The Man Who Was Made of Straw
Lesson summary:
The lesson explains that logic is built on premises and how it’s essential to pay attention to them to avoid using straw-man arguments. Straw-man arguments are oversimplified, exaggerated, or twisted versions of your argument that can be easily knocked over. The lesson also highlights how false premises can be slipped in, and it’s easy to assume that everyone agrees with your starting point. The example of discussing the benefits of vaccination and pharmaceutical companies’ profits is used to demonstrate how the focus of an argument can be shifted from the main issue. Oversimplification and reduction of disagreements to binary options like for and against, true or false, black and white can also mislead you. It’s essential to show that there can be more than one solution to a problem.