So Here's the Interesting Part...

I love Logical Fallacies. Well, to be clear,  I love the idea of Logical Fallacies, specifically the fact that over the ages people have analyzed and classified the many ways that individuals can intentionally, or unconsciously and unintentionally, make argue in illogical or misleading ways. For my benefit, I thought I would write a series of essays evaluating the different classes and specifics of Logical Fallacies. Since the time of the greeks and romans Logic, Rhetoric and Philosophy were formal subjects of study in every well rounded education. As we all recall from school, the first step to teach anything is break it down into little pieces and then group all the pieces together as you try and reconstruct the whole.  Speaking as a biochemist, I have to admit this doesn't always work that well, but following in the footsteps of the ancients, let's give that a try. Formal Logical Fallacies In the sub-discipline of Philosophy concerned with logic, in order to be conside

When I climbed on this soapbox, I had intended to take a lofty, high minded intellectual view. Alas... Last night I was watching the TV Show "Orville" episode 7 "Majority Rule" and it spoke to exactly the ideas I've been thinking about, so I couldn't resist sharing it. Orville, a Seth MacFarlane project, is a humorous take on Star Trek.  Obviously, spoilers ahead... Majority Rule Imagine a society guided by an absolute democracy. The population can vote yes or no on everything. There are no fixed laws. Actually, the only laws guide how votes are organized. At the age of 18, all citizens are issued and required to wear a little gadget on their chest with an up or down button and a running counts of "likes" vs "dislikes".  At some level (500,000 dislikes ?) individuals start to lose rights - like service at a cafe. At a very high level of 10 million dislikes, "criminals by acclimation" are required to undergo lobotomy-like r

truth NOUN [mass noun]            Origin: Old English trīewth, trēowth ‘faithfulness, constancy’ 1 The quality or state of being true. ‘he had to accept the truth of her accusation’ 1.1 (also  the truth ) That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. ‘tell me the truth’ ‘she found out the truth about him’ 1.2 [count noun] A fact or belief that is accepted as true. ‘the emergence of scientific truths’ ‘the fundamental truths about mankind’ It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I extremely critical of the Trump Regime.  However, if I am honest, I think that Donald Trump is a symptom a deeply divided society, not the cause of it.   I have a new soapbox... The fundamental, basic characteristic of this divide is our societies' tenuous relationship with the concept of TRUTH.  I'm not sure yet if this is a cause or symptom, but its deeply involved.  I decided to put some thought in to this and consider what we mean by TRUTH. The definitio