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#fallacies
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I just participated in the first W3C Authentic Web Mini Workshop¹ hosted by the Credible Web Community Group² (of which I’m a longtime member) and up front I noted that our very discussion itself needed to be careful about its own credibility, extra critical of any technologies discussed or assertions made, and initially identified two flaws to avoid on a meta level, having seen them occur many times in technical or standards discussions:
1. Politician’s Syllogism — "Something must be done about this problem. Here is something, let's do it!"
2. Solutions Looking For Problems — "I am interested in how tech X can solve problem Y"
After some back and forth and arguments in the Zoom chat, I observed participants questioning speakers of arguments rather than the arguments themselves, so I had to identify a third fallacy to avoid:
3. Ad Hominem — while obvious examples are name-calling (which is usually against codes of conduct), less obvious examples (witnessed in the meeting) include questioning a speaker’s education (or lack thereof) like what they have or have not read, or would benefit from reading.
I am blogging these here both as a reminder (should you choose to participate in such discussions), and as a resource to cite in future discussions.
We need to all develop expertise in recognizing these logical and methodological flaws & fallacies, and call them out when we see them, especially when used against others.
We need to promptly prune these flawed methods of discussion, so we can focus on actual productive, relevant, and yes, credible discussions.
#W3C #credweb #credibleWeb #authenticWeb #flaw #fallacy #fallacies #logicalFallacy #logicalFallacies
Glossary
Ad Hominem
attacking an attribute of the person making an argument rather than the argument itself
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
Politician's syllogism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician%27s_syllogism
Solutions Looking For Problems (related: #solutionism, #solutioneering)
Promoting a technology that either has not identified a real problem for it to solve, or actively pitching a specific technology to any problem that seems related. Wikipedia has no page on this but has two related pages:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_fix
Wikipedia does have an essay on this specific to Wikipedia:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Solutions_looking_for_a_problem
Stack Exchange has a thread on "solution in search of a problem":
* https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/250320/a-word-that-means-a-solution-in-search-of-a-problem
Forbes has an illustrative anecdote:
* https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephanieburns/2019/05/28/solution-looking-for-a-problem/
References
¹ https://www.w3.org/events/workshops/2025/authentic-web-workshop/
² https://credweb.org/ and https://www.w3.org/community/credibility/
Previously in 2019 I participated in #MisinfoCon:
* https://tantek.com/2019/296/t1/london-misinfocon-discuss-spectrum-recency
* https://tantek.com/2019/296/t2/misinfocon-roundtable-spectrums-misinformation
tantek.comI just participated in the first W3C Authentic Web Mini Workshop^1 hosted by the Credible Web Community Group^2 (of which I’m a longtime member) and up front I noted that our very discussion itself needed to be careful about its own credibility, extra critical of any technologies discussed or assertions made, and initially identified two flaws to avoid on a meta level, having seen them occur many times in technical or standards discussions:
1. Politician’s Syllogism — "Something must be done about this problem. Here is something, let's do it!"
2. Solutions Looking For Problems — "I am interested in how tech X can solve problem Y"
After some back and forth and arguments in the Zoom chat, I observed participants questioning speakers of arguments rather than the arguments themselves, so I had to identify a third fallacy to avoid:
3. Ad Hominem — while obvious examples are name-calling (which is usually against codes of conduct), less obvious examples (witnessed in the meeting) include questioning a speaker’s education (or lack thereof) like what they have or have not read, or would benefit from reading.
I am blogging these here both as a reminder (should you choose to participate in such discussions), and as a resource to cite in future discussions.
We need to all develop expertise in recognizing these logical and methodological flaws & fallacies, and call them out when we see them, especially when used against others.
We need to promptly prune these flawed methods of discussion, so we can focus on actual productive, relevant, and yes, credible discussions.
#W3C #credweb #credibleWeb #authenticWeb #flaw #fallacy #fallacies #logicalFallacy #logicalFallacies
Glossary
Ad Hominem
attacking an attribute of the person making an argument rather than the argument itself
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
Politician's syllogism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician%27s_syllogism
Solutions Looking For Problems (related: #solutionism, #solutioneering)
Promoting a technology that either has not identified a real problem for it to solve, or actively pitching a specific technology to any problem that seems related. Wikipedia has no page on this but has two related pages:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_fix
Wikipedia does have an essay on this specific to Wikipedia:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Solutions_looking_for_a_problem
Stack Exchange has a thread on "solution in search of a problem":
* https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/250320/a-word-that-means-a-solution-in-search-of-a-problem
Forbes has an illustrative anecdote:
* https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephanieburns/2019/05/28/solution-looking-for-a-problem/
References
^1 https://www.w3.org/events/workshops/2025/authentic-web-workshop/
^2 https://credweb.org/ and https://www.w3.org/community/credibility/
Previously in 2019 I participated @misinfocon.com #MisinfoCon:
* https://tantek.com/2019/296/t1/london-misinfocon-discuss-spectrum-recency
* https://tantek.com/2019/296/t2/misinfocon-roundtable-spectrums-misinformation - Tantek
Things american public intellectuals say:
”Companies should be doing..” 
