Recognizing Arguments

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Recognizing Arguments Logical
Fallacies

• S L Shoemaker

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• Histories make men wise
• poets -- witty
• the mathematics -- subtle
• natural philosophies -- deep
• moral philosophies -- grave
• logic and rhetoric -- able to contend.
• Sir Francis Bacon
• Politician
• Founder of Scientific (Baconian) Method

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• It is not enough to live
• one must live deliberately.
• Plato

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Major Schools of Philosophy

• Logic how to reason
• Epistemology theory of knowledge
• Metaphysics about reality
• Ethics moral reasoning
• Social Philosophy law and politics
• Philosophy of Religion about god
• Aesthetics theory of beauty

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My Concerns

• What is True?
• What is Real?
• What is Right?

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Philosophy asks

• Not what?
• Or who?
• Or when?
• But
• WHY?

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Lets Begin with

• Thinking

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Intelligence

• The Five Types
• Visual
• Auditory
• Sensory-Motor
• Mechanical
• Abstract

• Brain POWER
• KNOWLEDGE
• TACTICS

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Transfer using information from one situation
in another situation
A tactic

• Low-road Transfer unintentional transfer
• Example - You have never heard these particular
  words in this particular order, but you use the
  information gleaned from a prior situation to
  understand in this one

• High-road Transfer
• What might it be?
• How do you know?
• Are you sure?
• This is thinking - analogy

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My Model

• I call my model of thinking
• IP/CT
• Meaning
• Information Processing/
• Critical Thinking
• The idea is that you must 1st have data then 2nd
  know how to use it

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Consider What are the two constructs of the mind
men use to make thoughts?

• Sounds
• And
• Images
• Via the senses
• Senses connect us to the world

knowledge
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What We Actually Know

• Signs/Forms what philosophers call
• Sounds and Images
• (not the things themselves, but the impressions,
  the metaphors, of the things)
• And
• CONNECTIONS thinking

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Basic Thinking

• 1) SIGNS/FORMS represent real things
  metaphorically
• Mental Constructs SOUNDS and IMAGES
• 2) ANALOGY put signs
  together thinking
• 3) Axiomatic Systems
  applied beliefs

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Analogies

• SPECIFIC FORMS one-to-one correspondence
• SUBSTITUTE INSTANCE a match in form
• dog

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Thinking (Expanded)

• Metaphors mental constructs representing outer
  artifacts
• Analogies correspondence between the members of
  pairs or sets of linguistic forms that serves as
  a basis for the creation of another form
• Axiomatic System - the procedure by which an
  entire science or system of theorems is deduced
  in accordance with specified rules by logical
  deduction from certain basic propositions

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EXPRESSION

• Expression (logical, facial, gene, programming,
  verbal, mental, musical, emotional, mathematical,
  et. al.) depends utterly and completely on the
  language in which it is expressed
• The power of mathematics is its flexibility
  (range) simultaneous with its rigidity
  (denotation) (Why?)
• 112 infinitely applicable yet quite definite.
• That is a beautiful sunset. finite
  applicability, and hardly definite. Limited
  substitutions.

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Arguments a Definition

• In this class, arguments are not merely
  contradiction
• Arguments are statements logically chained
  together
• in order to establish a claim or conclusion

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How Arguments are Put Together

• Arguments have three parts
• Premises given, accepted ideas
• Inferences reasoning to connect premises to
  conclusion
• Conclusion what is argued for/ the main idea

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Types of Logic - Connections

• DEDUCTIVE goes from general/universal ideas to
  specifics
• Example 1) all men are mortal
• 2) Socrates is a man
• Therefore, Socrates is mortal
• (An Aristotelian syllogism monus ponus)
• INDUCTIVE goes from specifics to generalities
• Example Socrates is mortal Plato is mortal
  Aristotle is mortal
• Therefore, all men are mortal

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Argument Fulcrum

• The FULCRUM of an argument is an angle a
  idea that takes you to victory
• The fulcrum is usually a premise that your
  opposition agrees with a starting point from
  which you can lead you opponent to your
  conclusion or his argument unravels

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Basic Ideas of Epistemology

• Worlds Inner and Outer
• Inner world composed of concepts
• Compound Concepts Beliefs
• Beliefs True or False Correspondence .
  to outside of
  self
• If uncertain opinion
• If certain KNOWLEDGE

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Statement Types

• Fact proven, can be certain of it
• Pi 3.142
• Claim can be proven, but has not been
• UH will win the championship
• Opinion uncertain if true or false
• He is the smartest man I have ever met

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Opinions should be based on Facts

• Make your opinions/beliefs based on facts
• Rather than looking for facts to support your
  opinions.
• In your arguments, always use specifics
• Never use they
• Attack your opponents' use of they

