Learning about informal fallacies is useful for a couple of good reasons and one bad reason: - They help people to understand why a superficially appealing arg

Learning about informal fallacies is useful for a couple of good reasons and one bad reason: - They help people to understand why a superficially appealing argument might not be a good argument. It's a useful innoculation against bullshit. Someone who has internalized informal fallacies can use them to spot bad arguments in the media or from politicians, for example. - They help people to avoid using falacious arguments in their own conversations. If a person wants to make a strong case for a position, at work for example, they're more likely to be taken seriously if they avoid bad reasoning. The harmful motivation for someone to be interested in a list like this is that they're effective rhetorical strategies when used with the right audience. If you're interested in persuading people and you aren't very moral, fallacies can be your friend.