A Speculative Fiction: Part 1

A Speculative Fiction: recent thread...

Jim Nichols at A Speculative Fiction wrote:

"anecdotal evidence is the fallacy I thought about at work. It can be justified in certain cases... at least in my mind. In my response I pointed out that anecdotal evidence is a classic tactic/tool of conservatives. Just watch fox news... or listen to your local right winger... we all know them!

Here is a way I consistently use it... and I feel it is justifiable... ya'll feel free to comment on this perspective...

I generalize from personal experiences with highly successful people I've come across in my life... who are next to near incompetent in many important aspects--understanding of basic economics, political institutions, and the way one should treat their neighbors. From this I generalize that there is no reason to assume people lower down on the totem pole are any different--as a broad generalization."

The following is my understanding of anecdotal evidence as applied in philosophical discourse versus non-philosophical, ordinary conversation.

Fallacies involving inductive generalizations (including the hasty induction, fallacy of anecdotal evidence, biased sampling, confirmation bias,universal forms, statistical forms, causal generalizations) are to be avoided in serious philosophical discourse; it is acceptable in informal discourse.

Philosophy uses empirical data to answer non-empirical questions. In pursuit of knowledge it is with caution that one cites a statistic to justify one or more claims. Anecdotal evidence, as it is referenced in philosophy, occurs when a person ignores statistical evidence that could yield a reliable conclusion and instead falls for or rejects a generalization on the basis of one vividly striking story, or anecdote. Simply said, in a formal discussion (which we can have from now on when conversing on your blog, if you prefer), we must both make certain our arguments are based on a large enough sample size to not fall victim to a hasty generalization/conclusion. Again, I was trained to avoid this method of arguing when engaged in serious discourse, excluding informal discussions. When I'm "shooting the shit, or running off at the mouth" it's all in the spirit of unrestricted fun.