Review: Rhetoric
• Rhetorical devices not just about language
choice.
• Rhetorical devices also include “pretend
reasoning” called…
Pseudoreasoning:
Presenting premises that sound like part of a
legitimate argument, but do not really give good
reasons to believe a conclusion.
Pseudoreasoning lead us to fallacies.
Fallacies:
Mistakes in reasoning.
Fallacies
Fooling Yourself
•#8 - Rationalizing
•#9 - Wishful Thinking
Fallacies
#8. Rationalizing
•Lying to ourselves about our real reasons for
believing or doing something.
•“My wife is going to love this battery charger I
bought her for her birthday. She can really use it!”
•“She’ll be glad I spent the night out drinking.
I’m giving her some personal space.”
Fallacies
#9. Wishful Thinking
•Thinking something is true simply because
we want it to be true.
•“Of course I believe a bank in Nigeria has
millions of dollars that I inherited from a
distant relative that I’ve never heard of or
met.”
•#10 - Special type: Denial
• “Oh, Professor, I didn’t miss THAT many
questions on my midterm.”
Fallacies
Don’
’t confuse wishful
thinking with optimism.
Wishful thinking = Believing
something simply because we
want it to be true.
(Denying reality.)
Optimism = Recognizing positive
perspectives, possibilities, and
holding positive expectations.
(Fully embracing reality.)
Optimism vs.
Wishful Thinking
Fallacies
Which one is
this?
Fallacies
Social Fallacies
•#11 - Peer Pressure
•#12 - Group Think
Fallacies
#11. Peer Pressure
•Trying to get us to do or believe something
by appealing to fear of being excluded from
the group.
•“Of course you should sniff glue bottles.
Everyone else is doing it.”
•“You should take a drink with us. Don’t you
want to be part of the in crowd?
Fallacies
Fallacies
#12. Group Think
•Trying to get us to do or believe something
by appealing to our pride of membership.
#13. Special type: Nationalism
• Appealing to our pride of membership
in a nation or state.
•“You shouldn’t eat French Fries. It’s unAmerican!”
Fallacies
Social Fallacies
Peer Pressure vs. Group Think
Peer Pressure:
• About fear of being excluded.
Group Think:
• About pride in belonging.
In real life, often both used together.
Group
• Exercise 6-1: #2, 3, 6, 8, 9
•
•
•
•
•
#2 – Wishful thinking
#3 – Argument from Pity
#6 – Argument from Pity
#8 – Peer pressure or groupthink
#9 – Argument from Envy
Fallacies
Cultural Fallacies
#14 -“
“Argument”
” from (Appeal to) Popularity
•Everybody believes it so it must be true.
#15 - “Argument”
” from Common Practice
•Everybody does it so it must be right.
#16 - “Argument”
” from Tradition
•We’ve always done it (thought about it)
that way.
Fallacies
Cultural Fallacies
If somebody justifies a belief with a
cultural fallacy, does it make the
belief wrong?
Fallacies
Being a “cultural” fallacy
doesn’t make a belief
wrong.
Just like all fallacies, it
means the argument is
neither strong nor valid.
•“Argument” from Popularity
•“Argument” from Common Practice
•“Argument” from Tradition
Fallacies
Distraction Fallacies
•#17 - Red Herring/Smoke Screen
• Red Herring
•Bringing a topic into a conversation that
distracts from the original point.
• Smoke Screen
•Same as red herring, but often used when
referring to an “argument” with
complicated or multiple distractions.
Fallacies
Red Herring
• Bringing a topic into a conversation that
distracts from the original point.
Wife: “I saw you cheating on me with your
secretary.”
Husband: “How dare you follow me!”
• Also often used to avoid answering a question.
Reporter: “How do you plan to fix the
economy?”
Politician: “My opponent has no experience
balancing a budget.”