Building A Little Arsenal

Long time ago, I said I'd discuss logical fallacies on this blog. It hasn't happened yet, but the frequency of my noting bad logic all over the place has steadily grown. What hasn't really grown is my knowledge of how to describe these failings of reason. In the interests of trying to think more clearly and of improving communication, I hereby begin what I hope is a pretty thorough exploration of logical fallacy. There are a lot of well-established categories and even subspecies of such things, and hopefully the examples I come across almost daily will fit them. I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that some won't, and may require new nomenclature. They say it's impossible to make something truly foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.

I say in the headline that I'm building an arsenal, and it is true that fighting for truth is a valid use for this sort of information. In fact, when in a bad mood it'll be the motivation that keeps me going. The previous paragraph sort of gives away, though, that what I really want to do is keep my own thoughts correct and a little more organized, as I have a dread fear (for reasons I've never quite pinned down) of misinforming others. Almost as bad is the idea that I use my intellect to convince or win an argument by fraudulent means. It simply horrifies me. The goal, as I put it internally most times, is to "think cleanly."