Book of bad arguments WK4 Flashcards
argument from consequences
speaking for or against the truth of a statement by appealing to the consequences of accepting or rejecting it
Straw man
Intentionally caricaturing a person’s argument with the aim of attacking the caricature rather than the actual argument
equivocation
exploits the ambiguity of language by changing the meaning of a word during the course of an argument and using the different meanings to support some conclusion
false dilemma
an argument that presents a set of two possible categories and assumes that everything in the scope of that which is being discussed, must be an element of that set
appeal to fear
plays on the fears of the audience by imagining a scary future that would be of their making if some proposition was accepted
Hasty generalization
when one generalises from a sample that is either too small or too special to be representative pf a population
Appeal to ignorance
Such an argument assumes a proposition to be true simply because there is no evidence proving that it is not
Not a cause for a cause
assumes a cause for an event where there is no evidence that one exists- may occur due to two events correlating on accident or at random
Appeal to irrelevant authority
an appeal to ones sense of modesty that they feel others are more knowledgeable
Circular reasoning
where one explicitly or implicitly assumes the conclusion is in one or more of the premises
AD Hominem
one that attacks the persons character as opposed to the argument
Appeal to the bandwagon
uses the fact that a sizeable amount of people believe in something, as evidence that it must be true
Slippery slope
attempts to discredit a proposition by arguing that its acceptance will undoubtedly lead to a sequence of one or more events that are undesirable
Appeal to hypocrisy
countering a charge with a charge- rather than addressing the issue being raised, they instead divert attention away from the original argument
Affirming the consequent
the mode of affirming- 2 premises one conclusion- antecedent and consequence
Guilt by association
discrediting an argument for proposing an idea that is shared by some socially demonised individual or group
Genetic fallacy
when an argument is either devalued or defended solely because of it’s history
No true scotsman
A general claim may sometimes be made about a category of things. when faced with evidence-challenging that claim, rather than accepting or rejecting the evidence, such an argument counters the challenge by arbitrarily redefining the criteria for membership into that category
composition by division
inferring that a whole must have a particular attribute because it’s parts happen to have that attribute
Proposition
a statement that is either true or false but not both
Premiss
a proposition that provides support to an arguments conclusion
Argument
a set of propositions that aim at persuading through reasoning
Deductive argument
an argument in which if the premises are true then the conclusion must be true- conclusion follows with logical nessecity
Inductive argument
an argument in which if the premises are true then the conclusion is probably also true. Conclusion does not follow with logical nessecity
Soundness
a deductive argument is sound if it is valid and it’s premises are true
Strength
an inductive argument is strong if in the case that it’s premises are true, the it is highly probable that its conclusion is also true
Cogency
an inductive argument is cogent if it is strong and the premises are actually true- if not it is said to be uncogent
Falsifiability
an attribute of a proposition or argument that allows it to be refuted, or disproved through observation or experiment
Logical fallacy
an error in reasoning that results in an invalid argument
Formal fallacy
a logical falllacy who’s form does not conform to the grammar and rules of inference of a logical calculus
Validity
a deductive argument is valid if it’s conclusion logically follows from it’s premisses
