> How can pointing out a straw man permit everyone to avoid thinking? Because pointing out fallacies is not argument, but feels a lot like it is. Pointing out

> How can pointing out a straw man permit everyone to avoid thinking? Because pointing out fallacies is not argument, but feels a lot like it is. Pointing out fallacies allows you to defeat any other argument, but it does not allow you to take a position for anything. It is the perfect tool for allowing you to entrench yourself in your original view, by handily defeating those who would assail you in a fully general way that applies however correct you are. Merely saying "but to do so is to commit the fallacy fallacy" doesn't change the fact that it happens extremely commonly. It's the "when used appropriately" that's the issue. A list of fallacies is probably a good thing to have access to after you've somehow had epistemic humility installed in you. But epistemic humility does not come naturally to most people, and must be taught.