Chapter 3 Flashcards
formal fallacy
a logical error in a deductive argument that occurs in the form or structure of an argument
informal fallacy
a mistake in reasoning that occurs in ordinary language concerning the content of the argument rather than it’d form
all beagles are dogs
all poodles are dogs
does not mean
all beagles are poodles example on other pages
all B are D
all P are D
all B are P
any substitution of this exact form will also be invalid
why study fallacies 2
- fallacies are instances of flaws reasoning whose premises do not offer good grounds for believing the conclusion
- understanding how to recognize and analyze fallacies gives you a better appreciation of good reasoning
fallacies based on 2 types
- personal attacks or 2. emotional appeals
fallacies based on personal attacks
- ad hominem abusive
- ad hominem circumstantial
- poisoning the well
- tu quoque
fallacies based on emotional appeals
- appeal to people
- appeal to pity
- appeal to fear
- appeal to force
ad hominem means
against the person
define ad hominem
when a claim is rejected based on alleged character flaws or a negative stereotype of a person making a claim
example of an ad hominem abusive and a comment on why it is wrong
- you should not believed what he said about or economy because he is a left leaning card carrying liberal
comment-an economic judgment should be judged on the merits of the advice and the strength of the argument presented not by vague labels denigrating a person’s character
ad hominem circumstantial example and why it is wrong
- senator hilltop thinks my administration tax proposals are bad for the country. his political party lost the last election members of the losing party are always jealous of the winning party
comment-the premises attached senator hilltop’s party affiliation and negatively stereotype the senator and his party
poisoning the well example and comment on why it is wrong
- before you read her article “stop all wars”, you should know that she was arrested six times for protesting in front of the pentagon and White House. she also has been investigated by the FBI for possible ties to peace movements in other countries, some of which resulted in violence. it is crystal clear that these kinds of people are dangerous and want to Destry our constitution and take away our basic freedoms. we must not let them
comment- the premises attack the author before sh is given a chance to state her argument
tu quoque means
“you too”
tu quoque define
a type of ad hominem fallacy that occurs when a person avoids the issue at handy claiming the other person is a hypocrite
tu quoque example and comment on why it is wrong
- you have been lecturing me about not joining a gang. but dad, you were a gang member, and you never went to jail. so, ill make my own decision about joining a gang
comment-this tu quoque attack is aimed at the dad, not at the dads arguments. the premises are used to imply that, “dad, you are a hypocrite,” which is then used to reject dads arguments: I can disregard your argument
pattern of fallacies
- person x presents an argument
- person y attacks the characters or circumstances of person x
- based solely on the attack against person x, person y rejects persons x’s argument
when the fallacy does not occur
- when there are objective grounds for doubting a persons claims
- when a persons character is being described
appeal to the people define
occurs when an argument manipulates a desire to belong to a group so the listening will accept the conclusion
appeal to the people example and why it is wrong
- public schoolteachers are demanding a pay raise and are threatening to strike. a prolonged strike will jeopardize our caldrons future and result in an unbalanced budget, which in turn will lead to an increase in taxes. although the school years lasts only 180 days, teachers get paid 12 months a year. you should be against a pay raise for public school teachers
comment-terms like demanding, threatening, prolonged strike, and jeopardize evoke a sense of dire consequences and provoke anger in taxpayers and voters
poisoning the well define
informal fallacy where adverse information about a target is preemptively presented to an audience, with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing something that the target person is about to say.
appeal to pity define
emotional plea that relies sole on a sense of pity for support
appeal to pity example
your honor, before you sentence my client for the murder of his parents, I ask you to consider his situation. he is an orphan. perhaps you can give him the lightest punishment possible
appeal to pity premise why its wrong
the premises simply ask the judge to pity the deferent because he is a self-caused orphan
appeal to force or fear define
the threat of harmful consequences (physical or otherwise ) used to force acceptance of a course of action that would otherwise be unacceptable
appeal to force or fear example
if the worker of this company do not agree to 25% cut in salary, then the company ay have to shut its doors. therefore, the workers of this company must agree to a 25% cut in salary
appeal to force or fear why its wrong
the premise is an obvious thereto without providing objective evidence for the conclusion
summary of fallacious emotional reasoning
- person a uses psychological methods known to arousal strong emotion
- person b is expected to accept the conclusion based solely on emotional appeal
poisoning the well fallacies are emotional pleas that rely solely on a sense of pity for support true or false
false
Manny was born in another country. he coolant possibly understand enough about what goes on in this country to run for state government
what isthmus an example of and why
ad hominem circumstantial
because it rejects his arguments solely on the basis of his circumstance not his arguments
weak inductive argument fallacies
1.generalization fallacies- characteristics of a few members of a group are assigned to an entire group
2. terms used in generalization fallacies- sample: a subset of a population
population: a group of objects or human beings
representative sample: a sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of getting in
weak inductive argument fallacies
- rigid application of generalization
- hasty generalization
- composition
- division
- biased sample
- false cause fallacies
post hoc
slippery slope
rigid application of a generalization
when a generalization is believed to be universal and is inappropriately applied to an a case that is an exception
example of rigid application
I can’t believe that a police didn’t give the driver of that ambulance any citations. the driver was speeding. the driver went through a red light. the ambulance swerved form Lae to lane without using any turn signals
why rigid application works this way
while nonemergency vehicles are subject to penalties, expecting apply to ambulances when responding to emergencies
hasty generalization define
an argument that relies on a small sample that is unlikely to represent the population
hasty generalization example
I saw a fraternity guy act rudely to a fast food employee in the food court at lunch today. probably most fraternity and sorority members are rude and arrogant
premise for hasty generalization
the premise reports a single instance while the conclusion generalizes the behavior to most fraternity and sorority members
composition fallacy define
the mistaken transfer of (1) an attribute of the individual parts of an object to the object as a whole or (2) an attribute of the individual members of a class to the class itself
composition fallacy examples
- all cells in his vey are tiny. thus, he is tiny
2. the bricks intros building are sturdy, so the building must be sturdy
compared composition fallacy to a good one
every threat of material of which this shirt is composed is red, so the shirt is red. (not a fallacy)
division fallacy define
the mistaken transfer of (1) an attribute of an object as a whole to the individual parts of the object or (2) an attribute of a class to the individual members of the class
division fallacy examples
- he is huge, so he must hav huge cells
2. the cake tastes burnt, so you must have used burnt ingredients
comparison not a fallacy but uses division
that is a wooden chair, so its legs are made of wood (not a fallacy)
biased sample fallacy
uses a non representative sample as support for a statistical claim about an entire population
biased sample fallacy example
evidence shows that 85% of all Americans believed that abortion is morally wrong. recently, a sample of catholics revealed that 85% believe that abortion is morally wrong.
