About the Author: Gary N. Curtis
I have a doctorate in philosophy from Indiana University in Bloomington (IUB), where I majored in logic. My dissertation concerned the concept of logical form, and touched on the subject of formal fallacies. I have taught philosophy and logic at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at IUB, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI)1, and Indiana State University (ISU). For five years, I worked as a knowledge engineer for the artificial intelligence company Cycorp, in Austin, Texas. More recently, I've done consulting work for an online critical thinking textbook, a television show that never aired, and an online course in basic logic2.
My pronouns are "who?" and "hey, you!"
Notes:
About the Photograph: This is a fake photograph of me. I don't own a coat that looks like that, though I wish I did. I also don't know where that street is supposed to be―wherever it is, I've never been there―and I'm not sure it's a real place. The fake picture was created using Nano Banana 2 from a lousy selfie taken from a phone. I included this photo mainly to illustrate the fact that it's getting to be fast, cheap, and easy to create fake photos that are hard to tell from real ones. Also, I like the picture and just wish it were real. So, beware when you see photographs used as propaganda: they may be fake.
- ↑ Known affectionately as "Ooey-Pooey", sadly it no longer exists. Indiana University and Purdue University―which both do continue to exist―parted ways, and what used to be IUPUI is now part of IU's Indianapolis campus. See: We Have Entered a Bold New Era, Indiana University Indianapolis, accessed: 8/26/2026.
- ↑ Logic Basics, Highbrow.
E-Mail Policy: Comments and suggestions are welcome as long as they are civil and respectful. I am particularly interested in real-life examples of fallacious arguments drawn from the media, and will consider for inclusion fallacies that are not yet listed in the files. If you know of any external resources that these files should link to, please let me know of them. All suggestions or submissions that I use will be duly acknowledged. I will assume that all e-mail is intended for publication, unless notified to the contrary. If you wish to have your name withheld, please inform me to that effect in the e-mail.
Related Other Writings
- "Review of The Concept of Logical Consequence", Noûs, 3/1994. A fairly technical review of a fairly technical book.
- "Please Stop Begging That Question You're Raising", The Editorial Eye, 2/2007. Not available online, unfortunately.
- "Review of Douglas Walton's Media Argumentation", Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 5/8/2008
- "Review of Emotive Language in Argumentation", Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 7/31/2014
- "Review of The Philosophy of Argument and Audience Reception", Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 9/5/2015
- "Review of Scrutinizing Argumentation in Practice", Cogency, Vol. 8, No. 1 (111-121), Winter 2016 (PDF)
Revised: 8/28/2022, 4/22/2023, 1/2/2024, 8/26/2026