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CHUNK Basic Argument Form
In any order

• Claim - your belief
• Support example/fact
• Commentary How or Why support confirms your
  claim

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Advanced/Ethics Chunk Five Parts

• 1) Claim your belief
• 2) Value want is Important
• 3) Support fact/example/anecdote/quote
• 4) Criteria standard to judge problem by
• 5) Commentary how your idea works

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Part of the TRIPARTITE (3) model of
thinking(elements can appear in any order)

• Argument -
• Premise/inference/conclusion
• Chunk -
• Claim/support/commentary
• Speech
• Subject/verb/object
• Justification -
• Reasons/example/main idea
• Ethics/Value
• Value/criteria/resolution

Plato
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Indicators (not always present)

• Premise Indicators because, since, etc.
• Conclusion Indicators so, thus, therefore, etc

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• Undoubtedly, the most significant part of any
  argument is the MAIN IDEA
• (claim/conclusion)
• WHY?
• It is what is actually being argued for
  or about
• ALWAYS be clear about the main idea

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Meanings

• Propositional Form the underlying meaning of
  any sentence
• Denotation dictionary meaning
• Connotation situational meaning, diction, word
  choice

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Identify the Conclusion(main Idea most
important)

• 1st locate the principle nouns
• Nouns subject and
• direct object/
• indirect object/
• object of prepositions
• 2nd locate the principle action
• 3rd combine the two

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Making Arguments

• Unless you and you opponent are completely
  contrary
• Just because he is wrong does not mean you are
  correct,
• You being correct does not make him wrong

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Identifying Arguments

• 1) Look for premise (because) or conclusion (so)
  indicators
• 2) Identify the main idea/claim/conclusion
• 3) Look for the premises/reasons

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Writing Arguments

• 1) Identify your exact conclusion
• 2) Brainstorm reasons for that conclusion
• 3) Pick best reason and argue for it, not your
  conclusion
• 4) Have a strong, general beginning that most
  people should agree with, and argue to best
  reason.

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Types of Writing

• Narrative tells a store
• Descriptive - illustrates
• Expository explains or defines
• Persuasive to prove
• WE MUST BE CONCERNED WITH PERSUASIVE, not
  expository, FOR WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO ARGUE

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The Three Modes of Persuasion in Aristotles
Rhetoric

• Pathos using emotions to persuade
• Ethos
• using charisma and personality as the tools of
  persuasion
• phronesis - practical skills wisdom
• arete - virtue, goodness
• eunoia - goodwill towards the audience
• Logos
• logic is our method in this class - argument

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Logic with Negation

• Take ALL MEN ARE MORTAL
• Contradictions - exceptions
• Some men are not mortal /
• Not all men are mortal /
• It is not the case that all men are mortal
• Contrary - opposite
• No men are mortal

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Logic with Conditionals - if, then

• If I am wearing my gloves, then I am wearing my
  coat
• logically equivalent to (then only if)
• I wear my gloves only if I wear my coat
• Converse
• I wear my coat only if I wear my gloves
• Inverse
• I do not wear my gloves only if I do not wear my
  coat

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The Problem Solution

• All arguments have at the very least two sides
• The best arguments, the winning arguments, are
  the ones with the best connections leading to
  justifications

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Proof

• Just because you prove an opponent wrong does not
  mean you are right
• Unless you are contradictory, just because you
  are right does not make him wrong
• Never say I think
• It should be YOU THINK

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• We must work on
• Interpretation
• Before
• Evaluation
• Understand what is being said or asked for
• Main Idea

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Because

• There is an alarming tendency for us to build a
  BOX that we call REALITY.
• Family
• Culture
• Friends
• God
• Self
• But this reality box is a mere convenience, not
  what is actually going on little animals on a
  tiny planet in a limitless universe

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The Box/The Gestalt

• Gestalt the German word for form,
• From which we derive our World View
  (Weltanschauung) it is our mental model of
  reality we have in our heads
• Claude Piaget said there are two different way
  information gets into our Gestalt
• Assimilation When information fits into our
  present scheme
• Accommodation when you have to change your
  scheme to accept the new information

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Next after Thinking

• Distinctions

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Distinction

• Concrete Ideas
• ideas that represent something real
• i.e.
• chairs, desks, hands, air, football players

• Abstract Ideas
• ideas that represent something made up
• i.e.
• justice, beauty, truth, the American way

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Distinction

• Content the thing
• Vs.

• Context the environment

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Distinction

• Quantity
• How much of a thing
• Vs.

• Quality
• Properties of a thing

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Distinction

• Substance the composition of the thing
• Vs.

