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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Datman2020@lemmy.fmhy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

It is difficult for me to ascertain when the person I am communicating is using a logical fallacy to trick me into believing him or doubting my judgement, even when I realise it hours after the argument.

I have seen countless arguments in Reddit threads and I couldn't figure out who was in the right or wrong unless I looked at the upvote counts. Even if the person is uttering a blatant lie, they somehow make it sound in a way that is completely believable to me. If it weren't for those people that could exactly point out the irrationality behind these arguments, my mind would have been lobotomised long ago.

I do want to learn these critical thinking skills but I don't know where to begin from. I could have all these tips and strategies memorised in theory, but they would be essentially useless if I am not able to think properly or remember them at the heat of the moment.

There could be many situations I could be unprepared for, like when the other person brings up a fact or statistic to support their claim and I have no way to verify it at the moment, or when someone I know personally to be wise or well-informed bring up about such fallacies, perhaps about a topic they are not well-versed with or misinformed of by some other unreliable source, and I don't know whether to believe them or myself.

Could someone help me in this? I find this skill of distinguishing fallacies from facts to be an extremely important thing to have in this age of misinformation and would really wish to learn it well if possible. Maybe I could take inspiration from how you came about learning these critical thinking skills by your own.

Edit: I do not blindly trust the upvote count in a comment thread to determine who is right or wrong. It just helps me inform that the original opinion is not inherently acceptable by everyone. It is up to me decide who is actually correct or not, which I can do at my leisure unlike in a live conversation with someone where I don't get the time to think rationally about what the other person is saying.

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[-] prole@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I know it sounds dismissive, but I would get an Introduction to Logic and Reasoning textbook, and read it and attempt the problems. The internet is great, and you can get a lot from wikis, but you're not going to beat the amount of useful info condensed into a book like that. The problems will also help you apply the knowledge. Also, since logic doesn't generally change much over time, you don't need to worry about getting the most up to date edition.

The only way to really get good at detecting fallacious arguments is practice.

[-] Clipper152@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It helps to remember that the mind is not a truth machine, but a survival machine.

I recommend learning some psychology. The more you know about how the mind works, the easier it is to understand and spot logical fallacies, both in yourself and others.

Edit: also, you should practice those critical thinking skills instead of just keeping them in theory. You could apply them to past situations, for example.

[-] Azzu@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

lesswrong.com/rationality is good to help you to think more rationally

[-] hoodlem@hoodlem.me 1 points 1 year ago

Taking a logic course at a university would help.

[-] Breno@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Probably not entirely related but I like Judge Judy's comment: If something doesn't make sense, it probably isn't true.

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this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
221 points (94.4% liked)

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