What is the Straw Man Fallacy?
Learn what it is and why it matters…
A fallacy generally refers to the results of some illogical reasoning. The straw man fallacy has to be one of the best named of all the fallacies! You’ll want to learn this mental model so you can listen out for it… 👂
What is The Straw Man Fallacy?
The straw man fallacy occurs over a few stages:
- Person one states their argument.
- Person two takes that argument and then offers a different or distorted version (or “straw man”) of it.
- Person two then proceeds to tear down that new version of the argument.
- Person two claims victory!
As you can see, the straw man argument is constructed (sometimes intentionally) in order to give the appearance of having actually refuted the original argument. However a straw man argument is illogical because it doesn’t actually address the original argument — instead it addresses some kind of misrepresented or exaggerated version. Being on the receiving end can be highly frustrating!
This simple example from Scotty Hendricks makes me chuckle:
Person one: “I think people should eat fewer fatty hamburgers.”
Person two: “You don’t…