• Form the shape and function of the thing

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Conditions

• Necessary - must have
• Sufficient the proper arrangement

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And then

• Organization
• and
• Laws

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Blooms Taxonomy - Competences Skills
Demonstrated

• 4) Analysis - seeing patterns and organization of
  parts
• 5) Synthesis - use old ideas to create new ones
• 6) Evaluation - compare and discriminate between
  ideas

• 1) Knowledge - observation and recall of
  information
• 2) Comprehension - understanding information
• 3) Application - use information

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Laws of Thought

• Law of Excluded Middle (AB)
• says that every statement is either true or
  false there is nothing in between. It's also
  known as completeness - a complete logical system
  is one in which this law holds.

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Complete and Consistent

• When completeness is combined with consistency -
  the assumption that truth doesn't contradict
  itself (which would be absurd) - this gives us a
  very powerful tool, reductio ad absurdum. This is
  a method of proof to prove a statement A, take a
  contrary hypothesis, reason from this to an
  absurdity, conclude (by consistency) that the
  contrary hypothesis is false, whence (by
  completeness) that A is true. I refer to this
  mechanism, in brief, as reductio

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Laws of Thought

• Law of Non-Contradiction (AvB)
• (A) Not (p and not p) or (B) (for all x) not (x
  is P and x is not P). It is not possible that
  something be both true and not true at the same
  time and in the same context. I think the notion
  of time is more inherent in the Law as we
  normally understand it , but that the notion of
  context is equally important. Example A table
  can not be both made entirely of wood and not
  made entirely of wood.

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Problem

• PROBLEM
• Degrees
• All is not black and white
• Shades of gray
• EX When does hot become cool?
• Solution Newton that is why he invented
  differential calculus
• Thats a different class
• Here Zenos Paradoxes

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What areINFORMAL Logical Fallacies?
Now we can do

• Definition - Informal logical fallacies are
  problems with reason and arguments due to
• Relevance, or
• Problems with Language

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Fallacies can be used or abused.IF you do not
know them then you will be abused through them.

• Consider Patrick Henrys "Give Me Liberty
  Or Give Me Death!" speech
• It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter.
  Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no
  peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale
  that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears
  the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are
  already in the field! Why stand we here idle?
  What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they
  have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to
  be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
  Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
  others may take but as for me, give me liberty
  or give me death!
• (Pathos) Red Herring / ad populum / False Dilemma
  / Circular
• Used to talk Washington, Jefferson, Franklin,
  etc. into going to war against their country

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Finding Fallacies

• 1st Identify the conclusion main idea
• 2nd By process of elimination, find a
  fallacy
• 3rd justify the fallacy

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Examples of Fallacies - Induction

• Inductive Argument
• Premise 1 Bill is an American cat
• Premise 2 Bill is domestic house cat
• ConclusionMost American cats are domestic house
  cats.
• (Problem just because one cat is does not mean
  all are.)

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Examples of Fallacies - Deduction

• Deductive Fallacy
• Premise 1 If Portland is the capital of Maine,
  then it is in Maine.
• Premise 2 Portland is in Maine.
• Conclusion Portland is the capital of Maine.
• (Problem - Portland is in Maine, but Augusta is
  the capital. Portland is the largest city in
  Maine, though.)

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Try It

• Inductive Fallacy
• Premise Having just arrived in Ohio, I saw a
  white squirrel. Conclusion All Ohio Squirrels
  are white.
• (While there are many, many squirrels in Ohio,
  the white ones are very rare).

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SomeFALLACIES of RELEVANCE

• Definition Fallacies occurring when what a
  person says is not relevant or is off-topic or
  distracting

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1. ad hominim

• Attack on the person making a claim rather than
  on their claim itself
• Example You pro-abortion people are immoral and
  godless.

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2. Generalization

• Occurs when inadequate number of experiences is
  broaden to include all experiences of the same
  type
• Example Prof. Tweed cancelled our appointment
  that guy doesnt care about his students.

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3. Stereotype

• Claiming that what someone says or does is wrong
  because of some accidental feature of the person
  himself
• Example You can disregard Coach McCartys views
  on abortion since he is a Christian

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Application Generalizing to Stereotype

• People commonly generalize due to bad
  experiences, then stereotype other similar people
  or situations according to their preconceived,
  generalized notions.

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4. Intimidation

• Occurs when force or coercion is used as the tool
  in an argument
• Example I see you work for the campus police. I
  will expect you fix this parking ticket if you
  want a good grade in this course

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5. Bandwagon(ad populum or Appeal to Popular
Opinion)

• Appealing to the passions and emotions rather
  than reason everyone else is doing it so
  should you.
• A variety peer pressure
• Example All of Houston is buying tickets to the
  new Houston Texan home games what about you?

