CT Scan: Critical Thinking Scan
The Elephant, the Blind Men, and the Faulty Analogy
Season 2, Episode 4
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12-Nov-2020
Analogies can make arguments sound persuasive, but they can’t prove anything is true. Tips for answering analogies that argue against the Bible include finding an important difference between the things being compared and using big-picture questions to make the analogy argue for a biblical worldview. Let’s apply these tips to the analogy that all religions are like three blind men feeling one elephant.
Up Next in S2: Fallacies
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Answering Straw-Man Arguments
Straw-man fallacies re-frame strong positions as weak ones, while motte-and-bailey fallacies re-frame weak positions as a strong ones. In both cases, you can respond by bringing the discussion back to what the original position said.
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No True Scotsman Fallacy
No True Scotsman arguments say that no real member of some group would do something; for instance, no true scientist would reject evolution. These arguments become fallacies when they redefine a key term—like what it means to be a scientist—to avoid counterarguments. Here are some examples of how...
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Stolen Concept Fallacies
Arguments with stolen concept fallacies assume the truth of the same thing they’re trying to disprove. For example, many arguments against Scripture rely on principles which are ultimately rooted in a Biblical worldview, including truth, logic, knowledge, scientific reasoning, morality and the va...
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