A Show of

1
A Show of Fallacies
2

• Straw Man occurs when the author attempts to
  make a decision between opposing views very
  obvious.

• Not one of 800 sexologists at a recent
  conference raised a hand when asked if they would
  trust a thin rubber sheath to protect them during
  intercourse with a known HIV infected person. ...
  And yet they're perfectly willing to tell our
  kids that "safe sex" is within reach and that
  they can sleep around with impunity.

Straw Man

• The author attempts to draw the reader toward
  their side of the argument by making the
  sexologist sound hypocritical and therefore less
  creditable through their actions to condone
  protected sex for others but yet they would not
  subject themselves to it.

• gncurtis.home.texas.net/

3

• In attempts to prove an argument, the author may
  enact this fallacy by making the assumption that
  what they are proving is true.

Reasoning

• "How do we know that we have here in the Bible a
  right criterion of truth? We know because of the
  Bible's claims for itself. All through the
  Scripture are found frequent expressions such as
  'Thus says the Lord.' 'The Lord said,'and 'God
  spoke.' Such statements occur no less than 1,904
  times in the 39 books of the Old Testament."

Circular

• The argument under discussion above is proven
  through the assumption that the Bible is an
  unquestionable source of truth.

• Gilbert W. Kirby, "Is the Bible True?" Decision,
  Vol. 1, Jan. 1974, p. 4. Cited by S. Morris
  Engel in Analyzing Informal Fallacies,
  Prentice- Hall, 1980, p. 55.

4
PREJUDICE
Appeal to

• This is an appeal that deals with a persons
  predisposition to a certain group of people.
  Emotion is most commonly negative.

Herr God, Herr Lucifer. Beware. Beware. Out of
the Ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men
like air

• The author appeals to the prejudice of Hitler
  against all Jews and through this she rises above
  the persecution no matter her hair color.

• Sylvia Path, Literature and its Authors.

5

• Through this fallacy the reader is persuaded to
  agree with the author do to the authors pitiful
  state of being.

• Three of us had alternated between professional
  life and motherhood one of us abandoned a career
  as a chef to become a full- time mommy. We
  talked about the trade-offs we had made, the
  difficulties and compromises women must

make when they work outside the home, inside the
home, or a little (or a lot) of both
Appeal to

• The women are seeking consolation from other
  women in a similar situation, when in reality
  these are issues that women must face as a part
  of their role as working mothers.

Suzanne Fields, Anti-Natal agenda views
motherhood as the enemy, The Greenville News, May
18, 2002.
PITY
6
HASTY
G E N E R A L I Z A T I O N

• This generalization comes when there is clearly
  not significant evidence to support it.

• ... Quebec environment minister Lise Bacon
  pledged the PCBs would be moved out and broken
  down somehow within 18 months. She also said that
  PCBs couldn't be all that dangerous because her
  father had washed his hands in PCBs but lived to
  an old age.

• Her fathers not having negative effects from
  PCBs, does not provided evidence enough to
  support the idea that they are not dangerous on
  general terms.

• Merritt Clifton, "PCB Homecoming", Greenpeace,
  November/ December, 1989, p. 21. GNC

7
Authority
Appeal to

• In some cases a reference to authority is
  suitable to backup a point, but more often it is
  not as in the case that the person is joking of
  not qualified about the subject at hand.

• If Pete Sampras shills for Pizza Hut, then
  their pizza must be the best. If a champion
  athlete is possessed of certain ineffable
  qualities--grit or sportsmanship--and that
  athlete happens to speak be imbued with the
  fat-grilling equivalent of grit and
  sportsmanship.

• By appealing to a famous athlete, the product
  under discussion is raised through the athletes
  creditable qualities which are not necessarily
  true about Pizza Hut.

• Nicholas Confessore, The American Prospect,
  December 20, 1999, pp. 24-5.

8
Part for the Whole

• This fallacy deals with the aspect of
  substituting parts of an object for the entire
  thing.

• Hold the cheese! Thats the advice for pizza
  lovers from a consumer group that says just one
  slice of a meat covered pizza stuffed with cheese
  contains as much fat and calories as a McDonalds
  Quarter Pounder.

• Rather than addressing the nutrition facts of
  the entire pizza, this excerpt singles out one
  single part, the cheese, when in fact, the entire
  pizza hold similar characteristics.

• The Greenville news, The Associated Press,
  Saturday May 18, 2002.

9
Whole for the Parts

• When an assumption is through the judgment of
  an entire group rather than that of an
  individuals.

• Boys soccer team- best looking

• Rather than judging the appearance of individual
  teammates, an assumption is drawn on the team as
  a whole.

• Josh Bell and Chad Propst, The High News, May 21,
  2002.

10

• Appeal to Spite is an attempt to react with a
  persons feeling of anger or hatred towards an
  individual or a certain group of people.

• ... Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous
  decree came as a great beacon light of hope to
  millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in
  the flames of withering injustice. It came as a
  joyous daybreak to end the long night of
  captivity. But one hundred years later, we must
  face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not
  free.

• This exemplifies appeal to spite through the
  speaker inciting feelings of oppression from the
  blacks through the harm and injustice that the
  white men pushed upon the blacks over
  generations. More specifically this was spoken
  by Martin Luther King who suffered from racial
  inequality.

• http//www.mecca.org/crights/dream.html

A P P E A L T O
11
Appeal to Common Practice

• Though this fallacy, an argument is justified
  through the belief that everyone reflects on
  something as a common and accepted practice.

• "a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching
  forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same
  thoughts and shouting the same slogans,
  perpetually working, fighting, triumphing,
  persecuting - three hundred million people all
  with the same face."

• Although war is basically a normal and
  accepted practice, the novel takes it to such an
  extreme that the army almost transcends into one
  identity.

• George Orwell, 1984, Part 1, Chapter 7, pg. 77

12
Appeal to Loyalty

• This notion deals with the ability to make a
  person or group feel as if they should act in the
  best interest of the group, regardless of how the
  individual feels.

• According to other critics, the Catholic
  Churchs problem is that it is not modern and
  refuses to take marching orders from the likes of
  people such as himself. The gospel according
  to Keller and his fellow collapses is that the
  Catholic church and by implications all
  religion must conduct the ultimate makeover and
  adapt to this present age.

• The author portrays a feeling of loyalty to his
  church through his expressed opinions that the
  church should become modern to fit the new
  religious views of the day.

• Cal Thomas- Editorial, The Greenville News,
  Saturday May 18, 2002.

13
FEAR
A p p e a l t o
This appeal is very persuasive as it draws from
one of the strongest emotions. By threatening
the
safety or happiness of those that are targets,
the author drives them to his side of the
argument so that they might protect those things
that have been threatened.

• You hang by a slender thread, with the flames
  of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready
  every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder

• Through an appeal to religious faith, Edwards
  overly stresses his threats of everlasting
  damnation in attempts to frighten the audience
  into agreement with his message.

• Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an
  Angry God.

14

• Simply because the bad actions of one individual
  do provoke another bad action of another, this
  chain of wrongs is not always justified.

WRONG
WRONG

• This cartoon expresses that the Jews are at
  blame for simply responding to suicide bombings
  while both parties believed that their actions
  were justified.

• The Greenville News, Associated Press, May 20,
  2002.

15

• An argument based on silence replaces evidence
  with a space of time in which the reader hears
  nothing at all.

• And immediately he rose up before them, and
  took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his
  own house, glorifying God. (Luke 5 25-26.)

• As it is true of most passages in the Bible, all
  logical evidence is replaced by a simple presence
  of faith which must be acquired to fulfill the
  arguments made within. As it is within this
  passage, no evidence is provided that this
  actually took place, but the reader has only
  silence to lay the foundation for their belief.

Argument from
16

• This fallacy comes into effect when a person
  attempts to make a more positive argument by
  covering both sides of the issue. Although this
  can be a creditable attribute, it is not
  necessarily essential.

Equity
False

• said Gwendolyne Wright, principle of Sirrine
  Elementary in Greenville, which received a
  Palmetto Silver award despite having a below
  average report card grade.

• When the author included the negative results of
  the schools first report card, the author did
  cover both sides of the schools achievement
  levels, but this addition was unnecessary in
  regards to the argument at hand.

• Jason Zacher, The Greenville News, May 21, 2002.

17
GENERALIZATION
SWEEPING

• This generalization contains sufficient
  evidence, but the conclusion that is reached
  takes a step beyond what the evidence supports.

• Around the corner from Sundays attack, Shaul
  Navah said the Israeli operation had accomplished
  nothing significant. There isnt a day or place
  I feel safe anymore, said Mr. Navah. Calling
  Palestinians an unforgiving people, full of
  vengeance, Mr. Navah said, Ill feel safe when
  we start behaving toward them the same way they
  behave toward us.

• This exhibits a sweeping generalization through
  the authors actions of placing all Palestinians
  in a negative connotation due to actions of just
  a few. This assumption is not supported by the
  evidence given.

• http//www.nytimes.com/2002/05/20/international/m
  iddleeast/21CND-MIDE.html

18
Appeal to
Belief
COMMON

• Though this fallacy, an argument is justified
  through the belief that everyone reflects on
  something as a common and accepted practice.

• And all the reports on his conduct agree That,
  in the modern sense of an old fashioned world, he
  was a saint

• Although the man under discussion was unknown,
  it was commonly accepted that he was a good man
  through reports on his life.

• Auden, The Unknown Soldier.