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6. Appeal to False Authority

• Appeals to an unqualified expert or irrelevant
  authority
• a spokesperson
• Example I have the same confidence in my A-C
  Delco sparkplugs for my car that I had in my
  plane when I was the first person to break the
  sound barrier.

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7. False Cause

• Confusing something for a cause because it occurs
  before the effect
• C? E
• Example The feminist movement has failed
  miserable ever since it began to attract
  followers the incident of child abuse has
  increased.

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8. Exception to the Rule

• When, in a specific situation, a condition makes
  the occurrence an exception to a general rule
• Example This is the Sabbath, a day of rest so I
  dont intend to check on the animals, storm or no
  storm.

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9. Begging the Question

• Occurs when the conclusion to an argument is
  present in the premises/reasons.
• Example You cannot expect eighteen year olds to
  vote intelligently, because they are too young to
  have good judgment about issues.
• Example I am always right because I am never
  wrong

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10. Appeal to Pity

• Directs attention away from the evidence by
  arousing pity or sympathy
• Example No, you go without me. Ill be just fine
  here, alone, at home.

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11. Complex Question

• Posing a question base on an unasked question
• Example Where is the money you stole?

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12. Appeal to Ignorance

• Affirms the truth of something on the basis of
  lack of evidence to the contrary.
• Example She must be a good person, because I
  have never heard a word spoken against her.

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13. False Dilemma / Either/or Fallacy

• The reduction of choices to just two (or a few)
• Example You can either clean your room or study
• (Answer why can I not go out to play, talk on
  the phone, sing to myself.)

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14. Novelty

• Just because something is new it is good or
  better
• Example Try new and improve Tide!!!
• Problem every few months Tide makes a change

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15. Antiquity

• Just because something is old it is good or
  better
• Example Thats the way we have always done it,
  and thats the way we will keep on doing it

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16. Slippery Slope

• If one thing goes wrong then many other things
  will go wrong
• Example If we allow the Justice Department to
  strengthen just to fight terrorism then we will
  end up losing all our freedoms.

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17. False Analogy

• Comparing two things that should not be compared
• Example The WNBA is just not as good as the NBA.
• Problem two different types of athletes

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18. Small Sample /Hasty Conclusion / Biased
Statistic

• Drawing a conclusion or believing something from
  too few instances
• Example The presidents approval rating has
  never been higher 93 out of 100 people asked
  thought he was doing a good job.
• Note Biased Statistic deals with
  statistical inferences - numbers

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19. Guilt by Association

• Believing a person is wrong because he was at the
  wrong time and place
• Example He was in the room holding the smoking
  gun, so he must have shot Bob
• (problem he could have come in the room and
  picked up the gun after Bob was shot)

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The Second Type -FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY

• Problems with clarity of consistency of language

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20. Equivocation

• Occurs when a word changes meaning in the course
  of an argument
• Example Everyone says she has good taste, so I
  would love to nibble her ear.

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21. Amphiboly

• Involves an ambiguous grammatical construction
• Example Henry went out on the porch on the 4th
  of July and watched the fireworks in his pajamas.

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22. Misplaced Accent/ Red Herring

• Emphasizing the wrong thing, word, or phrase to
  mislead observer or the reader
• Example
• Airfares Reduced 50!!!
• (Some restriction apply)

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23. Composition

• Attributing characteristics of parts to the whole
• Example Everyone on the Oilers is a great
  player, so they will win the Super Bowl for sure.

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24. Division

• The opposite of Composition
• Attributing characteristics of whole
• to the parts.
• Example The Rockets won the championship, so
  every player deserves millions of dollars.

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In ADDITIONnot on handout- Blinded by Science

• Masking the nature of a problem with facts and
  statistics

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Straw Man

• Two types
• setting up a similar problem
• (usually with Thats like.) to attack when
  opponent's argument is strong
• AS AN ARGUMENT FORM adopting the opponents'
  view, then attacking and destroying that point of
  view, then replacing his view with your own

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Two Wrongs Make a Right

• You know this one

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Non sequitor

• Literally, it does not follow
• All fallacies may be this
• Example If Punxsutawney Pete sees his shadow,
  well have six more weeks of winter

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Truth by Consensus

• If everyone agrees it, must be so
• So, the earth is flat

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Gambler's Fallacy

• See example
• The belief that what happened previous determines
  what happens next

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Finally

• This is just a small sampling of logical
  fallacies that we encounter in daily life
  philosophers have identified over 234 fallacies
  so far
• Remember that fallacies can be used or abused
  do not be persuaded by their usage