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