About this title: This is a witty assault on lame rhetoric, specious logic, and official BS. Here's a fast-paced, ruthlessly funny romp through the mulligan stew of illogic, unreason, and just plain drivel served up daily in the media by pundits, psychics, ad agencies, New Age gurus, statisticians, free trade ideologues, business "thinkers," and, of course, politicians. Award-winning young philosopher Jamie Whyte applies his laser-like wit to dozens of timely examples in order to deconstruct the rhetoric and cut through the haze of shibboleth and doubletalk to get at the real issues. A troubleshooting guide to ...
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Your search:Books»Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders(18 available copies)
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780071446433ISBN:0071446435
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Date Published: 2004-09-12
ISBN-13:9780071446433ISBN:0071446435
Description: Very Good. Softcover in very good condition. Some visible signs of wear from previous ownership, but still a very good looking copy. May have remainder mark, or a small amount of writing on the inside. read more
"Whyte has a wonderful grasp of logic and argument, as one would hope. This in an engaging little book, which I would widely recommend, although with some reservations.
His chief strength is explaining logical fallacies and providing everyday examples, showing that they are far more common than one might think (and generally not recognized). It is nice to have a champion of things making sense. Many people and organizations, from lawyers to churches, politicians, and more, have a vested interest in making things unclear and ambiguous, and freely employ fallacies to make things seem sensible when they are actually not. There are even people who see the incomprehensibility of an argument as a good thing - chiefly religions (New Age and old) and postmodernists. As Whyte says, "cultural relativism is so absurd that it is hard to believe anyone can be so fevered as to assert it."
The failings of the book come whenever Whyte strays from logic, which happens fairly frequently as he delves into examples. He demonstrates at various points that he does not have a completely firm grasp of science, economics, medicine, or politics. These include some overstated claims such as the establishment of absolute truth in science. He doesn't fully grasp, at a fundamental level, the provisional and probabilistic nature of truth in science. Anyone with an eye for experiment and Bayes' theorem knows that once you start assigning p=0 or p=1, you're no longer doing science. Science might say p=1-(1e-9), which in everday language means "definitely true", but it's very important that p doesn't exactly equal 1. If it did, no amount of further evidence contradicting our hypothesis could ever reduce this. That is, once you say "I believe this to be completely true", then in the face of a Universe of evidence against it, you would still believe it to be completely true. This is not empirical, this is not rational, this is not science. It is faith, and has no role in rational understanding of the world. (So, this is a very important point, but I would call this a minor failing of the book because it is such a small part of the book, and he doesn't really mean it, I don't think. It's just an oversight.)
He also fails to appreciate quick, efficient ways of assessing truth that must be used in practice, but are occasionally wrong. For example, the Lewin Group has been frequently cited in the current debate on health care in the US. The Lewin group is wholly owned by UnitedHealth Group, a health insurance company. Whyte would argue that it's a fallacy to claim that this is relevant, and that any opinions the Lewin Group produces should be judged solely on their merits. He doesn't appreciate that few people have the skill and knowledge to do so, and even fewer have the time. Biases and potential biases of sources must be included in any real-world analysis, whether this is doctors publishing articles that were actually ghostwritten by drug companies or claims on Fox News that Obama was born in Kenya.
Still, this book is goes by quickly, and is quite worth reading."
"It's a good book, though it seems to me that the author's view of some matters like religion is a little limited. On the other hand, it does shows some "crimes against logic" that are usually committed and that we don't notice. In general, is a quite interesting book :)"
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