Logical Fallacies: Red Herring pt 1

Script here:
http://lazyperfectionist1.blogspot.com/2011/02/logical-fallacies-8-red-herrin...

Category:

Education

Tags:

• logic
• logical
• distraction
• distracted
• red
• herring
• ad
• hominem
• appeal
• to
• authority
• meaningless
• observation
• wild
• goose
• chase
• presumptive
• assignment
• philosophy
• digression
• tangent

[oleander423]

Your videos help my students understand fallacies. Thank you. Well produced, entertaining, and thorough.

[lazyperfectionist1]

@oleander423 Well good. Thank you, and you're welcome.

[SpoiledLogic]

Great vid, enjoyed this one. I see now that I come across many red herrings! Even that telemarketing one happened to me.

[LeftTechticle]

I can learn more from you in one video, than I could in a day of school. I really like the way you speak, you make things really clear and leave out nonsense. I truly wish everyone could speak like you.

[lazyperfectionist1]

@SUpersaiyajinjerkbag By its very nature. If I ask, "What kind of work is it?" and whoever I'm asking responds, "Around the corner at the phone company," this is a distraction presented as an answer.

[lazyperfectionist1]

@SUpersaiyajinjerkbag Data can be helpful in finding the answer, yes, but it is not the answer itself.

[SUpersaiyajinjerkbag]

@lazyperfectionist1

You committed a red herring. Vaguely related data is not presented as the answer, but a mere distraction.

Data, even vaguely related data, is necessary to finding answers.

[lazyperfectionist1]

@SUpersaiyajinjerkbag Information vaguely relevant to the answer to the question is nonetheless not the answer to the question, and therefore, shouldn't be presented as such.

[SUpersaiyajinjerkbag]

@lazyperfectionist1

Most examples of the red herring fallacy include

A: Vaguely relevant data (or even important data, becuase importance can be quite distracting)

B: someone using that vaguely relevant data to change the argument

Calling data, even vaguely related data a fallacy, doesn't make sense to me.

As for B, well it implies that using logic maliciously is necessarily a fallacy

[lazyperfectionist1]

@SUpersaiyajinjerkbag It's a red herring when someone's response is an attempt to distract from a question instead of an attempt to answer it.