Radioactive Area
3YE
FLAMMABLE
LIQUID
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WARNING HAZARDOUS SUBSTENCES
FALLACIES
KEEP OUT !!!
Definition of Fallacy
• Fallacies are flaws in the way reasoning and
evidence is used in an argument.
• Sometimes people are intentionally fallacious in
order to manipulate, and sometimes they are not
aware of their fallacies.
• As critical thinkers, we must learn to recognize these
fallacies—especially in the media, in politics, with
your professors, peers, or anyone else who tries to
influence/persuade you.
Faulty logic and arguments often appear
to be correct.
• Informal Fallacies:
– Arguments that are flawed because of mistaken
assumptions in the premises, errors in language,
misuse of evidence, or violation of argument
principles.
• Formal Fallacies:
– These occur because of mistakes in the logical
structure of the argument in
terms of syllogisms.
Fallacies of Appeal
• Ad Hominem: Attacking the person instead of the argument.
• Appeal to Ignorance: Claiming an argument to be ignorant by
shifting the burden of proof. In other words, instead of providing
grounds, the person making a claim asks the opponent to prove
his/her claim is wrong.
• Appeal to Pity/Fear: Exploitation of pathos.
• Ad Populum or Bandwagon: Because the majority believes it,
than you should too.
• Reductio ad Absurdum: Extending an argument
absurd lengths.
KEEP
OUT !!!
Fallacies of Logic
•
Circular Reasoning: assumes as one of its
premises the very conclusion it sets out to
establish. The person merely keeps repeating the
claims.
•
Non Sequitur: it does not necessarily follow.
There’s no connective thinking linking the grounds
to the conclusion drawn from the claim.
•
Red Herring: diversionary tactic. Transfers
relevancy to another topic. We transfer attention
from one thing to another—deliberately misleading
the argument.
•
Straw Figure: instead of attacking the actual
argument, we create a “scarecrow,” an irrelevant
and distracting issue and we easily knock it down to
make ourselves look good and our opponent
stupid.
Other Types of Fallacies
•
The Slippery Slope: consists of making the
false assumption that taking the first step in any
direction will inevitably lead to dangerous lengths
in that direction.
•
False Dichotomy or Either/Or: giving your
opponent only 2 alternatives.
•
Post Hoc: after the event, or therefore because
of the event, the consequent happened.
•
Hasty Generalization: drawing a conclusion
about a whole group based on an inadequate
sample of the group.
•
False Analogy: because of 2 or more things are
similar in a few respects, they must be similar in
some further respect.
• Appeal to Loyalty: an action should be taken based
only on the need to be loyal to the group.
• Tu Quoque: “you too,” two wrongs make a right, or
common practice. Also claiming that because a person
can’t live up to his/her own standards, then the
standards must be wrong.
• Hourse/Horse Laugh: responding to an argument with
an expression of derision instead of a counterargument.
• False Consolation: arguing that someone is not really
harmed because things could be worse, or pointing out
what one has to be thankful for.
• Misplaced Authority: because a certain celebrity
believes it, we should too.
Class Exercise: Identifying Fallacies
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We don’t need mandatory lawn watering rules in our city because the people I know do a good job
of conserving water.
Mothers should either stay home with their kids, or we will have an increase in juvenile
delinquency.
Either you support homeless causes or consider yourself a very prejudicial, uncompassionate
person.
What’s the big deal? I watch porno movies all the time and I’m not a rapist.
Man, what a witch! She must be having a bad PMS day. She doesn’t know anything about
running the company.
The real problem is not Bill Clinton’s lies, it’s Ken Starr’s witch hunt.
The Tea Partiers are terrorists.
You can’t expect insight and credibility from the recent book The Feminist Challenge because its
author, David Bouchier, is a man.
A group of self-appointed “life-style police” are pushing to control our daily lives. If they succeed,
we lose our basic right to free choice. Today they’re targeting smoking. What’s next? Red meat?
Coffee? If 50 million smokers can lose their rights anyone can.
Religious people are irrational.
Dr. Smith told me I was overweight. If he’s such an expert, why is he fat?
Anyone who cares about this country will vote Democrat in the elections.
Opponents of President Obama are racists.
Why should we listen to a bunch of drugged-out wackos? What do they know about welfare?
Immigration is one the rise, therefore crime will also rise.
If we legalize marijuana, then all drugs will eventually become legalized.
Thousands of people are killed in car crashes, yet we continue to license drivers. Few people
have been killed in nuclear accidents in this country, yet nuclear power plants are banned in many
parts of the U.S.