Robert Altemeyer’s The Authoritarians (abbreviated as “TA” hereafter – freely downloadable from the preceding link) is a truly important work not because of the originality of the work (the original work was all published in the peer-reviewed literature over the course of several decades), but because of the accessibility it brings to such an important constellation of ideas. I had an opportunity to revisit TA recently, in the form of an audio book as I was driving some distance. So I thought I would write a few entries touching on some of those themes from Altemeyer’s book that come especially close to my own focal areas here. This time around, I want to look at issues that fall under Altemeyer’s heading (from Chapter Three of TA) “illogical thinking.” In a later entry, I’ll talk about “compartmentalization,” which can only be separated from the other topic by some significant compartmentalization of its own. But for now I want to talk about failures of formal reasoning beyond just and only those that Altemeyer discusses (especially as one very dramatic example did not come out until after Altemeyer published his book.)

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