Saturday, July 4, 2015

Reader comments -- the usual sharp wit of Blacktail

In regard to this previous blog post.



Blacktail

"...with the truth probably somewhere in the middle."
This is a typical example of the Argument to Moderation Fallacy --- the assumption that because two viewpoints are extreme, that the truth "must be somewhere in between". The truth has no bearing on how "extreme" the opposing viewpoints are, and could easily be on either end of the spectrum (or even more extreme than anyone expected). Read about it here;
https://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/...
Here is another example of this failure of reasoning at work;
"Jon wanted to touch the fire because he said that fire is cold, Jim
said he shouldn't because it is hot, so they compromised and said it was
lukewarm and Jon burned off his hand."


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