Lesson Six: Fallacies

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Lesson 6

• Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?

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Review

• Sought to gain a clear understanding of a
  communicators reasoning by
• Locating the issue and argument.
• Clarifying any ambiguous terms or phrases.
• Identifying the authors assumptions (value and
  descriptive).
• The object of critical reading and listening is
  to judge the acceptability or worth of an
  argument.
• We now move on to evaluating the communicators
  reasoning (see flowchart pg. 76).
• Fallacies.

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What is a Fallacy?

• A faulty argument that at first appears to be
  correct.
• A trick an author/speaker might use while trying
  to convince you to accept their faulty
  conclusion.
• WARNING!
• Dont develop an I gotcha attitude!
• The purpose of identifying fallacies is to help
  all parties sort out stronger arguments from
  weaker arguments.

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Categories of Fallacies

• Formal Fallacy
• Mistaken reasoning in which the form of the
  argument itself is invalid.
• Some high school dropouts are men. No doctors
  are high school dropouts. Therefore, no doctors
  are men.

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Categories of Fallacies

• Informal Fallacy
• Mistaken reasoning that occurs when an argument
  is emotionally persuasive but logically
  incorrect.
• Sound good and appeals to emotions, but are not
  true.

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Examples of Fallacies
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Ad Hominem Fallacy

• An attack, or an insult, on the person, rather
  than directly addressing the persons argument.
• Can take two forms
• Abusive Directly attacking the persons
  character (pg. 71).
• Circumstantial We dismiss someones argument or
  accuse them of hypocrisy because of their
  circumstances.

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Ad Hominem Fallacy

• Example of Circumstantial
• A father catches his son smoking and tells him
  that you shouldnt be smoking. Its not good for
  your health. Then the son replies, Look whos
  talking. You smoke at least a pack a day
• The son has dismissed his fathers argument
  because of the circumstances of his father.
• The son has ignored the validity of his fathers
  argument.

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The Slippery Slope Fallacy

• Making the assumption that a proposed step will
  set off an uncontrollable chain of undesirable
  events, when procedures exist to prevent such a
  chain of events.
• Assumes that if certain actions are allowed than
  all actions of that type will soon be
  permissible.
• We commit the slippery slope fallacy when the
  evidence does not support this predicted outcome.

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The Slippery Slope Fallacy

• Example 1
• You should never give in to your child. If you
  do, soon she will have you wrapped around her
  little finger. You need to stay in control.
• Example 2
• If we allow any form of human cloning, then
  before we know it there will be armies of clones
  taking over our jobs.

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The Slippery Slope Fallacy

• Slippery slope argument is not always a fallacy!
• If the evidence exists to back up the slippery
  slope argument it is not a fallacy.
• The fear that a particular action or allowance
  will start you down a dangerous slippery slope is
  valid.
• To avoid the slippery slope fallacy we
• should carefully carry out our research and
  familiarize ourselves with the likely outcomes of
  different actions.
• avoid the tendency to exaggerate.

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The Perfect Solution Fallacy

• Assumes that because part of a problem would
  remain after the solution is tried, the solution
  should not be applied.
• All or nothing fallacy.
• If we wait for the perfect solution, we would
  often find ourselves stuck.

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Equivocation Fallacy

• A key word/phrase is used with two or more
  meanings in an argument.
• The argument fails to make sense once the shifts
  in meaning are recognized.
• Most likely to occur when the meaning of a key
  term is ambiguous.
• Example
• Ronda Curtis is not a real man. He looked scared
  to death when that drunk at the bar threatened to
  punch him.
• Ellen If hes not a real man, how do you account
  for those incredibly bulging biceps.

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Equivocation Fallacy

• Example
• Carl Terminally ill patients have a right to
  decide how and when they want to die.
• Juan Thats not true. There is no right to
  euthanasia in the U.S. law.
• How do we avoid this?
• clearly define any ambiguous terms or phrases
  before proceeding with an argument/discussion.
• try to avoid using relative terms in different
  contexts within the same argument.

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Appeal to Popularity (Ad Populum)

• An attempt to justify a claim by appealing to
  sentiments that large groups of people have in
  common.
• Falsely assumes that anything favored by a large
  group is desirable.
• An appeal to popular opinion to gain support for
  our conclusion.
• The bandwagon approach Everyone else is doing
  it or everyone else believes it.

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Appeal to Popularity(Ad Populum)

• Example
• The ban on assault weapons should be extended. A
  recent Gallup Poll found that 68 of Americans
  support having a ban on assault weapons.
• As critical thinkers we need to remember that a
  position or conclusion is not necessarily right
  because it is popular.
• Every position or conclusion must be critically
  examined.

