Dr. Jason Lisle - Discerning Truth: Exposing Errors in Evolutionary Arguments

First printing: July 2010

Copyright 2010 by Jason Lisle. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write:

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Contents

Appendix: Alternate Names of Fallacies Including
Latin Names (in Italics)

Preface

In my previous book, The Ultimate Proof of Creation , I included two chapters that gave brief summaries of the nature of logic and examples of common logical fallacies as they occur in debates on origins. Initially, I was somewhat reluctant to include these chapters because I was concerned that they might read a bit like stale dictionary entries and possibly break the flow of thought that permeated the rest of the book. But ultimately, I decided that knowledge of logical fallacies is simply too important to be left out of a book on defending the Christian faith. Shortly after the book was published, I was astounded at the number of people who wrote to me or told me in person how much they appreciated the book how it had changed their entire approach to apologetics (defending the faith) and had given them a new boldness to share their faith. In particular, I was surprised by the number of people who told me how much they appreciated the chapters on logic.

Encouraged by this initial feedback, as well as positive responses from talks I had given on logical fallacies and evolution, I decided that a more thorough treatment of the subject was in order. But I didnt want to write just another textbook on logic; there are plenty of those in print already. Nor did I want to simply repeat the short summaries that I had already written for The Ultimate Proof . Rather, I wanted to produce a resource on logic in apologetics, written in a way that is engaging and memorable, perhaps using anecdotes from my own experiences in apologetics. Moreover, I wanted to spend a considerable amount of space on each fallacy (at least for the more common ones), so that the reader thoroughly understands each example before moving on to the next.

This led me to write a short series of articles on logical fallacies that we posted on the Answers in Genesis website (answersingenesis.org). Each article addresses one fallacy (or perhaps two at most). This format allows the reader to absorb the information in a very readable and (hopefully) entertaining way, with illustrations and examples from my own experiences. The series concentrated on fallacies that are commonly committed by evolutionists as they attempt to defend their position. I am convinced that evolution is without any intellectual merit whatsoever, and that all arguments for evolution are either logically fallacious, or based on a false premise. So I was curious to see how the evolutionists would respond to the web series since it revealed the fallacious nature of some of their most cherished arguments.

And respond they did! Internet blogs and forums exploded with angry evolutionists attempting to rebut, ridicule, or simply dismiss the fallacy series. Ironically, most of their responses contained the very fallacies that had already been refuted in the series. Such responses indicate that we have struck a nerve. After all, without logical fallacies, how would evolutionists defend their position? But dont take my word for it. In chapter 14 of this book, we have numerous examples of fallacies directly from evolutionary literature, along with references that you may check for yourself.

This book is based on that web series. However, I have added additional material in a number of places. First of all, I have added five brand-new chapters. I have also made minor changes and additions to the previously published chapters, which I believe will close most of the loopholes, and clarify some ambiguity that may have appeared in the web versions. Since the web series included only the most common fallacies, I have added a new chapter to this book that covers almost all the other fallacies that occur in origins debates. Since these are less common, I felt that they warranted less space, and so only a brief description and example for each is given.

The most exciting new additions to this book (in my view at least) are chapters 1215. Chapter 12 includes assorted examples of fallacies from all the types included in this book. This allows the reader to test his or her fallacy-detection skills. An answer key is provided in chapter 13. Chapter 14 has another list of assorted examples of evolutionist fallacies quoted directly from evolutionist literature along with references. Since these are real world examples, they may be more difficult to classify than the hypothetical, chemically pure examples provided in chapter 12. An answer key is also provided in chapter 15, which includes an explanation of why each fallacy is classified as such. Sometimes fallacies are called by their Latin name, or have an alternative English name. Therefore, I have included appendix A, which gives alternate names used for logical fallacies.

This book is not meant to be a replacement for a textbook on logic. Many fine textbooks (such as Copi and Cohens Introduction to Logic ) are available. Rather, this book is designed to supplement other such material. It focuses almost exclusively on how to spot and refute fallacies that occur in evolutionists arguments. This is an important aspect of apologetics. But it is not the only aspect. Defending the faith requires knowledge of the faith and how to critique alternative worldviews. Books such as The Ultimate Proof of Creation and The New Answers Book series are designed to give a more encompassing picture of how to defend the Christian faith, particularly in Genesis. However, I am convinced that knowing logic and learning to spot logical fallacies in order to defend the faith better is one of the most valuable time investments that a person can make.

Introduction

Whenever I hear people debating some issue (abortion, gun control, origins, religion, politics, etc.), I often spot a number of mistakes in their arguments. Mistakes in reasoning are called logical fallacies, and they abound in origins debates. I have often thought it would be fun to carry a little buzzer that I could push when someone makes a fundamental mistake in reasoning. Of course, that would be impolite. However, we should all become familiar with logical fallacies so that our mental buzzer goes off whenever we hear a mistake in reasoning.

Logic (the study of correct and incorrect reasoning) has become a lost skill in our culture. And that is a shame. It is a very valuable tool, particularly for the Christian who wants to defend his or her faith better. Evolutionists often commit logical fallacies, and it is important that creationists learn to identify and refute such faulty reasoning. Sadly, I often see creationists committing logical fallacies as well. There is hardly anything more embarrassing than someone who advocates your position, but does so using bad reasoning!