In an era of “post-truth” and “truthiness,” it can be hard to defend the common-sense belief that reality exists independently of how people think about it. Skepticism about reality comes in many ...

Yuri Arcurs peopleimages.com / Getty Images/iStockphoto When I was in college, I remember naively signing up for a course called “Introduction to Logic.” It turned out to be one of the greatest ...

When I was young, I was transfixed by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! As I viewed and reviewed the drawings that appeared in the newspaper, I learned about a great many jaw-dropping oddities. But of all ...

During an intellectual battle, one's true colours are tested. The side losing ground, as a last resort to assert tenacity, turns argumentation into sophistry. Objectivity becomes the worst casualty ...

Logic and negotiations, for example, often do not go together. While many people might proclaim they are being rational, the complications are multiple opinions about what is true and convictions ...

So goes a fallacious argument from ignorance. The fallacy can occasionally be massaged slightly into a much more palatable and seemingly wise saying: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." ...

Ever since she splashed into view I have wondered about Greta Thunberg’s reasoning. Her quoted statements, blasting the world for not doing the impossible, have given no clue where she is coming from.

MY friend Scholasticus was in a bad way. He had been educated before the elective system came in, and he had a pathetic veneration for the old curriculum. It was to him the sacred ark; now, alas, ...