(September 2, 2009 at 3:58 pm)Saerules Wrote: A question of interest i've had for a while now: What is a strawman argument?A strawman argument is where you refute an argument that bears no resemblance to what was argued. In other words, someone constructs an easy to refute argument and claims it is what person X says. The "strawman" analogy is that it is easier to knock down a strawman than an actual man.
Creationists do this all the time by saying that "evolution relies on chance alone" and then proceed to demonstrate (very easily) how unlikely it is that all the parts of the human body could come together in the right place at the right time. Of course, no evolutionary biologist has ever claimed this, making it a strawman argument.