#corporations #fallacies
Partisanship influences our evaluation of #policy arguments, but does it influence whether we spot straw person #fallacies in objections to those arguments?
To my surprise, partisanship didn’t seem to influence identification of straw person fallacies among 20 left-leaning 20-somethings who rated up to 60 arguments.
Replied in thread
@CapriciousGhost @max_headroom would you like a meme with that 
#logic #fallacies
Is tech to blame for teen issues? A new #book is full of arguments that it is. Readers report rampant #fallacies.
"The plots presented throughout this book will be useful in teaching ...how to avoid making up stories by simply looking at trend lines." –Candice L. Odgers in #Nature: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00902-2
"...this book is filled with unwarranted pessimism, unjustified conclusions..." –Elizabeth Nolan Brown at #Reason: https://reason.com/2024/03/26/blaming-tech-for-teen-troubles
Continued thread
"I hope that by the end of this video you'll get a better understanding of what a logical fallacy is, and why we might want to avoid them. But also why in some contexts, what might seem to be fallacious reasoning, might actually be much more defensible than previously thought." https://youtu.be/PthVXsLEqh8 #Video #Philosophy #Fallacies #Logic @philosophy [2]
"In the following essay, which is in four parts, it is what is considered the informal-fallacy literature that will be reviewed. Part 1 is an introduction to the core fallacies as brought to us by the tradition of the textbooks. Part 2 reviews the history of the development of the conceptions of fallacies as it is found from Aristotle to Copi. Part 3 surveys some of the most recent innovative research on fallacies, and Part 4 considers some of the current research topics in fallacy theory."
Hansen, Hans, "Fallacies", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2023/entries/fallacies/>. #Essay #Philosophy #Fallacies #Logic @philosophy [1]
plato.stanford.edu
Fallacies (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Spring 2023 Edition)
Fallaciagenesis
It's been a while since I had an addition to my list of bespoke fallacies, one of the oldest features of my website. This week, however, I came across the lovely neosemantic fallacy. Joshua Habgood-Coote, who attributes the label to Thi Nguyen, describes it as "the magic of neologisms, which encourage [one] to infer that a new word refers to a new kind of thing."…
News For Wombats · FallaciagenesisIt’s been a while since I had an addition to my list of bespoke fallacies, one of the oldest features of my website. This week, however, I came across the lovely neosemantic fallacy. Joshua H…
Replied in thread
I really like the Information is Beautiful infographic on fallacies. They have a comprehensive list complete with a unique icon for each, a description of the fallacy, and an example of the same.
The version I'm linking to also has a drop-down menu for these to be rendered in many languages other than English.
https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-fallacies/
Where's the list of companies that refuse to send out useful informaiton and bills by email and, instead, make you log in to their portal?
Current excuse from local water company (who I am required to use by law):
We're not able to send this information out via email due to security reasons which are different than if the information was being sent in the post.
Name a peaceful religion? I'll wait.
♪ "religion and violence", goes together like prayer and killing ♪
If you missed the latest episode of Wisdom for Life when it aired last weekend, here's the video of the recording session! The topic this time is informal fallacies people misapply and why they do so
https://youtu.be/Xwhufd_VUM0
#Video #WisdomForLife #Philosophy #Fallacies #Radio
Doc Freemo 
What is your favorite `non causa pro causa` fallacy?
Replied in thread
@mialikescoffee Fallacy of Composition
#ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #FossilFuels #Fallacies: "As a philosophy professor, this is how I explain the fallacy to my students: If the argument is not going your opponent's way, a common strategy — though a fallacious and dishonorable one — is to divert attention from the real issue by raising an issue that is only tangentially related to the first.
If our collective philosophical literacy were better, we might notice that this fallacy seems to be working spectacularly well for the fossil-fuel industry, the petrochemical industry, and a bunch of other bad actors who would like to throw us off the trail that would lead us fully to grasp their transgressions. We shouldn't keep falling for it.
But we do. Time after time, the real issue stands before us, and we find ourselves baying after some side issue of far less importance. I quiz my students: Explain, give examples."
https://www.salon.com/2023/05/13/how-big-oil-is-manipulating-the-way-you-think-about-climate-change/
Salon.com · How Big Oil is manipulating the way you think about climate changeA logic professor explains how a persistent, subtle fallacy has infected public discussion of climate change
