I have had recent correspondence asking me my view on Climate Change. I wouldn’t give my opinion but asked the commenter to say what they thought or had heard. They replied in some detail – although I am assured that there is more to come. I have asked if I could address a couple of the points …
Continue reading Is Climate Change Our Fault…
Category:Scientific Method
Ad Hominem…
A fallacy of relevance Ad hominem is Latin for ‘to the man’ and when used in reference to an argument or piece of reasoning it means that the comment is aimed against a person and not at the position that the argument involves. Examples… From the comments section below an article about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong …
Continue reading Ad Hominem…
Straw Man…
A fallacy of ambiguity. The straw man refers to a debating technique where a weak (or false) version of an opponent’s argument is presented, and then attacked. If you want to be convincing in an argumentative essay or debate then, when you have established your common ground, be meticulous in understanding your opponent’s point of view …
Continue reading Straw Man…
False Dichotomy…
A fallacy of presumption. This fallacy is sometimes called the false dilemma or the bifurcation fallacy. When you are presented with only two possible options check carefully that you are not being offered a false dichotomy. Maybe there is one or more unstated additional possibilities. You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. …
Continue reading False Dichotomy…
Appeal To Authority…
A fallacy of relevance. The appeal to authority logical fallacy is one of several that try to make their point by referring to an irrelevant external agent. It has a similar structure to the appeal to popularity or the appeal to tradition. As with the ad hominem fallacy, you need to be a little careful. Do …
Continue reading Appeal To Authority…
Graham Greene…
Graham Greene once came second in a “write like graham Greene competition” Charlie Chaplin didn’t even make the final of a lookalike competition. what does this tell us about out ability to observe accurately? Perhaps they were all idiots but more than likely, our memory of events, faces etc. is deeply flawed.
Select Committees…
To help monitor the performance of different areas of government policy, the UK Parliament forms Commons Select Committees. These are cross-party groups of MPs who publicly scrutinise a particular subject. The Science & Technology group is chaired by the Conservative MP for North Oxford (who lives in Summertown!) Nicola Blackwood. The committee’s page on the parliament website states …
Continue reading Select Committees…
Naughty Or Nice…
Happy Christmas! It has been suggested that Father Christmas uses cards to decide whether children receive good presents or bad ones. Each card has either Naughty or Nice on one side and a good present (e.g. Xbox) or a bad present (e.g. Egg Box) written on the back. Four of these cards are set out …
Continue reading Naughty Or Nice…
My Only Theory…
In science, the word theory has a very specific meaning. It refers to the best possible explanation for a collection of facts and observations; and then only after rigorous testing. Thus we have Germ Theory to explain certain types of disease; the Theory of Gravity to account for falling objects; the Theory of Evolution to …
Continue reading My Only Theory…
Distribution Graphs…
When 8R & 8L have done their power experiment, we can plot a distribution curve showing how much variation there is in power between members of Y8. Normal distribution describes the range of outcomes when collecting data during experiments. Some of the numbers will be larger than the average and some will be below average …
Continue reading Distribution Graphs…