Garcia_Response

**The Logic of Logical Fallacies** by Merideth Garcia, PhD This twine is a response to [[Jewell Boyd's webtext "Questioning Logical Fallacies"]], which brings [[feminist rhetorical theory]] to bear on [[the identification and use of logical fallacies]] You can play through by clicking on the highlighted text on any screen.

Found in the works of Sandra Harding and Donna Haraway, situated knowledge contends that our knowing is connected to our experience and perspective. In doing so, it encourages the inclusion of counternarratives to develop understandings of complex phenomenon. While acknowledging that it can be important to avoid logical fallacies, Boyd makes use of feminist theory to argue that the definition and identification of logical fallacies also deserves attention because definitions are not natural and neutral, but human-made and subject to ideological pressure. [[When the accusation of a logical fallacy is used to silence a speaker->Cancelled]] who occupies a marginalized position in society, it is worth questioning what constitutes "logic" in the situation and whether the logic is the only, or most important, aspect of the situation. These issues are especially relevant as society reckons with the ethical dimensions of pursuing meaningful justice.

In the examples provided in the blog section, Boyd notes that "Call-out culture... is pointing out a fallacy in a way that can feel demeaning, and is often used to try to invalidate an entire argument." Her analysis of an <a href="https://jewellboyd101.wixsite.com/questioningfallacies/blog/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-lindsey-graham-and-the-migrant-crisis">exchange between Senators Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Lindsey Graham</a> illustrates both an attempt at call-out culture and the affordances and limitations of a platform like Twitter. Boyd suggests that the call-out of a false comparison does not manage to silence Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter as it might in person. At the same time, a recent attempt by Twitter's CEO to have <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/twitter-ceo-jack-dorseys-chaotic-interview-6-takeaways-from-his-tweets/">an in-depth conversation</a> highlighted the constraints of a platform that prizes [[pithy formulations over nuance.]] Recognizing both complex argument structures and strategies that reduce them for easier, and catchier, consumption is an increasingly necessary skill in identifying the validity of a speaker's claims.

Identifying flaws or gaps in an argumentative structure is foundational to academic practice. Consider, for example, <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/58122663/Writing_about_Writing.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DWRITING_about_WRITING_A_College_Reader_S.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20190909%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190909T031310Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=84cf804d1cb18df1f7f20d1dc2ab1c7368a73ebb691ccf23bf5813b37d5577dd#page=40">Swales' Creating A Research Space (CARS) model of research</a> that exhorts students to counter-claim, indicate a gap, or raise questions about the claims of prior research (pp. 12-15). Or the growing importance of including counternarratives to achieve a more nuanced picture of social interaction and history. By examining [[the identification and use of logical fallacies]], Boyd's webtext takes up a common first step in learning how to recognize argument structures. It goes further, though, to suggest that [[the structures themsleves deserve interrogation->feminist rhetorical theory]]. Ultimately, in the act of creating a website to share her insights with a broader public, Boyd has engaged in a deeply constructionist project: [[learning through making an object designed to instruct]]. You can read the text in full <a href="https://jumpplus.net/issue-9-1/questioning-logical-fallacies-9-1/">here</a>.