There is a pandemic raging in the United States. No, not that one. I’m talking about a pandemic of pointless political argument – argument that does not lead to resolution or action, but only divides people, and thereby makes effective action to deal with problems less likely. When those arguments occur within families or among …
The argument has been made, most notably by Sen. Lamar Alexander, that while President Trump did the things that the House of Representatives accused him of, he should not be removed from office because the people, not the Senate should be the judges of his conduct, and what the consequences should be. The …
The debate in the House of Representatives over the articles of impeachment was disappointing. Democrats and Republicans mostly talked past each other, and each side made a lot of bad arguments. Here are some of the bad arguments that recurred often. BZL 1. The facts are uncontested. Democrats kept saying the facts were uncontested, when …
Applying BZL 1-5 to Bad Arguments: Impeachment Edition Read More »
You’ve caught someone trying to steal first base: Now what? You have identified the feeling that the other person is making unwarranted assumptions, and held up one finger to indicate “Hold on a minute.” In short, you suspect a BZL 1. How do you identify the assumption you disagree with? There are a couple steps …
Every time that Perry Mason objected that District Attorney Hamilton Burger was “assuming facts not in evidence”, he was accusing Berger of using BZL 1. The essence of this argument is to skip over one or more of the key premises that would have to be proven in a good argument. A classic example is …
My mother was an avid birdwatcher. From her I learned that there are many species of birds that look similar, but can only be distinguished by tiny details. So, birdwatchers in the wild will take along a book called a “field guide” to help with on-the-spot identification. One of the best known was Roger Tory …