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Category Archives: Complex Question
Hope you like false on your dilemmas
David Catron’s piece at the American Spectator is titled: Is Obamacare Socialism or Fascism? How about liberal, progressive, or egalitarian for tertium quids? (N.B., check out Catron’s opening paragraph, where he insists that he won’t eat healthy food, and thinks … Continue reading
I admire those who are wrong
The other day the Washington Post published a piece by a professor of politics at the University of Virginia (Gerard Alexander) called "Why are liberals so condescending?" (we discussed it here). It remains today a few days later one of … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Complex Question, General discussion, ignorance of basic matters of logic, Lack of Evidence, Narrativism
Tagged Al Gore, Chris Mooney, Gerard Alexander, Global Warming, Jim DeMint, non-sequiturs, The Republican War on Science, Washington Post, why are liberals so condescending?
4 Comments
Complex question triple play
Many are familiar with the fallacy of the complex question, perhaps in the form of its most well known example: when did you stop beating your wife? The trick consists in cramming two questions into one such that a response … Continue reading
Quintessentially irrational
Someone wonders what would have happened had Al Gore been selected President in 2000 (and thus President on 9/11). Someone else responds, saying: So I will assume that you mean 9/11 wouldn't have happened if Gore were elected because a … Continue reading
When did you stop beating your wife?
Michael Gerson provides some examples of the elusive complex question fallacy. After a column devoted to examining whether Obama is really a "centrist" (by looking at the exclusive evidence of whether he has voted against his party on any issue–not … Continue reading
Posted in Appeal to Ignorance, Complex Question, Michael Gerson
Tagged Complex Question, Michael Gerson
2 Comments
Lower the bar
No surprise that Bill Kristol thinks the surge is working. He cites the reduction in violence as well as the passing of a de-Baathification law as evidence. First, the violence: The Democrats were wrong in their assessments of the surge. … Continue reading
complexes about questions
Yesterday in Critical Thinking class we went over the list of fallacies generally described as fallacies of “ambiguity” (I know that that’s not an entirely accurate or useful designation). Among these is the fallacy of the complex question. Generally this … Continue reading
Posted in Complex Question, General discussion
7 Comments
Question Complex
So blatant an attempt at sneakiness is the complex question that none but the cleverest by half use it. That didn’t stop a very smirky Chris Wallace from throwing one at Clinton. In his infamous interview he asked the former … Continue reading
Posted in Complex Question
3 Comments
