Logical Fallacies a way of life

What would happen if everyone had the ability to pick apart information and expose lies, deception and propaganda? This blog will assist you to make informed decisions in your day to day life. Our why of thought can often be deceiving with reasoning that can sometimes be illogical. We are all guilty of making decisions that turn out to be wrong and it makes it worse when we incorrectly inform others. This blog studies logical fallacies that have been developed to assist the logical thought. Discussing the individual logical fallacies and putting forward examples will help us identify these mistakes. By putting popular beliefs and conspiracy theories through the test of logical fallacies we can reassure ourselves that we are acting rationally to our environment.

Non-Sequitur

In Latin this term translates to "doesn't follow". This refers to an argument in which the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises(WP). In other words, a logical connection is implied where none exists.
The term is often used in everyday speech and reasoning to describe a statement in which premise and conclusion are totally unrelated but which is used as if they were. It is often used in advertising especially this time of year. I saw an example of this today. An advertiser was trying to say that my wife would not be happy unless I bout here some jewelry for Christmas. This is a definite Non-Sequitur because my wife is very practical and would probably have the opposite effect. I often use this argument in life to help me justify buying things that I don't need.
Having a clear understanding of Non-Sequiturs will protect you against con artists of all descriptions.

Argument from ignorance

also known as argumentum ad ignorantiam or appeal to ignorance, is an informal logical fallacy. It asserts that a proposition is necessarily true because it has not been proven false (or vice versa). This represents a type of false dichotomy in that it excludes a third option: there is insufficient investigation and the proposition has not yet been proven to be either true or false. In debates, appeals to ignorance are sometimes used to shift the burden of proof(WP).
I had an experience today were a religious person was trying to explain to me that we were created due to the difference between a giant oak tree and its origin as a tiny seed. He just could not understand that the chemical and biological changes that happen over hundreds of years could allow for this change in size, so his conclusion was that everything must have been created. This argument does not say that we evolved but it does not say that we were created either. This argument has no burden of proof and is not an example of thinking logically. Almost all UFO eyewitness evidence is ultimately an argument from ignorance – lights or objects sighted in the sky are unknown, and therefore they are alien spacecraft.
This is a very deceiving logical fallacy that we as human beings find very easy to accept as a logical way of thinking.

Argument from authority

Argument from authority (also known as appeal to authority) is a fallacy of defective induction, where it is argued that a statement is correct because the statement is made by a person or source that is commonly regarded as authoritative (WP).
A simple explanation of this could be a child saying “Santa clause is real because my parents told me he was”. Another could be a popular television presenter such as Oprah saying that a particular item is good for your health or will reduce your weight. She may be an experienced television presenter but she has no experience in medicine or exercise science.
A company may produce a controversial product that makes the claim that it works or is safe because a particular person or small group of people in authority say it to be so. Sometimes these sources of recommendation can be biased or simply incorrect. The company could also be cherry picking information.
To ensure that the information you are receiving has a high parentage of accuracy you should use a large number of unbiased and pair reviewed sources. It is easy for us to just accept information that is presented to us. To ensure that we are not misinformed a little work on our part is required. Some times you can find people that have done the work for you but care must be taken. Be aware that some information can appear on the surface to be pear reviewed, for example some web sites often cross reference to themselves or refer to other bias sources.