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No Nonsense

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Anti-pseudoscience, anti-woo, pro science, pro critical thinking, no conspiracy theories, no spin. Count the logical fallacies. No Nonsense!

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"Keep an open mind – but not so open that your brain falls out" -unknown

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." -- Christopher Hitchens

What is a logical fallacy? All arguments have the same basic structure: A therefore B. They begin with one or more premises (A), which is a fact or assumption upon which the argument is based. They then apply a logical principle (therefore) to arrive at a conclusion (B). An example of a logical principle is that of equivalence. For example, if you begin with the premises that A=B and B=C, you can apply the logical principle of equivalence to conclude that A=C. A logical fallacy is a false or incorrect logical principle. An argument that is based upon a logical fallacy is therefore not valid. It is important to note that if the logic of an argument is valid then the conclusion must also be valid, which means that if the premises are all true then the conclusion must also be true. Valid logic applied to one or more false premises, however, leads to an invalid argument. Also, if an argument is not valid the conclusion may, by chance, still be true. For a more thorough discussion of logical fallacies and how to structure a logical argument, see the New England Skeptical Society's article, How To Argue.

Top 20 Logical Fallacies (in alphabetical order) taken from -

The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe

The New England Skeptical Society The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe Science-Based Medicine
The James Randi Educational Foundation
Propaganda
snopes.com
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Simon Singh and his fight to mend British libel laws
Professor Richard Wiseman
PZ Myers' Pharyngula
Dr. Phil Plait and Bad Astronomy
Skeptic Blog
Michael Shermer's Baloney Detection Kit
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
The Skeptics' Dictionary
List of cognitive biases
Don Watson - Weasel Words
QuackWatch
A List of Fallacious Arguments

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"No skeptic, to my knowledge, ever made a major scientific discovery or advanced the welfare of others."

-- Deepak Chopra (yes, he actually said that)

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but That's funny..." -Isaac Asimov

The scientific world view is full of awe and wonder. Understanding how truly awesome the universe is – in its elegant complexity, its staggering beauty, and the many intricate systems of which it is comprised – gives a profound feeling of connectedness and sparks the imagination. And it has the advantage of being real. -Steven Novella

The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again.
— Mark Twain

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Comment by Susan Stanko on September 13, 2010 at 10:49am: Talk about a reading comprehension problem.

Comment by sacha on September 13, 2010 at 2:09am: quote of the day:

"Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding."

-Ambrose Bierce

Comment by sacha on September 13, 2010 at 1:43am: Respect is not the same as obedience

Comment by Sentient Biped on September 12, 2010 at 6:54pm: Interesting. I've always respected CSM even tho the religion itself is so much hooey, and dangerous hooey at that - like many other religions. I just subscribed on my e-reader, based on IJM's recommendation - it's a 14-day free trial, so I like that. I don't know if reading liberal BS is an antidote to conservative BS. Although Dame Judy Dench did state in the Chronicles of Riddick that sometimes you have to fight evil with another kind of evil, or something like that. And I'll believe anything she says in a sci fi movie especially when referring to Vin Diesel.

Comment by Jason Spicer on September 12, 2010 at 4:26pm: I can't read the Christian Science Monitor because of the name and the BS of the founder. I hate the woo on HuffPo, but the politics and media sections are pretty good, especially Jason Linkins. You just have to ignore the woo-swamp of the Living and Religion sections and anything having to do with medicine. At minimum, HuffPo is a necessary political antidote to Faux News. Now if we can just come up with an online newspaper dedicated to actual fact regardless of topic...

Comment by It's just Matt on September 12, 2010 at 3:14pm: The Christian Science Monitor is more accurate than the Huffington Post and most newspapers/sites. I was introduced to it by my Geography teacher who told the class not to be scared off by the title. Unless you click on the specific Christian articles, the whole site serves as a wealth of real coverage of actual events. It is just the original founder stated in her will that it had to remain named The Christian Science Monitor.

Comment by Sentient Biped on September 12, 2010 at 2:27pm: i get huff on my kindle. it aggregates some news in a way that is not available in that format otherwise. i loathe celeb shit and abhor twinkie woorhea, but other parts are useful to me. It's a little like picking onions off a burger so avoid the breath, but sometimes I gotta pinch my nose and dive in.

Comment by Sentient Biped on September 12, 2010 at 10:58am: Was this already quoted here?
"The taming and domestication of religious faith is one of the unceasing chores of civilization" Christopher Hitchens

Comment by sacha on September 11, 2010 at 11:43pm: It's all your fault

Comment by sacha on September 11, 2010 at 10:35pm: quote of the day:

"Likely source of all conflict in world: believing what you want or what feels good, rather than what is objectively true."

-Neil DeGrasse Tyson