Fallacies
RHET 102
Fall 2011
What is a Fallacy
 A False Appeal
 In Rhetoric the term fallacy is used to describe the *misuse*
of an otherwise common and legitimate form of appeal.
False Appeals to Authority
 Citing an authority who represents a minority
viewpoint without saying so.
 For example, a scientist who works for the Center for
Disease Control who has a theory about how to prevent the
spread of the flu, but whose research is not conclusive and
whose theory is not supported by most scientists should not
be cited without revealing this qualifying information.
False Appeals to Authority
 The Wrong Kind of Expertise: Citing someone who is a
respectable expert but not in the area for which you are
citing his opinion.
 Example: J.K Rowling is a very successful and well known
author of a popular series of books about Harry Potter.
Rowling says that Iran should be prevented from doing
research on the development of nuclear power plants because
they could be secretly working on developing weapons.
False Appeals to Authority
 Bias:
 John McDonald, president of the Association of Dairy
Farmers and owner of McDonald’s Dairy the largest supplier
of milk in the U. S. says that everyone should drink 6 glasses
of milk each day to ensure good health.
Appeals to Anonymous Authority
 “Experts agree that…”
 “Scientists say
 Use of these generalities without ever identifying any real
experts, scientists and without offering real examples of their
perspectives is not sufficient, and constitutes a fallacy.
False/Inaccurate Appeals to facts
 Facts can be very useful in supporting an argument, but they
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can also be misused.
Sometimes things are reported inaccurately or incorrectly.
Even when gathering information from newspapers or other
usually reliable sources, it is a good idea to double check
some kinds of information.
For example: One newspaper might report that there were
about 2,000 people at a protest, another might say there
were approximately 800.
Another might say there were “hundreds.”
False/Inaccurate Appeals to facts
 Reporting as “fact” something that seems to you to be true.
 For example: Because of globalization, women in Cairo are
dressing in less traditional dress and wearing much more
revealing clothing now than they were in the previous
century.
 Everyone has a cell phone “nowadays.”
Undermining with personal attack
 Sometimes rather than engage with a person’s real argument,
personal attack is used to distract from the real issues.
 For example: opponents tried to discredit Obama by saying
that he was not born in the US or that he was a Muslim—
appealing to people’s uniformed fears.
Appealing to Common Opinion
 This type of fallacies plays off of ideas that circulate in the
culture but which reduce complicated issues to simple
truisms.
 For example: “Everyone knows that AIDS is spread by
promiscuous homosexual activity.”
 This ignores the fact that AIDS is spread in a variety of ways:
drug-users sharing needles, babies born to infected mothers,
heterosexual sex, non-promiscuous sex, blood transfusions
Cause and effect fallacies
 These fallacies suggest such a relationship where none is
provable.
 Ahmed plays video games every day. Now Ahmed needs
glasses. Playing video games damaged Ahmed’s eyesight.
Generalizations
 This is the fallacy of the small sample or the stereotype .
 Mariam and Sara’s philosophy classes are both really hard, so
all philosophy classes at AUC must be really hard.
 Everyone I know uses BBM, therefore all college students
must use BBM.
Circular reasoning
 Supporting your opinion by restating it in other words:
 Facebook is really popular, because people like it a lot.
Fallacy fun
 Working in groups, choose four fallacies and try to come up
with interesting examples that refer to digital culture.
Emotional Flashpoints
 Scare tactics play on people’s irrational fears
 For example: opponents tried to discredit Obama by saying that
he was not born in the US or that he was a Muslim—appealing
to people’s uniformed fears
 False dichotomies or either-or choices:
 “Either your with us or your against us.”
 Slippery slope—this seemingly minor thing it will inevitably
lead to this much more serious thing.
 If your daughter wears those clothes, surely she will wind up
pregnant and unmarried.
The Straw Man
 Restating the argument that you are arguing against in terms
that make it unreasonably weak and fallible
 Evolutionists claim that evolution is all based on chance…
 Intelligent design advocates claim that life was created by a
guy with a beard who lives in the sky…