Let’s start by defining some of the terms you’ll be hearing a lot in this podcast. There are only 3:
The first term to know is Fallacy or Logical Fallacy: very simply put, a fallacy is an error in thinking. It’s just faulty thinking. So a logical fallacy would be a logical error in thinking. There are a whole list of logical fallacies and they’re what Season 1 is going to be all about.
The second term is Cognitive bias or Mental bias: a cognitive bias is a limitation in your ability to think objectively. These limitations are very common - we all have them. They’re caused by the tendency of the human brain to perceive information through the filter of our personal experience and preferences. In other words…we see the world a certain way based on our life experiences, and we tend to think everyone else sees the world that way, or SHOULD see the world that way, and we’re often surprised, shocked & upset when they don’t.
The third term I want to define is Propaganda: Propaganda are different tactics that are used to manipulate people both mentally & emotionally. Propaganda is often used by advertisers to try to get you to do or buy something, and it’s often used by groups with a political, religious or monetary agenda to get you to join their ‘movement’ & the way they do it is by playing on your emotions and by mental manipulation. And here’s the thing: they do it b/c it works! It’s Marketing 101 and it’s absolutely fascinating to see the subtle ways this happens!
The topic of Logic is actually pretty broad. It’s broken down into different branches: formal and informal, deductive & inductive logic. In this podcast, I’m going to keep it super simple and focus on just one aspect of informal logic, which is logical fallacies.
There is a whole list of names of different fallacies, mental biases and emotional & mental manipulation techniques! And I’m going to teach you each one in short, fun segments on this podcast.
You may be wondering where the study of formal logic came from. Good question! It is mostly attributed as having been started in ancient Greece by Aristotle way back in about 335 BC, but it was also studied in ancient India & China. It was widely studied for centuries, reaching a high point in the mid-14th century, then starting to decline until the 19th century when it began to be applied to the study of mathematics.
Today, in most US & western school systems, it’s not taught at all…which is why so few people in society today can recognize it when they see it. I will be diving into a quick background of western education in the next episode!
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking the simple question: “Is that really true?”
We’d love to hear from you! Send us the fallacies you hear or find and we just may feature them on the podcast! Email them to: [email protected]. If you want to be notified when new episodes drop, go to www.filteritthroughabraincell.com and sign up to receive notifications. I’m also active on Instagram at FilterItThroughaBrainCell, so go follow the podcast there! Most of all, please share the podcast and leave us a review! This is how we can share the message of good thinking with a world that desperately needs it.
