SSU - Logical Fallacies Exercise

8/10/2019 SSU - Logical Fallacies Exercise

1/4

The Argument Clinic: A Fallacious Glossary

The either/or fallacy: This fallacy incorrectly assumes that only two alternatives are possible in

a given situation, when in fact others exist. For instance, these True Religion jeans might be

obscenely expensive, but do you want me to buy clothes that arent cute?

Appeal to pity:This one tries to distract you from the real issues by focusing your attention on

someones (often the arguers) problems or miseries. For instance, I deserve an A because thisquarter has just been so hard, and Ive been sick, and its just so difficult to get everything done.

Plus, if I dont get an A, Ill lose my scholarship, and then Ill have to drop out of school.

These are all sad circumstances. Some (and Ill have to drop out of school.) even show why

the student needsan A. But the student never actually addresseswhy he deserves an A.

False analogy: This one claims that, because two things or ideas are similar in some ways, they

must be alike in other ways as well. For example, Minds, like rivers, can be broad. The

broader the river, the shallower it is. Therefore, the broader the mind, the shallower it is. Thisfallacy is especially tricky because, while the analogy I just gave you is clearly awful, some

analogies have enough substantial similarities behind them that theyre sometimes considered

acceptable in argument. Its your job, as critical thinkers, to decide which analogies are fair andwhich are distorting.

Appeal to force (ad baculum): This is appeal to the stick. "If you don't support the War in Iraq,then the terrorists will win. If the terrorists win, your whole family will die. Therefore, the War

in Iraq is super awesome."

Hasty generalizations: These are sometimes found in the texts students read but more oftenshow up in the papers students write. They often use words like always,never,everyone,

or no one,and the make claims that are much too broad and sweeping to be provable. For

instance: Everyone knows that school is good for students

or Power always corrupts thosewho have it.

The slippery slope:The idea is that allowing one thing increases the chances of another thinghappening. The problem with the slippery slope is that it can be valid. It's usually not, however,

not the way people use it in debate. A fallacious example, "Allowing gay marriage makes it more

likely that people will marry their pets." This is related to appeals to probability, which

typically have the form "It's possible. Therefore, it will definitely happen."

Irrelevant conclusion (Ignoratio elenchi):This is where somebody makes a statement, but then

proves something else besides what they were talking about. For example, "Metallica deserves to

be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I mean, just look at the mustache on James Hetfield. AndLars collects fine art." The mustache and the art have nothing to do with whether the band should

be in the RaRHoF. This is related to the Red Herring.

Red Herring:This is where somebody tries to distract you from the thing they propose to prove.

This can be valid, however, if the issue at hand is complex. For example, "Okay, so Romney

may have been better for the economy, but man, was he ever boring to listen to. And he wanted

to cancel Sesame Street."


2/4

Straw man:This one is particularly nasty because it works so well. What you do is, you sayyour opponent is saying something that they really aren't saying. Then, you refute what you just

said and pretend that you've refuted everything your opponent stands for. Everyone knows

socialism cant work so Obamas policies are bound to fail.

Association fallacy:This is often called "guilt by association." It basically means that someone

is assuming that what is true about one thing or person is true of another thing or person, simplybecause they are associated. You cant vote for Romney because Todd Akin said that thing

about rape.

Appeal to authority.This is where you quote somebody famous to back you up. This issometimes fallacious, for example, when people say that Wheaties must be good because

Michael Jordan eats them. (In this way it is like the association fallacy.) However, sometimes, as

in a court of law, there is no other way to know something than to bring in an expert. In those

cases, everyone has to agree that the expert IS an expert, and the evidence has to be relevant tothe point being proved.

Ad hominem.This is Latin for "to the man." It means that you try to refute somebody byattacking their character. For example, "Jerry says that gravity is indistinguishable from

acceleration. Well, I say that Jerry is a philanderer and a thief who likes to pick his nose."

Appeal to the majority "ad populum"This is the belief that when many people believe a

thing, then that thing is true. You often hear somebody say that "Everybody knows" For

example, "Everybody knows that you can't trust short people." Think about this600 years ago,

everybody knew that the Earth was resting on the back of a giant turtle. Well, what's the turtlestanding on, you might askIt's turtles all the way down. This is also related to the bandwagon

fallacy, which says that something is right or good because everybody is doing it. This is what

your mother was getting at when she said Would you jump off a cliff if all your friends weredoing it?

Begging the question, or circular logic (petitio principii):When somebody uses what they aretrying to prove as proof that they proved something, they are begging the question. For example,

"Only turtles are vegetarians. The fact that turtles eat lettuce is proof of this." Another example,

Because women are not well suite for fighting, they do not do well in combat duty in the armed

forces.

Correlation implies causation (Cum hoc ergo propter hoc): When somebody notices that two

things go together and immediately claims that one causes the other, especially when it is

difficult to do so, it is a fallacious claim. For example, "There is a strong correlation betweenhaving vomit on my shirt and being drunk. Therefore, getting vomit on my shirt makes me

drunk."

Post hoc ergo propter hoc: from the Latin that basically means "after this, therefore because of

this." When somebody notices that something happens after something else and claims that it

was caused by the earlier thing. This is witchcraft thinking. It goes, "Right after Melissa looked

at my cow, it died. Therefore, Melissa killed my cow with her witch vision."


3/4

Now that you have your glossary, pick two fallacies and...

1. Use them! Make two fallacious arguments. These arguments should be no longer than 3sentences, and they should be labeled with the fallacy they represent:

a) Fallacy name: _________________________

Fallacious argument:


4/4

b) Fallacy name: _________________________

Fallacious argument:

2. Find them! Find two examples of your fallacies being used on the web or in the media. Giveme the names of the fallacies and the contexts in which they are used, then quote the example.

Example: Appeal to Ridicule. Stephen Colbert's attack on the right wing is fallacious because it

paints the conservative right in America as ridiculous. This is an appeal to ridicule. The showonly implicitly confronts conservative political positions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKtEqVVlVZs.

a)

b)

Documents

SSU - Logical Fallacies Exercise