When I began teaching in 1994 I'd begin each semester by discussing argumentation, what makes an argument valid, and what made it invalid. Special attention was paid to arguments that were fallacies. Since the bulk of political statements tend to contain various fallacies, it is probably wise to resume discussing these in class. My current students might also find them useful when trying to critically evaluate the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers.
I'll bring these up when appropriate, but here are some websites which discuss these further.
- The Nizkor Project.
- The Fallacy Files.
- Logical Fallacies and the Art of Debate.
- Fallacies - From UNC.
