Category Archives: George Will

Reduce, reuse, recyle

Posted on 3/5/2013 by John Casey

Fig.1: Conservativism Here is a post for those who think that pointing out the inconsistency between a party’s name and its alleged position on an issue constitutes a decisive refutation of their view.  That “conservatives” fail to “conserve” or “preserve” … Continue reading →

Posted in Argument from Inconsistency, Equivocation, George Will | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Progressivism Isn’t Everything, It’s The Only Thing

Posted on 9/8/2012 by pmayo

Sometimes I think the real reason Hume aimed his skeptical arguments at the notion of causation is because he perceived the manifold ways dubious argumentative strategies can give causal arguments tremendous rhetorical force.   George Will was kind enough to provide us … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Explanations, Division/Composition, False Cause, General discussion, George Will, Narrativism, oversimplified cause | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Big Boss Man

Posted on 6/4/2012 by John Casey

Michael Bloomberg is the Republican mayor of New York.  He has advocated a ban a gigantic sodas in New York.  This provoked the following reaction from George Will on ABC's "This Week." STEPHANOPOULOS: And it's not easy. I want to … Continue reading →

Posted in George Will, Inexplicable, Things that are false | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Arguers arguing

Posted on 1/6/2012 by John Casey

My sense is that critical thinking and informal logic classes stress the evaluation of arguments, not arguers.  This is fine as a starting point, but as a long run strategy, it ignores the fact that we have very often to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ad Hominem, Argument Schemes, General discussion, George Will, hollow man | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Stop contradicting yourself

Posted on 12/30/2011 by John Casey

Check out the image: Yes, this is exactly what diversity means.  This reminds me of a classic George Will argument (with the same equivocation) against "Liberals." Although liberals give lip service to "diversity," they often treat federalism as an annoying … Continue reading →

Posted in Equivocation, George Will | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Smack Down!

Posted on 12/19/2011 by John Casey

The Huffington Post, despite much promise, is a huge disappointment.  One reason is that the editors characterize any kind of discussion as a "battle" and any kind of response to  criticism as a "smack down" or "slap" or somesuchother expression.  … Continue reading →

Posted in George Will | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

With a rebel yell, they cried “Moore, Moore, Moore”

Posted on 11/13/2011 by John Casey

I happened across two related items on the Atlantic Wire, a blog of the Atlantic Monthly.  One reports that liberal filmmaker Michael Moore has a very nice vacation home on the shores of Torch Lake, near Traverse City, MI.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in George Will, Specious allegations of fallacy, Things that are false | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Iron man versus straw man

Posted on 10/18/2011 by John Casey

Here is serial straw manner George F.Will on Elizabeth Warren, candidate for Senate in Massachussetts: "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you. But I … Continue reading →

Posted in George Will, hollow man, Iron man, Straw Man | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Crazy Train

Posted on 3/1/2011 by John Casey

We've all been busy here at the Non Sequitur.  But today I had a moment for a short post. Here's Paul Krugman on George Will (via Eschaton): Oh, boy — this George Will column (via Grist) is truly bizarre: So … Continue reading →

Posted in George Will, Straw Man | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Every effect has a cause, usually

Posted on 1/12/2011 by John Casey

Someone quipped the other day that whatever we do in the wake of Saturday's massacre (not tragedy), we must not consider what might have caused it.  And so, George Will: It would be merciful if, when tragedies such as Tucson's … Continue reading →

Posted in General discussion, George Will, Straw Man | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment