BLAM!

Groundrules ("The Four Noble Truths of Logic")

1. Sometimes people make claims that not everyone else agrees with.
2. People who make such claims need to support them with logically compelling arguments.
3. Claims that are not supported by logically compelling arguments can (and probably should) simply be ignored.
4. There is a way to tell if a claim is or is not supported by a logically compelling argument

BLAM: Basic Logical Analysis Method ("The Eightfold Noble Path of Logic")

1. Isolate individual arguments and analyze one argument at a time.
2. Identify the factual claims made in the argument you're presently working on.
3. Do what you can to figure out how these factual claims are supposed to make the argument's conclusion true.
4. For each factual claim, figure out if it is specifically supported by a logically compelling argument or evidence. (This might take some time.)
5. See if you can figure a way for the original claim to be false even if the supporting factual claims are true. (Take your time reading this sentence.)
6. If one of the factual claims is not supported, the argument completely fails!
7. If it's possible for the main claim to be false, even if the supporting factual claims are true, the argument completely fails!
8. Emphasis: Either way of failing will kill the whole argument dead, dead, dead!

Remember, a claim that is only supported by "arguments" that fail BLAM is not a claim you should take seriously. Rather it is a claim that nobody should assert as true. Baslically, claims that are provably not supported by any good argument are claims that everyone should regard as false.

Copyright © 2024 by Martin C. Young