Vistopia
35 Lessons in Critical Thinking: Think Like a Debater
Pang Ying

Transcript

Hello, I’m Pang Ying. Welcome to the Q&A for Episode 8 of Think Like a Debater.

Q1: Can you give an example of a straw-man fallacy?

A：
I once debated the motion “Longevity is a blessing,” with the opposition arguing it is not.
Intuition favors the affirmative: we wish others a life as long as the southern mountains, and social development correlates strongly with life expectancy.
Unfortunately, I was on the opposition: longevity is not a blessing.
The sides clashed in several rounds.
Round One:
The affirmative said longevity is a blessing because we wish it upon others.
The opposition replied that we first say “May your fortune be as vast as the Eastern Sea” and only then “your life as long as the southern mountains.” The two belong together: longevity does not itself contain blessing; perhaps one needs abundant fortune before daring to seek long life.
Round Two:
The affirmative said advances in science and medicine have raised average life expectancy, proving longevity is a blessing.
The opposition replied that if science and medicine bring longevity, longevity may be the result of blessing, not its cause. Blessing may produce long life; long life does not necessarily produce blessing.
Round Three:
The affirmative said: We call longevity a blessing and wish others long life. Since you deny it, should we wish everyone an early death? The audience applauded; it sounded intuitive.
The opposition answered: That is a straw man. We never told people to die early. We say longevity is not currently a blessing to expose society’s inadequate support and care for older people.
In Singapore food courts, strong young people leave their trays while frail older people, working to support themselves, come to clear them.
We call for greater care and social innovation to support happier, more dignified aging. We say longevity is not a blessing so that change can make it cease to be a burden, not to tell older people to die.
You have distorted our meaning, invented a ridiculous position, and refuted the straw man you built yourself.
That is a straw-man fallacy. We cannot design a weaker position for our opponent, knock it down, and imagine we have won.

Q2: Can you give an example of labeling or name-calling?

Episode editor: 李兔
2021.11.04
Audio in Chinese

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Featured comments

14 comments
  • 1
    162****6327
    2021-12-01 11:53:48

    最后一个ab不是阿庞和阿詹吗 🤐🤐🤐

  • 小姜
    2021-12-30 15:23:08

    a和b我好像听懂了💩

  • 五中小毛
    2025-07-04 17:47:51

    那意思是不是说现在的社会情况做不到“长寿是福”，“长寿是福”是一个理想的状态。有点“实然”“应然”那个意思。

    bvdvrj ：这下听懂了

  • Angelica_
    2024-05-24 10:17:29

    说一个发生在我和闺蜜身上的红鲱鱼谬误：他头晕了好几天，我让他头晕的时候量一下血压，他说他要把血压计带到我家来量，我说太麻烦了，睡前自己量一下就好。这个时候他说你就是对我不好，这点事都不愿意帮我做。这个时候他就把我们对于量血压这件事成功转移到我对他好不好上面来。这是他的常用伎俩，只要在讨论一件事情的时候不符合他的想法或预期，他就会用这个“对他好不好”来说事。

  • 清沄1988
    2021-11-05 17:09:15

    我好像听懂了，又好像没全懂🤣🤣🤣

  • 136****2917
    2024-02-20 09:38:16

    学习到了

  • 1
    183****6623
    2022-04-09 13:56:10

    潜水党必须冒泡，小两口是阿詹阿庞吧，哈哈😄

  • 181****1662
    2021-11-07 17:31:50

    就想问什么时候请阿詹出来辩论

  • Anna Lee
    2021-11-06 22:27:16

    老套话题

  • 我
    我无所谓
    2021-11-06 16:39:35

    庞老师讲得很实在，就是周四的太短了

  • 130****7298
    2021-11-05 10:46:55

    稻草人谬误和滑坡式论证有什么区别吗

    葵依绿 Reply 138****6418 ：确实

    心会 ：警惕经常使用稻草人谬误的人士，心术不正

  • 翠西儿
    2021-11-04 18:37:41

    又听完了，催更！💗

  • 杨智文
    2021-11-04 18:33:22

    这个Q&A的Q显然不是看理想这里的吧😂

  • Legolas
    2021-11-04 11:36:22

    阿庞这个更新机制从规则上确定了拖更的合理性🤐