How Reasoning Goes Awry

• Anomalies of Language
  • What Berkeley called the mist and veil of words is a source of confusion that can impede reasoning.

• Artifices of Deception and Distraction
  • The methods of deception and distraction are used to fool people and divert their attention

• Bias
  • Bias is a predisposition with the potential to bias a process of reasoning.
  • A process of reasoning is biased if it has errors that systematically favor one conclusion over others due to a predisposition of the reasoner. 

• Conspiracy Theories
  • A conspiracy theory explains the evidence as resulting from a secret plot by a powerful group of conspirators.
  • The problem with conspiracy theories is that there’s typically a simpler, straightforward explanation of the evidence which, per Ockham’s Razor, is more likely.

• Disinformation
  • “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” — Voltaire

• Fallacies
  • A fallacy is an error in reasoning having an air of plausibility

• Fooled by Statistics
  • Because it’s tricky, it’s easy to get fooled by statistics

• Motivated Reasoning
  • People believe what they’re predisposed to believe through motivated reasoning.

• Paradoxes
  • A paradox is a seemingly valid piece of reasoning leading to an absurdity.