Accurate statistics and faulty interpreters
Even the most rigorously researched statistics are not immune from misinterpretation, and they can often be used in a way that obscures the truth.
How to critically evaluate a text
Almost a century ago, writer Virginia Woolf noticed people’s tendency to approach books “with clouded and divided minds, asking fiction to be true, poetry to be false, biographies to be flattering and history to chime with prejudices.”
Equivocation: Playing hide-and-seek in communication
When what someone says can be interpreted in multiple ways, we are in danger of coming to an understanding which is different to their intended message.
Appealing to authority: an expensive logical mistake
In everyday life, whether we like it or not, we rely on the information provided by experts or specialists. However, no authority deserves blind trust. When we take someone's word for granted simply because that person is an authority, we make the logical mistake called "appeal to authority."