Appeal to emotion: when a feeling replaces the evidence
A community hall needs new heating. Someone says, ‘If you care about this place, you will choose the most expensive heater.’
Caring about the hall tells us why warmth matters. It does not tell us which heater will work best.
What does it mean?
An appeal to emotion is a mistake in reasoning when a feeling takes the place of evidence for a claim.
Fear, pride, pity or affection can all be used this way. The key question is whether the feeling proves the point being made.
An everyday example
An advert shows a happy family beside a storage box. It says caring families choose that box.
The picture may make you feel good. It does not show whether the box is strong, the right size or good value.
Care explains why the choice matters. Evidence helps us choose how to meet the need.
Try it yourself
Separate these two points: ‘We want the hall to feel welcoming’ and ‘This heater is the best choice.’
What would help you judge the heater? Think about the size of the room, how well it heats and how much it costs to run.
Think it through
The first point is about what people value. The second needs facts about the heater and the hall.
You can care about the people using the room and still ask careful questions about which option will help them.
One important point
Feelings are not mistakes. A moving story may help us understand why a problem matters. Concern for others is valuable.
The problem starts when a feeling is asked to prove something it cannot. A calm speaker can also make a poor argument, so judge the reasons, not just the tone.
A question to keep
What do we care about, and what evidence helps us act on it?
How could this work in a game?
A future Thinky round could ask which statements express a value and which give evidence about a claim.
A future Willowwind hall quest could involve listening to people's memories, then checking which repairs would keep the building useful.
These are ideas for future activities. They are not features you can play now.
Thinky's current free beta is a proof of concept: an early test of the idea. It covers one topic, survivorship bias. That means missing part of the picture by looking only at the examples that made it through.
Willowwind Island is a future 2D adventure concept. It would offer longer stories, exploration and choices. Thinky is being explored as a set of short, brain-training-style challenges.
Project Empathy comes first. Afterwards, we plan to seek help from professional game developers. There is no launch date yet.
Follow the games as they develop
Visit our games page to try the current Thinky prototype. You can also sign up there for occasional project news, testing and launch updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Sources and further reading
This series was inspired by the School of Thought topic guides. The examples, game ideas and illustrations here are our own.
