THE FALLACIES OF
RHETORIC
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
WHAT ARE THE “HOLES” IN THIS
ARGUMENT?
WHAT ARE THE “HOLES” IN THIS
ARGUMENT?
WHAT IS A FALLACY?
• Fallacy: an incorrect
argument in logic and
rhetoric resulting in a lack
validity, or more generally,
a lack of soundness
• In other words, a fallacy is
a strategy that someone
uses in a piece of rhetoric
to persuade the listener or
reader, masking him or
her from the real truth
• We are going to be
learning about 26 fallacies
APPEALS OF PREJUDICE OR
STEREOTYPES
• Judging someone’s credibility by race, religion, sex
or other categorization rather than by the facts
• Example:
APPEALS FOR SYMPATHY
• Using sympathy instead of facts to back a
statement
• Example:
APPEALS OF TRADITION AND CUSTOM
• Justifying arguments with traditional and customary
excuses rather than facts
• Example:
TESTIMONIAL
• Opinion of a well known person or subject when he
or she has no expertise to talk about it
• Example:
BANDWAGON
• Everyone else is doing something, so should you!
• Example:
APPEALS TO APPEARANCE (SEX
APPEAL)
• Use vanity and good-looking people to persuade
others
• Example:
CARD STACKING
• Presenting only one side of an issue; one point of
view in favor of or against
• Example:
DEDUCTION
• Generalizing the whole to specific parts
• Example:
CHECK POINT!
• On your sheet, there are eight ads.
• Work with the people around you to match the ads
up with the appropriate fallacy!
EQUIVOCATION
• Using two dissimilar situations and comparing them
as the same to persuade
• Example:
EXIGENCY
• Tries to convince that there is a good reason to do
something in a short amount of time.
Consequences will result if too much time is taken.
• Example:
FLAG WAVING
• Stars and stripes or you are not patriotic
• Example:
FREE BARGAIN
• A technique of making someone believe they are
getting something for nothing
• Example:
GLITTERING GENERALITY
• A word or phrase used to draw a positive response
but to give no information
• Example:
CHERRY-PICKING
• pointing to individual cases or data that seem to
confirm a particular position, while ignoring a
significant portion of related cases or data that may
contradict that position
• Example:
APPEAL TO NOVELTY
• The idea that newer is always better
• Opposite of the appeals to tradition fallacy
• Example:
INNUENDO
• Hints indirectly that wrongdoing is present without
proof
• Example: When Regina George calls a guy’s
girlfriend’s mother pretending to be Planned
Parenthood with test results. This implies that the
woman’s daughter is pregnant.
https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=_K4L9K8oUZ8
CHECK POINT!
• You will be divided into groups
• Each group will be given a situation described on a
slip of paper.
• Your group must figure out which fallacy this
situation belongs to.
OF COURSE GLOBAL WARMING
DOESN’T EXIST! THERE WAS THIS ONE
STUDY DONE IN THIS OBSCURE
JOURNAL THAT PROVES IT NOT TO BE
TRUE. IGNORE THE THOUSANDS OF
OTHER ARTICLES THAT PROVE
OTHERWISE.
CHEVY CONSTANTLY ADVERTISES THE
FACT THAT THEY ARE AMERICAN AND
THEREFORE ARE SUPERIOR TO THE
EUROPEAN CAR COMPANIES; IF YOU
DON’T BY THEIR PRODUCT, YOU
AREN’T PATRIOTIC.
AN AD THAT PLACES A BOTTLE OF
COKE STRATEGICALLY AROUND A
BUNCH OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
THE ICE CREAM PLACE DOWN THE
STREET OFFERS COMPLIMENTARY ICE
CREAM CONES! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO
IS FILL OUT THEIR 20-MINUTE SURVEY
AND IT’S ALL YOURS!
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY MAKES
THE EXECUTIVE DECISION TO MAKE A
POSTER WITH ONE OF THE PLANES
FROM THE AIRLINE THEY ARE
ADVERTISING ACCOMPANIED BY ONE
WORD: RELAXATION.
A SALESWOMAN CONVINCES A
CUSTOMER TO BUY THE PAIR OF SHOES
THAT VERY SECOND, AS THEY ARE
SELLING OUT FAST AND WILL
PROBABLY NOT BE THERE IN THE NEXT
TWENTY MINUTES.
THE LAWYER ASKS THE WITNESS IF HE
HAD HAD A DRINK IN THE LAST
TWENTY FOUR HOURS TO IMPLY THAT
THE WITNESS IS AN ALCOHOLIC AND,
THEREFORE, NOT TRUSTWORTHY.
THE RESTAURANT TRIES TO GET MORE
CUSTOMERS BY ADVERTISING THAT
THEY ARE UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
THEY ALSO GIVE THEIR RESTAURANT A
BRAND NEW NAME, EVEN THOUGH
THEY SERVE THE SAME FOOD.
JUST PLAIN FOLKS
• To use blue collar and middle class values rather
than the facts
• Example:
NAME-CALLING
• Labeling someone or something good or bad
without sufficient evidence
• Example:
RED HERRING
• a speaker attempts to distract an audience by
deviating from the topic at hand by introducing a
separate argument the speaker believes is easier to
speak to
• Example:
OVERSIMPLIFICATION
• Easier said than done
• Example:
POST HOC ERGO PROPTER HOC
• After this, therefore, because of this
• Example:
REPETITION
• Repeating statements to persuade
• Example:
SUBSTITUTION OF PRESTIGE
• Avoiding facts by thinking well of something
because of clout or status
• Example:
SUBSTITUTION OF RIDICULE OR
HUMOR
• Not using facts but making a joke or derogatory
comment to discredit
• Example:
SLIPPERY SLOPE
• The idea that if you allow X to happen, then Y will
happen, and eventually Z will happen
• Example:
VALUE CHARGED APPEALS
• Use of highly charged emotional words to persuade
• Example:
CHECK POINT!
• Get in groups
• Each group will be assigned a fallacy
• Your group must work to come up with a situation or
type of ad/ argument that is an example of this
fallacy
• One you think of one, place it on an index card with
your name on it
• We will go through each and try and work together
to guess which fallacy they represent!