Actually, Logic Is Super Important

We need insufferable nerds to help strengthen our arguments, as a “Scientific American” article shows

Sometimes I worry that my work comes across as nitpicky. I do spend a lot of time criticizing pieces of writing for not defining their terms clearly, for making unwarranted logical leaps, and so on. It’s trendy, in progressive spaces, to bash this approach. The ideas of logic and argument and debate are seen as, at best, the province of insufferable nerds, and at worst, as the tool of the oppressor. 

But of course logic and argument and debate are actually quite important. Ben Burgis published what I think is the definitive argument as to why in Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left.

One of the reasons is obvious: ill-formulated arguments can lead people to believe wrong things, which can in turn have negative consequences. 

For example: recently Scientific American, last seen here failing to achieve basic levels of editorial quality control, ran a provocative article headlined “A New Therapy for Multiple Personality Disorder Helps a Woman with 12 Selves.”