CriticalThinkingAcademy

Table of Contents Evidential Naïveté Masquerading as Rigor Bastardizing Objectivity Confusing "An Explanation" with "Best Explanation" The Nature of Neutrality Its not quite Pseudo-Intellectualism Generalizing the Concept Applying this to Risk Assessment Final Thoughts References I was rewatching clone wars, specifically s5 ep19; the episode where Ahsoka is accused of bombing the Jedi temple. While watching this sequence, something really struck me. When it’s informed to the Jedi council that Ahsoka allegedly killed clones and is on the run, some jedi masters respond with “I can’t believe she has fallen so far?”. Grand admiral Tarkin responds by saying “it’s not our place to operate on beliefs, we deal in facts and evidence and the evidence points to Ahsoka”. I find this fascinating because it reminds me of Schums “Evidential Foundations of Probabilistic Reasoning”, and other scholars concerned with evidence...

Table of Contents I. Social Epistemic Mechanisms Introduction 1. Epistemic Bubbles 2. Echo Chambers 3. Evidential Preemption 4. Inoculation Theory 5. Controlled Exposure 6. Epistemically Pernicious Groups 7. Groupstrapping 8. Internal Trust Hierarchies 9. Boundary Policing 10. Epistemic Outsourcing Concluding Note to Section I II. Propaganda and Information Management Introduction 11. Manufactured Controversy 12. False Balance 13. Consensus Simulation 14. Information Laundering 15. Persecution Framing 16. Conspiracy Framing 17. Outsider Pathologizing 18. Strategic Ambiguity 19. Motive Attribution Asymmetry 20. Perpetual Siege Narrative Concluding Note to Section II III. Rhetorical and Argumentative Mechanisms Introduction 21. Selective Skepticism 22. Asymmetric Standards of Evidence 23. Special Pleading 24. Moving the Goalposts 25. Self-Sealing Logic 26. God-of-the-Gaps Reasoning 27. Category Smuggling 28. Strategic Vagueness 29. Gish Gallo...