In a group chat
Somebody argues the school should drop a rule. Their whole case is that a teacher everybody dislikes came up with it.
What do you say?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
Watching an advert
An advert says nine out of ten people who tried a product would recommend it.
What is the question worth asking?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
Attacking the person instead of the point. "You would say that." Whether they would say that has nothing to do with whether it is true.
One loud example
"My grandad smoked and lived to ninety." True, and it tells you almost nothing about smoking, because one person is not a pattern.
Everybody knows
How many people believe something is not evidence for it. Lots of people believed the sun went round the earth.
Only two options
"Either we ban phones or grades collapse." Almost nothing has exactly two options. Watch for the third one being hidden.
Step 3: Try It
These ones do have right answers.
Name the Move
Match each line to what it is doing.
Each of these avoids the actual argument. How?
Tap a card on the left to start.
Step 4: Somewhere Else
Same thinking. Different situation.
Somewhere else
You want to convince your family to get a dog. You have prepared: "everyone else in my class has one".
Is that a good argument?
Step 5: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 2
Somebody you dislike makes an argument. What should you do with it?
Question 2 of 2
What is wrong with "everybody knows this"?
Step 6: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Catch your own
- For two days, notice the arguments you make.
- Find one where you counted heads or used one example.
- Rebuild it with an actual reason.
Why: Everybody can spot these in an opponent. The point of the lesson is spotting them in yourself.
Step 7: What You Learned
- Sounding right and being right are different.
- Judge the argument, not the person making it.
- One example is a story. A pattern needs more than one.
For the grown-up
The risk with this lesson is a student who learns to name fallacies and uses the names as a weapon. Naming a move is a way to notice it in yourself first; if it only ever gets pointed outward, it has made things worse.
Family arguments are the natural practice, which means being willing to have your own weak moves named. That is uncomfortable and it is the whole point.
Worth saying explicitly: a weak argument for a position does not make the position false. People often defend true things badly.