SIX - DETECTING BIAS

Summary

The detection of bias, or a slant to one side in an argument, is an important skill of critical thinking. There are definite indicators of bias, studied in this chapter, that can be detected in an argument in a given case. Most of this chapter is devoted to showing how to recognize indicators of bias present in a given case. In some cases, a mass of evidence, indicating a persistent pattern of bias in a series of arguments in a dialogue, can be overwhelming. But the problem in many cases is that it is hard to identify a bias because it is concealed in the language used. Someone who is trying to persuade an audience may use emotive language in the form of loaded terms that puts a “spin” on the argument. Such use of loaded terms in natural language can often make it look like a simple statement of fact is being made. This appearance tends to disguise the real function of the discourse, which is to put forward an argument.

People typically feel that verbal disputes are trivial and that how a term is defined is of little or no importance, compared with the job of proving a point by “hard” observational evidence collected by statistics. But problems about language and verbal disputes are often far from trivial. Biased language is a powerful tool of persuasion on important issues of public policy.