Critical Reasoning Flaws – A Story

The Adventure of Logic Land

One day, little Timmy was wandering through the forest when he stumbled upon a strange new land called Logic Land. In this mystical place, everything had to make perfect sense or else the Magic of Logic would get angry. Timmy met a girl named Hasty Holly who would always jump to conclusions without thinking them through. One time she saw a snake slithering by and decided all snakes must be scary without ever meeting another snake! This is called making a hasty generalization.

Next, Timmy saw his friend Peer Pressure Pete listening to a group of kids saying spinach was gross. Even though Pete liked spinach, he started saying it was gross too just because the other kids did. This is called appealing to inappropriate authority because the kids weren’t experts on spinach!- Critical Reasoning

As Timmy walked deeper into Logic Land, he smelled something delicious cooking! He assumed it must be his mom’s famous chocolate chip cookies. But when he got home, it was just his dad cooking Brussels sprouts for dinner. Timmy made a false cause mistake, thinking the yummy smell meant cookies when it really meant smelly vegetables!!
Then Timmy met a boy named Ignorant Ian who claimed there were no tigers in Logic Land just because he hadn’t seen any. But Timmy knew there could still be tigers even if Ian didn’t see them. It’s wrong to think something’s false just because you don’t have proof it’s true. That’s called arguing from ignorance to Critical Reasoning.

Next, Timmy saw his neighbor Angry Andy yelling at someone just because they had a different opinion than him. Andy was attacking the person instead of their argument. This is called ad hominem.
After that, Timmy met his friend Loose Lucy. She said dogs and goldfish were basically the same because they were both pets. She was making a weak analogy, saying two things were alike without showing how they were similar to Critical Reasoning.
Timmy felt like he was going in circles! Everywhere he went, people kept making the same mistakes over and over even though their reasoning kept getting proven wrong. Timmy learned that assuming something is true because it happened once is called questionable cause.

Just when Timmy felt like logic was impossible, he met Begging Bethany. She said “My argument makes sense because I’m right!” Timmy realized Bethany was using circular reasoning, basically saying she’s right because she’s right!
Finally, Timmy met Equivocating Evelyn who kept using the word “fair” in different ways. First she said “It’s fair for everyone to get a turn.” Then she said “It’s fair that I got the biggest cookie because I’m the oldest.” She was equivocating, using the same word in different ways to prove her point on Critical Reasoning.

After his adventures in Logic Land, Timmy realized how important it is to avoid these reasoning flaws. He couldn’t wait to get home and share what he learned! Timmy discovered that being logical takes practice, and you have to watch out for shortcuts that seem easy but don’t make sense. Whenever someone makes a mistake in reasoning, Timmy speaks up right away to avoid problems down the road. Because with great logic comes great responsibility!