Getting Our Minds Out of the Gutter: Fallacies that Foul Our Discourse (and Virtues that Clean it Up)

Abstract

We humans aren’t very nice to each other — especially when we discuss controversial topics. We speak too quickly and too loudly. We don’t listen. We’re unfair. We put our own views in the best light, and our dissenters’ views in the worst. These tendencies are extremely common, and they transcend economic, religious, and political boundaries. If you doubt this, ask yourself whether the people on “the other side” of your favorite controversial issue are always reasonable and fair-minded. You may well think they aren’t. Perhaps they are the ones ruining the discussion. But of course they probably think similar thoughts about the people on your side. This suggests that most of us think that humans treat each other poorly when we discuss controversial issues. Those most familiar with our public discourse share this impression. In a recent article on the state of political discourse, New York Times writer Andrew Rosenthal quips, “There’s lots of evidence that the national conversation is near the ocean floor.”¹