L7-L8 | KNOWLEDGE, FALLACY AND BIAS

• TRUTH 

  • Much debated topic
  • Always related to knowledge
• KNOWLEDGE 

  • clear awareness and understanding of something. 
  • product of questions that allow for clear answers provided by facts.
  • Comprised of ideas and beliefs that we know to be true
• “justified, true belief”

  • concept states that something is true because you believe it to be true, and that there is justification for such belief.
• THEORIES ON KNOWLEDGE:

  1. correspondence theory
  2. coherence theory
  3. constructivist theory
  4. consensus theory
  5. pragmatic theory
• CORRESPONDENCE THEORY

  • Something is true, if it corresponds to reality.
  • determining if the idea has a basis in reality or is factual.
• COHERENCE THEORY

  • Something is true, if it makes sense when placed in a certain context or situation.
  • looking for consistency when placed in a certain context.
  • Varied truths
• CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

  • Something is true, if it is shaped by society, culture, and history.
  • looking at background influences and events and determine how these shaped ideas and truth.
  • Acknowledge possibility of change in knowledge / truth
• CONSENSUS THEORY

  • Something is true, if almost everyone believes it to be true. (traditions, beliefs)
  • looking at the decisions and views of recognized authorities and influential institutions.
• PRAGMATIC THEORY

  • Something is true, if we can put it into practice in real-life.
  • determine truth by subjecting the idea to testing and verification
  • Idea → test → verification
• PROPOSITION 

  • statements about the world or reality that may or may not carry truth 
• FACTS 

  • statements or propositions which are observed to be real or truthful.
• CLAIM

  • statements that cannot be taken as true since it is not immediately evident
• CONCLUSION 

  • judgment based on certain facts.
• BELIEFS

  • statements that express convictions that are not easily explained by facts
• EXPLANATION 

  • statements that assume the claim to be true and provide reasons why the statement is true
• ARGUMENTS

  • series of statements that provide reason to convince the reader or listener that a claim or opinion is truthful.
• OPINION

  • comprised of statements which not only give facts but also provide conclusions or perspective regarding certain situation
• FALLACY 

  • reasoning that is logically invalid, or that undermines the logical validity of an argument.
  • flaws within the logic or reasoning of an argument
  • All forms of human communication can contain this
  • may be intentional
• 2 TYPES OF FALLACIES

  • formal fallacy
  • informal fallacy
• MOST COMMON FALLACIES

  1. appeal to ignorance
  2. hasty generalization
  3. false analogy
  4. false cause
  5. false authority
  6. false dilemma
  7. ad hominem
  8. slippery slope
  9. red herring
  10. appeal to tradition
• APPEAL TO IGNORANCE 

  • argue that your conclusion must be true, because there is no evidence against it.
  • wrongly shifts the burden of proof away from the one making the claim.
  • someone claims that the conclusion is true if it hasn’t been proven true or false, or vice versa 
• HASTY GENERALIZATION

  • over-generalization fallacy
  • making a claim based on evidence that is just too small.
  • you can't make a claim and say that something is true if you have only an example or two as evidence 
  • happens when someone draws a conclusion on a small sample size; conclusion is supported by an insufficient evidence
• FALSE ANALOGY

  • faulty analogy 
  • informal logical fallacy in inductive reasoning.
  • occurs when someone applies or assumes that if two things or events have similarities in one or more respects, they are similar in other properties too
  • making an inference based on an analogy that is too different from the argument.
• FALSE CAUSE

  • faulty cause and effect (post hoc, ergo propter hoc)
  • falsely assumes that one event causes another. 
  • Often a reader will mistake a time for connection for a cause-effect connection.
  • assuming that an event must have been the cause of a later event because it happened earlier.
• FALSE AUTHORITY

  • Argumentum ad verecundiam.  
  • called expert fallacy. 
  • persuasive technique in which it is assumed that the opinions of a recognized expert in one area should be heeded in another area.
  • often we add strength to our arguments by referring to respected sources or authorities and explaining their positions on the issue we’re discussing.
• FALSE DILEMMA

  • false dichotomy or false binary
  • an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available.
  • source of the fallacy lies in a false premise.
  • occurs when a limited number of choices, outcomes, or views are presented as the only option, in fact, more options exist.
• AD HOMINEM

  • “against the man,” 
  • sometimes called name calling or the personal attack fallacy. 
  • instead of addressing someone's argument or position, you irrelevantly attack the person or some aspect of the person who is making the argument.
  • an abusive attack against someone making an argument, instead of addressing the argument itself.
• SLIPPERY SLOPE

  • In logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and case law, is an argument in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant effect.
  • domino effect
  • assuming that one relatively insignificant event will have a series of unintended consequences and lead to some significant outcome
• RED HERRING

  • irrelevant information is presented alongside  relevant information, distracting attention from that relevant information
  • may be done intentionally or unintentionally.
  • often used in movies, television and literature
  • attempts to distract the main issue by bringing in irrelevant information.
• APPEAL TO TRADITION

  • flawed reasoning that assumes something is good, correct, or beneficial simply because it has been done that way for a long time.
  • takes the form of "this is right because we've always done it this way“
• BIAS 

  • tendency to hold a particular point of view. 
  • not necessarily errors in reasoning but refer to tendencies or influences which affect the views of the people
• 6 BIAS:

  1. correspondence bias / attribution effect
  2. confirmation bias
  3. framing
  4. hindsight
  5. conflict of interest
  6. cultural bias
• CORRESPONDENCE BIAS / ATTRIBUTION EFFECT

  • cognitive attribution bias where observers underemphasize situational and environmental factors for the behavior of an actor while overemphasizing dispositional or personality factors.
  • Tendency to judge a person’s personality by his/ her actions, w/o regard for external factors or influences
• CONFIRMATION BIAS 

  • person's tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs. 
  • As a result, we tend to ignore any information that contradicts those beliefs. 
  • myside bias.
  • Tendency to look for and readily accept information which fits with one’s own beliefs or views and to reject ideas or views that go against it.
• FRAMING 

  • cognitive bias in which people decide between options based on whether the options are presented with positive or negative connotations.
  • Focusing on certain aspect of a problem while ignoring other aspects
• HINDSIGHT 

  • knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism
  • the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were.
• CONFLICT OF INTEREST 

  • arises when what is in a person's best interest is not in the best interest of another person or organization to which that individual owes loyalty
  • Person or group is connected to or has a vested interest in the issue being discussed
• CULTURAL BIAS

  • Analyzing an event or issue based on one’s cultural standards.
• appeal to ignorance

  
• false analogy