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Complementing that essay somewhat, a list of fallacies: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_fallacies https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/

• hasenj 16y ago
  I've found that a lot of the listed fallacies can have charitable interpretations. A strawman argument where A proposes X and B attacks Y instead of attacking X can often be a case where X indirectly leads to Y and person B assumes that it is known that X leads to Y. Or, X is just Y in disguise. So it's not necessarily a matter of being fallacious, but fully formalizing an argument is often not feasible, so you take shortcuts. If you formalized the argument too much, it gets boring and people stop listening/reading.
  • nika 16y ago
    I've seen this in action. I think if people would just be in the habit of saying "I believe X leads to Y" that would be sufficient, and doesn't require being too formal. But I think that habit is way above the level of discourse in America, where, near as I can tell ideologies and social news sites reinforce a partisan or "if you're not one of us you're not worth respecting" attitude.