How to spot deceptive arguments

[Giulia]

Hi, Tony and thanks.

This sound interesting: a free mini-course on rhetorical fallacies, errors in reasoning that are often used to deceive or mislead people. The course will introduce you to six common rhetorical fallacies:

Ad hominem: Attacking the person instead of the argument.
Appeal to authority: Using an authority figure to support an argument, even if the authority figure is not an expert on the topic.
Appeal to emotion: Using emotions to manipulate people into agreeing with an argument.
Bandwagon fallacy: Assuming that something is true because it is popular.
False dilemma: Presenting only two options, when there are actually more.
Straw man: Misrepresenting an opponent's argument in order to make it easier to attack.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc: Assuming that one event caused another event, simply because the two events happened in sequence.

The course will also teach you how to identify rhetorical fallacies and how to avoid using them in your own writing and thinking.

I think the text is well-written and informative. It does a good job of explaining what rhetorical fallacies are and how they can be used to deceive people. The course sounds like it would be very helpful for anyone who wants to improve their critical thinking skills.

I would add a few things to the text. First, I would mention that rhetorical fallacies are not always used intentionally. Sometimes people use them without realizing it. Second, I would point out that rhetorical fallacies can be used in both written and spoken language. Finally, I would encourage people to learn about rhetorical fallacies so that they can be more discerning consumers of information.

I think this course would be a valuable resource for anyone who wants to improve their critical thinking skills. It would be especially helpful for students, journalists, and anyone else who is often exposed to persuasive arguments.

In a forum that mainly deals with consciousness experiences where the Experiencer is the expert about his/her experience, but may lack the communication skills to report them and support them, it is important to be aware of those who use false information to mislead, confuse or reject the information itself.