FALLACIES OF
PRESUMPTION
Bianca Clark helped with this one….it gets weird…(or cool, but only if you
are Bianca)
Sweeping Generalization
•
Yeah I said that…..
Applying a fair generalization, one usually true, to an exceptional case by ignoring
the peculiarities of the case.
Examples:
“Since horseback riding is healthful exercise, Harry Brown ought to do more of it
because it will be good for his heart condition.”
“The golden rule would have me help my neighbor. I should help them with Grapes
of Wrath during Mr. Stearns’ class.”
Sweeping generalization differs from the fallacy of division . FOD involves the
relations of physical groups or wholes to their physical parts or members. SG
involves the misapplication of abstract rules, principles, or generalizations to cases
properly falling under them.
Hasty Generalization
Yeah…I said that too…and I
think I am Daenerys. I have a
dagron.
•
Using insufficient evidence or an isolated example as the basis for a widely general
conclusion.
•
Examples:
“My ex-boyfriend was mean. He taught me that all men are jerks.”
“I tried crush and hated it! All soda must be awful!”
“I got in trouble for helping someone with English in Mr. Stearns’ class. I will never help
anyone again.”
HG differs from FOC the same way SG differs from FOD.
Rather than applying a generalization correctly, one makes an incorrect generalization.
Bifurication or False Dilemma
This is a tough dilemma.
•
Considering a distinction or classification exclusive and exhaustive when other
alternatives exist.
•
Examples:
“ You are either for me or against me!”
“If you know about BMW, you either own one or you want one.”
What feeds this tendency to divide the world and the things in it in this way is the
existence in our own vocabulary of numerous popular bipolar terms. We forget that
these terms represent poles on a spectrum.
Examples From Leaders of the Free
World!
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSLeb9sxxu8
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgLrMHm32j4
Being Federici and Bianca is NOT a false
dilemma….future leaders of the world….
Begging the Question
•
(1) Offering, as a premise, a simple restatement of the desired conclusion (A
because of B, Where B is the same as A).
•
Example: “Miracles are impossible (A) because they cannot happen(B).”
•
(2) A circular argument, more complex than (1) but eventually justifying the
conclusion with itself (A because of B, Where B is dependent on A).
•
Example: “We know God exists (A) because the Bible says so (B) and the Bible is
the word of God (A).
•
(3) Subsuming a suspect particular under a generalization that is even more
problematic (A because of B, Where Be is even more suspect than A).
•
Example: “Clearly he’s an atheist (A); he’s a philosopher (B)
Question Begging Epithets
•
Using strongly emotional language to force home an otherwise unsupported
conclusion.
•
Examples:
“The scheming, bigoted efforts of the Board of Education have finally come to
fruition.”
“This criminal is charged with the most vicious crime known to humanity.”
An epithet is a descriptive label or tag that we attach to a person, thing, or idea,
often in an effort to condemn it.
Fallacy of Complex Question
•
Interrogative form of question begging (the question brings an assumption with it
that needs to be questioned).
•
Examples:
“Why is it women are more interested in religion than men are?”
“How long have you been beating your wife?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWO-DU2O6R8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6PUqBphE9o
How long have
you been
keeping up with
the
Kardashians?
Special Pleading
Bianca says memes are so 2012 and does
not approve.
•
Applying a double standard that is exemplified in the choice of words.
•
Examples:
“Horses sweat, men perspire, women glow.”
“The ruthless tactics of the enemy, his fanatical, suicidal attacks, have been foiled by
the stern measures of our commanders and the devoted self-sacrifice of our troops.”
When we engage in special pleading, we favor ourselves and are prejudiced against
others. We use double standards by applying different words to the same thing.
False Analogy
Bianca does however approve of
Putin…she describes him as “adorable”,
“like a baby deer”, and “cute”……..
•
Reaching a conclusion by likening or comparing two significantly incomparable cases.
(Typically the two cases used will be similar but not in the respect that would warrant the
conclusion in question.)
•
Examples:
“How can you tell your children not to take money from others when the government they
live under does it all the time?”
Medical Student: "No one objects to a physician looking up a difficult case in medical books.
Why, then, shouldn't students taking a difficult examination be permitted to use their
textbooks?“
When we reason by analogy, we compare something that is obscure or difficult to something
else that is known and understood. This is an acceptable way of arguing so long as the two
things being compared are similar in important respects and differ only in minor ways.
However, if it be the other way around (they are alike only in trifling ways and different in
significant ways) then the analogy doesn’t hold, and we have a case of false or imperfect
analogy.
False Cause Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
•
Inferring a causal link between two events when no such causal connection has
been established. (Sequence alone is no proof of consequence.) When Abby laughed the
panda smiled, therefore
• Examples:
Abby’s smile laugh made it
smile.
“Have you noticed how sales went up after we instituted our new advertising
campaign? Our success is obvious.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5xrr4RyqaE
“25 years after graduation, Harvard alumni have an average income 5 times higher
than people of the same age who have no college education. If a person wants to be
wealthy, he or she should enroll at Harvard.”
Slippery Slope
•
Assuming, unjustifiably, that a proposed step will set off an undesirable and
uncontrollable chain of events.
•
Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mojsXDN_U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Dc1ZBJB3U
“If Texas adopts a personal income tax, I'm moving away. An income tax at the state
level is just a first step to communism.”
Irrelevant Thesis
•
Seeking, perhaps succeeding, to prove a conclusion not at issue.
•
Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPXUR0rz_A
“I fail to see how hunting should be considered cruel when it gives tremendous
pleasure to many people and employment to even more.”