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About this video

Two friends disagree about where their class should go for the end-of-year trip: the science museum or the zoo. They could shout, call each other names and count who has more friends on their side. Every fallacy in the course's last module was a way of not dealing with someone's real reasons: attacking the person, counting heads, hiding choices, building a straw man. The habit that protects against all of them is being fair to the other side.

Being fair means understanding the other person's argument in its best form, the strongest version of what they mean, not the weakest. If something they say is unclear, assume the sensible meaning and ask, instead of jumping on the silly one. Logicians call this the principle of charity: "charity" here means being generous in how you read someone. This short animation slides a marker from the weakest reading to the best one. Then one friend says the other's view back so well that the other says "yes, exactly".

After that, the two can check the reasons together with the course's questions: what exactly is the claim, what are the reasons and the conclusion, does it follow, are the reasons true, are there enough varied examples, is there a trick in it? Sometimes the other argument turns out better than yours. Then reasoning well means changing your mind, and saying so. That isn't losing: you now believe something better supported than before. This video goes with the Thinking Well Together lesson of Logic Level 1 on Knaph.

Transcript

1. 0:00The museum! No, the zoo! Two friends disagree.
2. 0:04Read the other side at its best, not at its weakest.
3. 0:11Say it back so well that they say, yes, exactly.
4. 0:18Then check the reasons together. Do they hold? Does it follow?
5. 0:24If their reasons are better, change your mind. That's not losing.
6. 0:29Be fair first. Then follow the reasons.