[pm90]

There are twenty four logical fallacies listed there...

twenty four

Genuine question: how does one keep 24 logical fallacies in mind when evaluating arguments? Do you mentally iterate through all these fallacies?

Don't get me wrong: they are very valid and I think they will make me better and my arguments better. I just want to understand how people without photographic memories do this.

[labster]

Learn them one at a time, in such a way as you start seeing the pattern. Human brains are great pattern recognition machines, which is also where the errors come in. That’s okay: you want both zones to fire, so the cognitive dissonance forces you to consciously think about a potential fallacy.

[megameter]

You don't have to do this. Instead of memorizing fallicies, you can approximate the quality of nearly all arguments to two theory-of-truth claims:

1. The premises are themselves valid: you buy that they are truthful. 2. The argument's logic coheres: when added to your existing beliefs there is no contradiction.

Fallicies manifest through violations of these claims. But you don't have to know the name of that violation to raise a complaint: you can derive it on the spot. Discussing these fallicies mostly acts as a practice tool, and provides a useful bit of jargon if you are writing philosophy and need to convey the idea quickly. But most arguments in online spaces are dismissed with: "the premise is invalid" or "the reasoning is incoherent."

[brigandish]

Find good examples that are easy to understand and absurd enough to stick in your head. For example (ha) the fallacy of composition Wikipedia page has a good one[0]:

> "This tire is made of rubber, therefore the vehicle of which it is a part is also made of rubber."

The fallacy of division page[1] also has a good one:

> 1. The second grade in Jefferson elementary eats a lot of ice cream

> 2. Carlos is a second-grader in Jefferson elementary

> 3. Therefore, Carlos eats a lot of ice cream

You can also categorise large numbers of common fallacies, for instance fallacies of relevance, and then - which is the larger point about fallacies - you don't need to know which exact fallacy someone has committed (they don't care, for one) but you know it's fallacious because what their argument relies upon is irrelevant.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_composition

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_division

Edit: formatting

[new_guy]

There's more like over 200 logical fallacies.

A good starting point is https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Z-Nigel-Warburton-ebook/dp/B...

[smsm42]

You don't keep them in mind. You build processes and algorithms and habits to avoid them. When you learn to ride a bike or play baseball, you don't learn the laws of physics that govern the flight of the ball or the ride on the bike in detail - though basic awareness of gravity and such surely helps. You learn the process that gets you to the goal. Unfortunately, we're way behind on such processes, compared to baseball.

[CyberDildonics]

You don't need to know them all for them to be useful (this falls into what the poster calls the "black and white" fallacy.

[pm90]

Note that I took care to point out that I didn’t believe it was not useful but had trouble with applying them personally. I am not asserting that they’re not useful.