Ali Almossawi > Quotes

“You can’t threaten an atheist with hell, Peg. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s like a hippie threatening to punch you in your aura.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“The ability to analyze others’ arguments can also serve as a yardstick for when to withdraw from discussions that will most likely be futile.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Misrepresenting the idea is much easier than refuting the evidence for it. Informal Fallacy › Red Herring › Straw Man”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Logic does not generate new truths, but rather allows one to evaluate existing chains of thought for consistency and coherence. It is precisely for that reason that it proves an effective tool for the analysis and communication of ideas and arguments. –A.A.,”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Arguing from consequences is speaking for or against the truth of a statement by appealing to the consequences it would have if true (or if false).”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“the “burden of proof” always lies with the person making a claim.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“To “put up a straw man” is to intentionally caricature a person’s argument with the aim of attacking the caricature rather than the actual argument. Misrepresenting, misquoting, misconstruing, and oversimplifying an opponent’s position are all means by which one can commit this fallacy. The straw man argument is usually more absurd than the actual argument, making it an easier target to attack. It may also lure the other person toward defending the more ridiculous argument rather than their original one. For example, a skeptic of Darwinism might say, “My opponent is trying to convince you that we evolved from chimpanzees who were swinging from trees, a truly ludicrous claim.” This is a misrepresentation of what evolutionary biology actually claims, which is that humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor millions of years ago. Misrepresenting the idea is much easier than refuting the evidence for it. Informal Fallacy › Red Herring › Straw Man”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Hasty Generalization This fallacy is committed when one forms a conclusion from a sample that is either too small or too special to be representative.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“According to is also used to the exact opposite effect—introducing doubt where none exists:
Badgers perfected the modern carrot. According to rabbit accounts, it was
rabbits who did so. One position is stated as fact, the other as mere hearsay.
Similarly:
Rabbits say teenage rabbit, 13, was shot and killed by badgers. A demonstrably objective fact is presented as a mere point of view.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language: Learn to Hear What’s Left Unsaid

“Of course, logic is not the only tool used in debate, and it is helpful to be cognizant of the others. Rhetoric likely tops the list, followed by concepts such as the "burden of proof" and Occam's razor.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments

“Dostoevsky’s line, “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“This fallacy was coined by Antony Flew in his book Thinking about Thinking.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Where are you really from? is thus a “polite” way of saying Why don’t you look like me?”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language: Learn to Hear What’s Left Unsaid

“confusing correlation with causation.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“It’s a good habit to read with skepticism—not necessarily suspicion, but at least skepticism—any line that (for instance) uses the passive voice, attributes actions to things, or drops a statistic. As we saw, a statistic might sound authoritative, but it can also be a mere red herring that helps an opinion pass as fact. The passive voice may signal that an actor is legitimately unknown, or it might insinuate that the actor is unknown.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language: Learn to Hear What’s Left Unsaid

“Logic no more explains how we think than grammar explains how we speak” [Minsky]. Logic”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Hamish is reading the newspaper and comes across a story about an Englishman who has committed a heinous crime, to which he reacts by saying, “No Scotsman would do such a thing.” The next day, he comes across a story about a Scotsman who has committed an even worse crime. Instead of amending his claim about Scotsmen, he reacts by saying, “No true Scotsman would do such a thing”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“confusing correlation with causation.4”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Another line, from 1947, comes to mind, in which the then-head of the British Empire stated that the British Commonwealth would not fail its former colonies (which had just declared independence) in upholding democratic principles. Here, one feels compelled to point out: “But Your Majesty, it was your empire that hindered them from upholding those principles for over a century.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language: Learn to Hear What’s Left Unsaid

“absence of evidence is taken to be evidence of absence.”
― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense

“Here I was, shuffling to the beat that is corporate politics, elbows interlocked with those either side of me, no one quite knowing who is being swung and who is doing the swinging.”
― Ali Almossawi, The Point of Pointless Work