion rather than attacking the opinion itself. Examples of this have been thrown back and forth many times between current Senator Jim Talent and his opponent Claire McCaskill. One example of this is Talent saying that McCaskill is taking after Howard Dean and she opposes the ban on gay marriage, border fencing and terrorist surveillence. He thinks she is against values of society because he supports the opposite of what she does.
1. She is a democrat and is against banning gay marrige etc.
2. Jim Talent is a Republican
conclusion:
McCaskill is wrong and Talent is Right.
Talent doesn't say why he is against her views, he just attacks her party and credibility.
Begging the question, is assuming that a statement is already true in order to prove that it is indeed true. With the Iraqi War, President Bush, assumed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, so he went over to find them. His premise was that Saddamhad weapons of mass destruction. In trying to prove that Iraq had weapons, he assumed that they had weapons. And according to reliable sources, there were no weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has weapons because Saddam had weapons.
White House Quotes
A red herring is when someone says or does something to distract others from the current issue. Many blieve that the relationship between the Lewinsky scandal and Clinton sending troops to Kosovo is an example of a red herring. Right after the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton had troops in Kosovo. He threw the press off the reports of his affair and onto refugees coming out of Kosovo.CNN
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