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