If someone is obviously arguing in bad faith this can be good advice. But logical fallacies are common even in folks who are genuine so I don’t think it’s totally productive to say you should never argue with someone who presents a fallacy. Most people are not perfectly logical and pointing out the fallacy may help them grow if they are not a bad faith actor.
But don’t just point out it’s a fallacy and leave it at that.
If they do something like an argument from ignorance, explain why that line of reasoning falls down, maybe even suggest how to get to a better position.
I especially feel this is relevant in public spaces. Fallacies are common because they can be compelling. Calling them out clearly is a good way to help others.
It’s funny you say this since there is a fallacy fallacy, in which one assumes that the conclusion of the argument given must be false because the argument uses a fallacy. I think this usually comes from a place where people are looking for a gotcha moment rather than sincerely engaging with the topic, and I think the big pitfall of the fallacy fallacy is that it feels like you’re engaging honestly and sincerely. So yeah, it’s better to engage with people honestly rather than assigning malicious intent upon detection of a logical fallacy.
I’ve seen some confusion about ad hominem.
“You’re wrong and an asshole” isn’t an ad hominem. “You’re an asshole so you’re wrong” is.
The former is two separate claims.
Like most all of logic, fallacies do not mean wrong. They are just not a valid argument. Sometimes they arise from simplification. For example “if guns are made illegal then only criminals will have guns” is often sighted for tautological reasoning and justly so because as it stands it is just repeating itself. Because yes if guns are made illegal then the act of owning a gun would be illegal which would make one a criminal. The slogan though is trying to convey that if guns are illegal then people who are criminals already for other reasons are more likely to find breaking the law in order to have a gun as being a palatable thing to do as opposed to someone who is law abiding and does not want to break the law by owning one. Therefor the law makes them vulnerable to people who would take advantage of this vulnerability. Taking the slogan and saying thats tautological goodbye is lazyness. Saying its tautological and you expect them to bring more to the argument is more sincere to me. So someone using a fallacy is not endgame with me. It is only if they repeat them and lean on them and refuse to get why they are fallacies that I might just stop talking with them.
So I shouldn’t waste time arguing you?
I didn’t write “Any time someone presents a fallacy their conclusion is false”.
No, you didn’t. True enough.
You also didn’t answer my question.
