History can be tricky, even when one is not being pursued by a rough-and-tumble college professor declaring that the artifact we are trying to study “belongs in a museum.”
Texts in Context: History & Its Discontents Read More »
Regrettably, we don’t always need someone else to lead us down the garden path of sophistry; we’re very capable walkers, thanks, and feel sure we can find it unassisted.
Sorting Through Sophistries: Mental Solitaire Read More »
Time is sometimes depicted as an ouroboros, a serpent eating its tail, a symbol of cyclical recurrence. History is like a bask of crocodiles: they are related to snakes, but have extra features that may distract us, to our peril.
Texts in Context: The Crocodile of Chronology Read More »
“History is a pack of tricks we play on the dead,” “History is written by the victors,” “History is bunk,” etc.—these are all evaluations of history. But before we decide whose fault it is, what is history?
Texts in Context: How to History Read More »
Today, we conclude our review of the first great genus of fallacies with a glance at fallacious treatment of idioms.
Sorting Through Sophistries: Disfigures of Speech Read More »
A romantic English patriot and devout Catholic convert; a friend of Shaw and Orwell and an enemy of modernity; an opponent of socialism and a staunch foe of capitalism: the paradoxes of Chesterton make an elegant closing flourish for our series on the Author Bank.
G. K. Chesterton: An Author Profile Read More »
To err is human; to forgive is divine; logically, then, it must be diabolical to subalternate.
Sorting Through Sophistries: A Pair of Pseuds Read More »
What are fallacies of ambiguity? What is equivocation? What is a motte-and-bailey? Read on to learn these things and more.
Sorting Through Sophistries: The Ambiguous Fallacies Read More »
“Sophistry” may not sound like the kind of thing that could affect our everyday lives, unless we’re professional academics. But the truth is, in the information age, it’s more important than ever to be able to detect bad thinking at a glance.
Sorting Through Sophistries: What Is a Fallacy? Read More »
What else is there to a conversation, besides who spoke in it and about what? Surprisingly, quite a bit.
Introducing Two New Series: “Sophistries” and “The Author Bank in History” Read More »