problem with biased sample
the sample surveys only catholics, but the conclusion generalizes to all Americans
false cause fallacies define
occur when a causal connection is assumed to exist between two events when none actually exists
false cause fallacy examples
post hoc fallacy-coincidence
common cause fallacy
slippery slope
coincidence define
results for the accidental or chance connect between two events
coincidence example
I can prove that some dreams let us see into the future. last week, I dreamt that my cousin Charlie was in a terrible car wreck. just now a got a phone call from my cousin Charlie’s wife saying that he is in the hospital beau he was in a. car accident
why coincidence fallacy doesn’t work
we have thousands of dreams a year; a few are likely to resemble real events. we forget that most of our dreams do not connect to real events
post hoc fallacy define
involves short term pattern noticed after the fact: X occurred before Y, therefore X caused Y
post hoc fallacy example
researchers have found that while a democrat was president, morphicola topped all soft drink sales. while a republican was president, opiocola topped all sales. you should invest in the soft-drink company based on who is in the White House
post hoc fallacy why it does not work
this post hoc argument falls prey to the mistake fo confusing a correlation with a cause
common cause fallacy define
occurs when one event is assumed ot cause another hone both events are the results of a common cause
common cause fallacy example
a falling barometer is the case of a storm
why common cause fallacy does not work
in fact, both events are cause by a change in atmospheric pressure
slippery slope define
attempts to make a final event the inevitable outcome of an initial act
slippery slope example
if you start smoking weed for pleasure ,you will need more and ore to achieve the expected high. you will begin to rely o it whenever you feel depressed. eventually you will experiment with more powerful drugs. the amount of drug intake will have to increase to achieve the desired results. at this point, the adduction will take hold and will lead to a loss of ambition, a loss of self esteem, the destruction of your health, and the dissolution of all social ties. therefrom you should not start smoking weed.
slippery slope why it is wrong
relies on a casual network with each step in the chain causing next step. the alleged inevitability of the final act is not supported by the objective evidence
post hoc literally means
after this fact
begging the question
petitions principii “assume at the beginning”
define
assumes as evidence in the premise the very thing that it attempts to prove in the conclusion
example of begging the question
you can believe him he never lies he always tell the truth he is someone that can be believed
why begging the question fallacy is a thing
the argument begs the question what additional evidence is there that he never lies
there are three different types of begging the question fallacy
t
complex question define
single question that contain multiple parts and an unestablished hidden assumption
complex question example
do you still cheat on you taxes?
answering yes or no presumes you do or did cheat on your taxes
I asked if you still cheat on your taxes you said no therefore, by your own admission you did cheat on your taxes
why complex question is a fallacy
the premises rely on two distinct questions: a. did you ever cheat on your taxes?
b. do you now cheat on your taxes
appeal to ignorance
an argument built on a position of. ignorance cleaning either
- a statement must be true because it has not been proven to be false
- a statement must be false because it has not been proven to be true
appeal to ignorance example
there is no life anywhere else in the universe, we have never received signals from any part of space
appeal to ignorance why it is a fallacy
the conclusion is based on the lack of signals form outer space. while our figure o detect signals may signify our ignorance of better methods for detecting life
appeal to unqualified authority define
relies on the opinions pf people who have no expertise training or knowledge relevant to the issue at hand
appeal to unqualified authority example
im nick panning quarterback of the los angels seals I’ve been eating oats for breakfast since I was a kid oaths tests great and they have all he nutrition kids need. you should get some for your kids today
appeal to unqualified authority why it is a fallacy
merely being famous does not qualify someone to pronounce the merits of a product
false dichotomy
a fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that only two choices arepossin;e when in fact others exist
false dichotomy example
either you agree with me or you are an idiot
two reconstruction ignore additional choices
either your agree with me or you are an idiot you are an idiot
you agree with me
either you agree with me or ou are an idiot
you do not agree with me your are an idiot
either you agree with me or you ae an idiot or your position is correct you do not agree with me
you are an idiot
your position is correct