19
A p p e a l t o

• This fallacy deals with the ability to pay
  compliments in hopes that the end result is a
  predisposition toward an agreement. The success
  of the fallacy depends on the compliment, the
  subject, and how closely related the compliment
  is.

VANITY

• Maybe shes born with it, maybe its Maybeline.

• By opening with a compliment the author succeeds
  in drawing in the audience and their efforts to
  create an end result is also successful as the
  latter part of the sentence draws a parallel
  compliment to their product.

• Maybeline Sales Propaganda

20
Ad Hominem

• This fallacy rejects an argument through an
  unrelated point which lowers the creditability of
  the author.

• "Instead of beating your chest over the current
  political-contribution system, why don't you
  advocate a solution? The last thing our political
  system needs is Time magazine sermonizing about
  'how the little guy gets hurt.' I'm sure there
  are a lot of 'little guys' in the magazine
  business that have been flattened by Time's fat
  feet too."

• Through ridicule of the Time magazine the
  author makes the argument of the magazine come
  off as irrelevant.

• Rob Windoffer, Chicago, Letters, Time, February
  28, 2000.
• gncurtis.home.texas.net/

21
?
L O A D E D

• This fallacy comes into effect when a question
  is worded which would provoke a contradictory to
  ones normal response no matter how the recipient
  answers the question.

• Why should merely cracking down on terrorism
  help to stop it, when that method hasnt worked
  in any other country? Why are we so hated in the
  Muslim world?

• This is a loaded question because there is no
  one answer that can result in a correct solution
  to all the questions.

• Mark Crispin Miller, Brain Drain,
  http//gncurtis.home.texas.net/

22

• An extremely positive outcome is suggested in
  hopes of distracting from the remotely associated
  evidence.

• If, under such governments, the quality of the
  rulers is high enough, then the nation may for
  generations lead a brilliant career, and add
  substantially to the sum of the world
  achievement, no matter how low the quality of the
  average citizen.

• In an address calling for higher quality
  citizens in order for a positive democracy, TR
  states that even if the quality of the citizens
  is low that maybe with a strong government,
  democracy will possibly still prevail.

• Theodore Roosevelt, History as Literature IV,
  Citizenship in a Republic, 1913.

Wishful Thinking
23

• This fallacy provides that a former or negative
  action taken could later have an effect on
  something very remotely related.

• President Bush wants to devote 300 million
  dollars for states and local communities to
  experiment with programs that encourage poor
  couples to marryand stay married.

• Through President Bushs attempts to donate
  money, indirect consequences is seen as this will
  hopefully lead to improved marriages. However,
  these added funds will not positively guarantee
  this improvement.

• Patrick Fagan, The Greenville News, May 19, 2002.

Indirect
Consequences
24
FALSE
Dilemma

• False dilemma is when two topics that are
  clearly not contrary are present as

if they were able to be looked at as
contradictory topics.

• Anyone who has actually read Murray Rothbard
  comes away thinking he did rather well in both
  fields. Compared to the boring twits in history
  and the dry-as dust technicians in economics.

• Through comparison of the former and new
  Rothbard, a dilemma is reached through the
  comparison of synonymous topics which are both
  described as boring or dry.

• http//www.spintechmag.com/0002/js0200.htm

25

• This fallacy comes into effect when the cause is
  given before the effect. Post Hoc is Latin for
  after this, therefore because of this.

• Once she beats me, I go back and work really
  hard, and then I beat her. Then She goes back
  and works really hard, and she beats me.

POST HOC

• The cause, which is their efforts to work very
  hard, then result in their success in succeeding
  over the other. This order of cause and events
  allows for the use of Post Hoc.

• Rebecca Onion, Eat Their Wakes, YM Magazine,
  June, 2002.

26
PROOF
Burden of

• This fallacy is used in favor of one certain
  argument by weighting how heavily each side of a
  dispute needs to prove. In attempts to create
  easier support for a certain point, the author
  shifts the burden of proof.

• Its not about the dress code. It has become an
  obedience issue. Students know what they are
  supposed to wear.

• Dr. Harner shifts the blame from himself to the
  student body and their decisions made about the
  dress code.

• Earnest Crosby, The Greenville News, May 18,
  2002.

27
False
Compromise

• When an argument under discretion is feebly
  fought for on opposing sides, a decision is
  reached on the issue at hand by splitting the
  difference, although the result is most likely
  incorrect.

• Studies done by two teams of researchers at the
  University of California at San Diego resulted in
  varying statistics on the rate of divorce by a
  male under the age of 45. An average taken for
  the universities final report was calculated at
  approximately 49.

• Through the Universities action to make an
  average of the two teams results, the final
  product is obviously erroneous as a compromise
  cannot be reached when there is only one correct
  answer.

• The Associated Press, The Chicago Tribune, May
  15, 2002.