Logical Fallacies

I'm a nerd. I know.

Lately I've been thinking about logical fallacies. I think it started with me leading a group at work where we discussed beliefs people have about the world that are wrong. Yet we function under these beliefs because in our backgrounds we have learned that either these are correct or they should be. It's rather interesting. I wish I had the paper we were reading off of and I would tell you what they were, but the only ones I can remember now include that life should be fair and that everyone should follow the same behavioral standard we hold ourselves to. Both of these leave people feeling frustrated and angry because it's never going to happen. So there is a little background for you on why I've been thinking about my own faulty ways of thinking.

I remember being in high school and learning about logical fallacies and finding them rather humorous. I remember the idea of Inductive Arguments. For example:
Premise 1: Most American cats are domestic house cats.
Premise 2: Bill is an American cat.
Conclusion: Bill is domestic house cat.

I also remember a Deductive Fallacy
Premise 1: If Portland is the capital of Maine, then it is in Maine.
Premise 2: Portland is in Maine.
Conclusion: Portland is the capital of Maine.

I remember talking with my siblings and friends making up our own fallacies. So over the weekend I tried to do that again but found that my creativity was lacking. This made me sad. But I did come up with one real life example. I have recently been playing music exchange with a few friends. One friend told me that one band he didn't care for was stellastar*. I decided recently that stellastar* reminds me of The Cure. I therefore deduced that my friend could not possibly care for The Cure either. Anxious to text my hypothesis I sent him a text message inquiring if he was a fan of The Cure. He responded "not really." I was pretty amused. I was right, but at the same time realized that my logical approach to my hypothesis may not prove accurate when tested with more people. But in keeping with my logical fallacy mode of thinking I will just conclude that one who does not really like the cure will not really like stellastar*. It will look like this:

premise 1 Tom doesn't like The Cure.
premise 2 The Cure is like Stellastar*
conclusion: Tom doesn't like Stellastar*

I realize this whole thing is just stupid. But I like breaking things down like this. Then I called my brother David because I was so amused with myself and thought he could help me come up with some more funny fallacies. He did BETTER!!!! Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman. Check this out:

http://www1.asknlearn.com/ri_Ilearning/English/631/elang-ilearning/page3a.htm

This is only one of the funniest, well written explanations of many errors in logic. We read it on Thanksgiving as a family and laughed with delight. All through out dinner as we talked about religion and politics I enjoyed pointing out hasty generalizations, post hoc, false analogies, dicto simpliciter and hypothesis contrary to the fact.

What I think I like the most about this is that it makes me think about how I think. I am guilty of many errors in logic. I recently resolved that I want to start a new group. One that would be about thinking. I could bring in short stories like Love is a Fallacy and the Lottery, mix it up with Aesop's Fables, and throw in some proverbs. I think it would be a valuable group to discuss how we think about things. I'm excited about this idea. But like I said before: I am a nerd.