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Circular Debate: Difference between revisions
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==Straw Man== | ==Straw Man== | ||
A fallacy is an argument or belief based on erroneous reasoning, usually designed to attack or [[Gaslighting|gaslight]] an opponent. Straw man is one type of logical fallacy. Straw man occurs when someone argues that a person holds a view that is actually not what the other person believes. Instead, it is a distorted version of what the person believes. So, instead of attacking the person's actual statement or belief, it is the distorted version that is attacked, when the targeted person never made the statement to begin with. The basic assumption is that if one small part of an argument can be proved false then, by association, the whole argument is also false. A weak argument is one made of straw that is easily knocked over. Hence the term straw man. <ref>[http://www.softschools.com/examples/fallacies/straw_man_examples/496/ Straw Man Fallacy]</ref> | A fallacy is an argument or belief based on erroneous reasoning, usually designed to attack or [[Gaslighting|gaslight]] an opponent. Straw man is one type of logical fallacy. Straw man occurs when someone argues that a person holds a view that is actually not what the other person believes. Instead, it is a distorted version of what the person believes. So, instead of attacking the person's actual statement or belief, it is the distorted version that is attacked, when the targeted person never made the statement to begin with. The basic assumption is that if one small part of an argument can be proved false then, by association, the whole argument is also false. A weak argument is one made of straw that is easily knocked over. Hence the term straw man. <ref>[http://www.softschools.com/examples/fallacies/straw_man_examples/496/ Straw Man Fallacy]</ref> | ||
==Red Herring== | |||
Red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue. In literature, this fallacy is often used in detective or suspense novels to mislead readers or characters, or to induce them to make false conclusions. | |||
Manipulators use red herrings to lay a false trail leads people away from areas that you do not want them to see. To do this, the trail must be of sufficient interest that the other person misses any clues to other areas. Red herrings are particularly useful when the activity is time-bound. Time spent following the red herring is time that can not be spent looking in other areas. Talking about problems that are not really problems has effects beyond distraction. <ref>[http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/devices/red_herring.htm Red herring]</ref> | |||
==Fallacy== | ==Fallacy== | ||