WITCRAFT - Fallacies and biases

Wes Sturdevant - Witcraft Card for learning Fallacies and Biases in a logic game.

"If you believe in God, you won't have to fear death or the pain of losing loved ones, so you should believe."

Asserting that a theological doctrine is correct simply because a specific theologian (e.g., Augustine or Sproul) wrote it, or because a Bible verse states it, without explaining the scriptural context or logical basis for that interpretation.

"If I give my kid a snack now, they'll demand cookies at grandma's, ruin their dinner, and develop a lifelong sweet tooth."

"You can't prove God doesn't exist, so God must exist."

"No one has ever disproved ghosts, so they must be real."

"Of course he supports the tax cut — he's a millionaire. He only says that because it benefits him."

"A shipbuilding company donated to her campaign, so her support for the new destroyer bill is just a payback. The bill itself is bad."

"You're only pushing climate action because you want to impose a socialist agenda."

"Those scientists are only promoting global warming because they want more government funding."

"Doctors only give out vaccines because Big Pharma pays them."

"Of course that study found the drug works — the pharma company funded it."

"Believing the Earth is flat and believing it's spherical are both 'wrong' — so they're equally valid perspectives." (Asimov's famous formulation: "your view is wronger than both of them put together.")

"Atheists and theists are both just guessing — neither has proof, so their positions are equally reasonable."

Millions of people have smoked for years, so it can't really be that harmful."

"Most people believe in fate, so fate must be real."

"Hundreds of millions of people have followed Christianity devoutly — how could it be false?" (Note: even this argument fails, since roughly as many people have devoutly followed other religions.)

"You question the vaccine's efficacy, but have you considered how the government is trying to control your freedom?"

A company under investigation for pollution donates to a local charity and publicizes the donation to deflect from the scandal.

"You question the vaccine's efficacy, but have you considered how the government is trying to control your freedom?"

A company under investigation for pollution donates to a local charity and publicizes the donation to deflect from the scandal.

"Things were better in the old days — people had manners, the streets were safe, nobody had these problems." The speaker remembers only the positive generalities of their youth while forgetting the wars, protests, and social tensions that existed then.

This bias is a major driver of declinism — the belief that society is in decline.

"Evolution is just random chance — how could a monkey randomly evolve into a human?" (misrepresenting natural selection as pure randomness)

"So you're saying vaccines are poison and the government is injecting us with chemicals?" (when the actual position was to request more safety data on a specific ingredient)