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Seventh week

Hi folks! 

Sometimes it's hard to start writing, not because you have no idea what to write, but because you're really bored with what you've written so far.  Since this is a student blog, I'd like to change my direction a bit, hoping you don't mind.


I've been studying soley on my listening skills for two weeks, especially the British accent. I use Podcast Repuclic, a practical and useful podcast app, and there are many podcast channels that I've been following for a while. One of these is Luke's English Podcast, which is very famous for its entertaining and satisfying content -I think everyone who is learning English knows this podcast. Then this week I found Tom Wilkinson's podcast 'Thinking in English' and it was just what the doctor ordered. Anyway, I listened to two related episodes from this podcast; 'How to Think Critically in English' and 'Logical Fallacies: Mistakes You Probably Make When Arguing!'. I want to talk about this now.

It is rare to have people with whom you can have sustainable and healthy discussions because it is not easy to accept that you have lost any argument and change your mindset. The truth is that we often do not ponder on things. We just use what is in our mind. As things become more and more contradictory in our minds, undermining the discussion becomes a substitute for real and well-thought-out discussions.

I had read some articles about logical fallacies in Turkish, but I did not know the English terms on this. There are eight examples of logical fallacies in the second episode. I want to write them down here. Maybe it will help me remember when I need them.
  • Ad Hominem is the use of insults and personal attacks rather than using logic or evidence.
  • Straw Man Argument occurs by changing to a more extreme version of the issue being discussed, exaggerating, and then attacking this more extreme or exaggerated point of view.
  • False Dilemma involves presenting a limited number of options as if they were the only options available.
  • Slippery Slope is the name given to an argument that assumes an action you do now will lead to a chain of other actions.
  • Hasty Generalization is making a claim based on just a few examples without any real, meaningful evidence.
  • Appeal to Ignorance is used to describe the situation when you argue something must be true (or must be false) because it has not been proven yet or there is no evidence to suggest you are wrong. 
  • Appeal to Authority is misusing of an expert's opinion.
  • Appeal to Pity is where you put forward an emotional argument to win the argument, rather than using factual evidence.
Here is the link that will take you to the 'Thinking in English' Podcast on Spotify:

That's all I want to write for now. 👋 

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