5种怪诞逻辑误区：你一定也中过枪

1. Straw Man Fallacy

1. 稻草人理论

It is very frustrating to have your thoughts summed up and attacked. It’s especially maddening when someone misunderstands your beliefs, describes them all wrong, and then attacks your position! This distortion of a belief is called a straw man tactic. Here is an example of the straw man tactic in reaction to the proposal to require school uniforms:

令人抓狂的是有人错误总结了你的观点来攻击你的言论，更令人抓狂的是竟然有人误解你的意思，歪曲你的想法来攻击你！这种扭曲观点做法就被称为稻草人理论。下面这个例子是针对学校要求统一服装的回应。

Our school board wants us to start wearing uniforms, so they want us all to give up our individuality. They expect us to become a mindless throng of obedient children who are not able to express their individuality in any way.

学校董事会希望我们穿校服，这样我们就会放弃自己的个性。他们希望我们成为一群唯唯诺诺的孩子，不能自由地表达自己的个性。

Obviously, this would not be the desire of any member of a school board, and it is certainly a view that can be opposed by any feeling human. It is a false and unfair representation of the school board’s intentions.

很显然，这不是任何一位董事的想法，这个理论也显然可以被任何一个有思想的人驳倒。这样解释董事会的意图是错误的，也是不公平的。

2. Hasty Generalization

2.草率结论

A hasty generalization is a conclusion that is based on few examples. Here are a few that have been used in research papers:

草率结论是指例证不足就下的结论。下面是一则研究报告中出现的草率结论：

Elderly people are bad drivers.

老年人驾车技术都不好。

Be careful not to draw conclusions in your own research after you've seen a few individual pieces of evidence.

要注意在自己的研究过程中不要仅仅依靠个别例子就草率下结论。

（tip：要避免这种错误，可以加一个程度副词，比如mosly等等。上句话可改为：Elderly people are mostly bad drivers.）

3. Slippery Slope

3. 滑坡谬误

The slippery slope fallacy occurs when we get carried away and start making claims that one event will lead to another--when those claims are not necessarily accurate. Here is a conclusion that doesn't add up:

滑坡谬误指我们开始洋洋洒洒地写作，一个断言推出另一个断言，但这些断言并非十分准确。下面就是一个不合理的结论：

If we let students use their cell phone calculators during tests, they'll start cheating by using other apps to find the answers. Then no one will ever learn anything. Everyone will fail.

如果我们让学生在考试中使用手机上的计算器，他们就会用其他的手机应用找答案作弊。那么没有人能真正学到知识，所有人都会不及格。

4. Red Herring

4. 转移视听

A red herring is a tactic used to change the subject when we feel we're in hot water. You may recognize the red herring as a tactic you've used on your own parents.

转移视听是我们感到自己深陷麻烦使用于转移话题的一个方式。你可能会承认对父母用过这一招。

"You are late. Your curfew was thirty minutes ago."

“你迟了，半个小时前可就该到家了。”

"I know, but there was big fire in a factory across town. It's lucky that nobody was hurt."

“我知道，但是市区那端的工厂着大火了。没有人伤亡真是不幸中的万幸。”

In the exchange above, the teen is trying to distract the parent from the issue at hand by diverting his or her attention. This tactic of changing the subject is common in a debate scenario, when one presenter feels trapped or challenged. It can be an easy but costly maneuver.

上面这段对话中，孩子试图把父母的注意力从手边的事上转移开。这种转移主题的策略常用于辩论赛，当一方觉得陷入麻烦，或被质疑，这种方式虽然有代价却简单易行。

5. The Bandwagon Fallacy

5. 从众思想

There is a certain sense of security we feel by being a part of a group. If you've ever agreed with a stance because it is the popular one, you have been taken in by the bandwagon effect!

与一群人想法一致显然会给人一种安全感。但如果你同意某种立场仅仅是因为它被人们普遍接受，那么你就受了从众思想这种逻辑谬误的影响。

The most prestigious schools use school uniforms, so we should adopt that policy, as well.

最有名气的学校都有校服，所以我们也应采取这种做法。