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Appeal To Questionable Authority

• Supporting a conclusion by citing an authority
  who lacks special expertise on the issue at hand.
• Looking to an authority in a field other than
  that under investigation.
• Example
• My preacher says that genetic engineering is not
  safe. Therefore, all experimentation in this
  field should be stopped

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Appeal To Questionable Authority

• Also known as the halo effect
• Distinguished titles often serve to reinforce the
  mistaken idea that someone who is an expert in
  one field will also be an expert in another.
• We avoid this fallacy by
• Checking out an experts credentials in the
  field before using his/her testimony as
  authoritative.

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Appeals To Emotion

• The use of emotionally charged language (or
  images) to distract readers/listeners from
  relevant reasons and evidence.
• Common emotions that are appealed to are fear,
  hope, patriotism, pity, and sympathy.
• Done by those who hope that our emotional
  reactions will cause us to agree with their
  conclusion.
• Emotional reactions should not be relevant.

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Straw Man Fallacy

• A distortion of our opponents view so that it is
  easy to attack thus we attack a point of view
  that does not exist.
• How do we avoid this?
• Look at the argument in question as it was
  originally presented.
• Has the argument been reworded or oversimplified
  to the point of misrepresentation?
• Have key parts of the original argument been
  omitted?

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Either Or (False Dilemma)

• Assumes that only two alternatives are possible
  when there are really more than two possible
  alternatives.
• Responses to complex issues are reduced to an
  either/or choice.
• ExampleAmerica love it or leave it! If you
  dont like U.S. policy, then move somewhere else.

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Either Or (False Dilemma)

• Habitual use of this fallacy restricts our
  ability to come up with creative solutions to
  problems.
• Overcoming personal setbacks requires that we
  use our critical thinking skills to come up with
  a way of overcoming our problems rather than
  getting stuck in erroneous thinking.

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Either Or (False Dilemma)

• How do we avoid this fallacy?
• Watch out for either/or questions that put you on
  the spot.
• If neither alternative is acceptable, it is best
  to leave the response blank or check I dont
  know.

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Explaining by Naming

• Falsely assuming that because you have provided a
  name for some event or behavior, you have also
  adequately explained the event or behavior.
• Example people commit violent acts because they
  are evil.
• The naming prevents us from understanding common
  causes of violent acts (not excuses).

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Glittering Generality

• The use of vague, emotionally appealing virtue
  words that dispose us to approve something
  without careful examination.
• Example Page 83.

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Red Herring Fallacy

• Occurs when a response is directed toward a
  conclusion that is different from that proposed
  by the original argument.
• Example
• I dont see why you get so upset about my
  driving after I have a few drinks. Its not such
  a big deal. Look at all the accidents that are
  caused by people talking on their cell phones
  while driving

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Red Herring Fallacy

• Another example
• Angelo I dont think Mike should have lied to
  Rosetta about what he was doing last night.
• Bart Oh, I dont know about that. If I had been
  in his situation I would probably have done the
  same thing.
• We avoid this fallacy by keeping the real issue
  in mind.

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Begging the Question Fallacy

• An argument in which the conclusion is assumed in
  the reasoning.
• The conclusion of an argument is simply a
  rewording of a premise.
• Also known as circular reasoning.
• Example
• Capital punishment is wrong because it is
  immoral to inflict death as a punishment for a
  crime

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Begging the Question Fallacy

• If you think an argument contains this fallacy,
  try reversing the conclusion and the premise to
  see if the argument says that same thing (in a
  different way).
• Back to our example (reversed)
• It is immoral to inflict death as a punishment
  for a crime , therefore capital punishment is
  wrong.

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Hasty GeneralizationsStereotypes

• The use of vague emotionally appealing virtue
  words that dispose us to approve something
  without closely examining the reasons.
• Making assumptions about a whole group or range
  of cases based on a sample that is inadequate.

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Hasty GeneralizationsStereotypes

• How do we avoid this fallacy?
• Ask ourselves what kind of sample is being used.
• Are we relying on the opinions or experiences of
  just a few people?
• Are we relying upon our own experience?
• Do we need more evidence?
• Avoid sweeping conclusions.

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Avoiding Fallacies in Our Writing

1. Pretend you disagree with the conclusion you are
   defending.
2. List your main points under each one, list the
   evidence you have for it.
3. Learn which types of fallacies youre prone to
   and be careful to check for them in your work.
4. Be aware that broad claims need more proof than
   narrow claims.
5. Double check your characterizations of others.

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GROUP WORK

• Discuss examples from your daily life in which
  you have seen/heard people use fallacies.
• What did you (or the other person) say, what
  fallacy was used, was the fallacy noticed, and
  did anyone challenge the fallacy?

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Project Two
12 Angry Men