[general_re]

Previous installments:

Part 1 - Introduction and the Argument From Ignorance
Part 2 - the Appeal to Inappropriate Authority
Part 3 - the Argument Ad Hominem
Part 4 - the Appeal to Force and the Appeal to Emotion
Part 5 - the Irrelevant Conclusion
Part 6 - Fallacies of Presumption and the Complex Question

[general_re]

Part 7.

Apologies for the delays, lack of interaction, et cetera. Part 8 will, tomorrow, close the discussion of fallacies of presumption with the fallacies of Accident and Converse Accident. Part 9 will then begin the discussion of the fallacies of ambiguity.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Also called "Assuming the Consequent."

[CobaltBlue]

Ping for later. Off topic: I never really understood "begging the question," seems like people use it to mean that "your response makes me think of this question, which I will pretend that you are just begging me to ask."

But end-of-year tax planning still calls. All I have left to do is configure one laptop and try to negotiate a settlement on my Yellow Pages ad bill. Verizon put a photo of someone other than me in the ad and I've refused to pay for it, and we've been going round and round for a few years, actually. If I get it resolved tomorrow, that's a nice reduction in my overhead (looking on the bright side).

Re: laptop. Half of me wants a cute little Vaio type with Centrino processor (lighter, cooler) weighing in total less than 5 pounds that I can easily shlep to court to type out orders and calculate things using spreadsheets and so forth, and use for research in the law library, and so forth, which is eminently tax deductible. And half of me wants an all-the-bells-and-whistles 17 inch Toshiba satellite type with P4 technology and hyperthreading and Harmon Kardon speakers that I can use to play DVDs in bed or on the treadmill, which is NOT tax deductible, unless its primary use is for the office and making money, which is why I don't want or need two.

Decisions, decisions.