Name
Appeal to Physical Force
Definition
Examples
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Appeal to Psychological Force
Use the threat of physical harm
to make your opponent concede
to your position.
This threat can be either against
their person or their property.
Use the threat of psychological
damage to your opponent to get
them to concede to your position
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Name Calling
•Here you specifically attack the
person under question by calling him
or her a name
Agree with me or I will punch
you in the nose. Now don’t you
see why you should agree with
me?
Mrs.Lodato, I think that I should
receive an ‘A’ in this class. I
know you will agree. By the
way, I know where you live.
If you do not support your local
charity you will burn in hell.
Therefore, you should support it.
Mrs. Lodato, I think I should
receive an ‘A’ in this course. I
know you will agree. By the way,
my father is on the Board of
Directors of this college, and he
does everything I tell him to do.
•You should not vote for Al Gore
because he is a ‘liberal’ and will be
after your wallet.
•You can’t trust Joe because he has
shifty eyes
•Why should we believe you?
You
have a beard, you smoke cigarettes,
and you do not have a job.
Appeal to Pity
•Here you appeal to your
opponent’s sympathy to make them
concede to your position.
•That is, you attempt to make your
opponent believe that you will be
miserable unless they concede to
your position.
Appeal to Vanity
•
Here someone tells you that if
you use a certain product or
accept a certain point, you will be
admired and sought after like a
celebrity who is said to use the
product.
•Student to teacher:
You should let
me take the exam over, because if I
do not pass this course, my mother
will never forgive herself, my father
will not speak to me, and even the
dog will hate me.
•Lawyer to jury:
Please let my
client go. Sure he committed the
murders, but it wasn’t his fault. He
had a bad childhood. His mother
left him when he was 18 and
someone stole his puppy when he
was 19.
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Liz Taylor uses Passion perfume,
and young, naked men are after
her. If you use Passion, young
and naked men will be after you.
Michael Jordan wears Nikke
basketball shoes. If you wear
them, you will play like
Michael!!!!
Bandwagon
•Here you argue that since everyone •
is doing something, your opponent
should do it too, otherwise he or she
will be left out and not fit in with the
crowd.
Appeal to Tradition
This fallacy is committed when it is
argued that because something was
done a certain way in the past it
should continue to be done that way.
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Misplaced Authority
•
This fallacy is committed when
testimony from an authority is
used as evidence in an argument,
but the authority quoted is not an
authority in the field under
discussion.
Everyone enjoys smoking Whiz,
so you should too
Don’t be left out in the cold.
Come on in and have a
Schlitz!!!!
Women should not work outside
the home. My mother did not
work, my grandma did not work,
and neither will you.
What do you mean I need to
change my History text? I have
been using this text for the past
50 years and I will continue to
use it. Who cares if it is out of
print?
•Wear Leggs pantyhose.
Joe
Namath says they are comfortable
•Psychologist to jury:
The
defendant does not suffer from
schizophrenia. I ought to know, I
have a Masters degree in Grief
Therapy.
•Our foreign policy needs revision.
Just look at the experts who support
my view: Miss Piggy, fifteen logic
professors, and five taxi cab drivers.
Hasty Generalization
•This fallacy is committed when the •
reasoner ‘rushes to judgment’ or a
conclusion based on too little
evidence.
•
Tu Quoque
The first two apples I took out of
that barrel had holes in them, so
probably all of the apples in that
barrel have holes in them.
He must be poor. He has a beard
and is wearing dirty clothes. We
should give him some money.
•This fallacy is committed when a
•Son to father: Sure I smoke dope
speaker, trying to show that he is not
at fault, argues that his opponent has
said or done things just as bad as he,
the speaker, has been accused of.
dad, but you drink and that is just as
bad.
•Daughter of mother:
I should be
allowed to date at age 12. You got
married when you were 16.
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Politician: Sure I have made
mistakes, but candidate X has
admitted to committing adultery.
Black/White
Begging the Question
•This fallacy is committed when you
argue that since you opponent
doesn’t agree with your position,
then he must agree with the extreme
of your position. You try to make
you opponent or audience think that
there are only two choices (yours
and the extreme), when in fact there
are many.
•
This fallacy occurs when the arguer
presents evidence for the conclusion
as true, but the evidence presented is
either an opinion or the arguer offers
no proof that the evidence is in fact
true
•To be a good president, it is
•
So you don’t think that prisoners
should be allowed to watch
cable. Well, you would have
them all in isolation, and eating
nothing but bread and water.
You don’t believe in buying
diamonds for Valentine’s Day?
Well, you must think that all
women are just here to serve and
slave for you.
necessary to have at least 30 years of
political experience. Jesse Jackson
has not had that much political
experience, so he would not make a
good president.
•To be a good student, you must
study at least four hours per night,
per subject. Harry works all night
and does not have time to study that
long. He will fail.
Slippery Slope
•Here it is argued that if one event is •Mother to daughter (who is on a
allowed to occur, then a whole
series of consequences will also
occur. Or if you accept one point,
then you must accept a series of
other points. The consequences may
be either good or bad.
diet): “If you eat that donut, then
you will eat the whole box, and then
you will gain back all of your
weight, and then you will have to
buy all new clothes and and a new
car, and you will never get married.
•Mother to daughter:
If you lose
weight, you will become a beauty
queen, and then a movie star, etc.