Fallacies Flashcards
Lec 12
When would subconclusions be present?
when need separate premises to support a premise it becomes a subconclusion that needs to be given reasons for why it is a premise for the actual conclusion.
What is the difference btwn rational and rationale?
rational= operating based on reason logic and thinking. the capacity to reason. known from intellect. rationale= a set of reasons given in support of an idea.
Why acceptability instead of truth?
acceptability is needed for a general practical term. truth is often too strong of a condition and is often impossible to find without taking excessive time.
What is acceptability relative to?
an individual, a group of individuals, members of a community, members of a culture or society. so diff ppl can have diff ideas of whats acceptable. this is why its nb to know audience youre arguing for.
What is infinite regress?
saying that smthn is acceptable bc of bc of smthn else which is acceptable bc of smthn else, so on and so on. with this view it would be impossible to justify the acceptability of any statement.
What is a fallacy?
a mistake in reasoning, a misleading or unsound argument, reliance on deceptive or persuasive communication, intentional or unintentional endoresment of false beliefs, errors in reasoning.
What are the origins of fallacies in reasoning?
includes erroneous, deceptive, and misleading reasoning. this is sophistry. sophists were unconcerned with correct reasoning or logic. used rhetoric and persuasion.
What are the causes of fallacious reasoning?
vagueness or ambiguity, errors in argument, errors in reasoning, false beliefs, rhetorical techniques/persuasion. can happen if havent thought through language, havent noticed being contradictory, or using sophistry.
Why study fallacies?
to spot poor reasoning, academic self defense, to provide language to describe why premises are unacceptable, irrelevant, or insufficient,
What is begging the question?
involves circular reasoning, when a premise assumes the conclusion. so the premise is the conclusion just stated differently.
What is post-hoc fallacy?
inaccurate attribution of cause and effect. assumption that if event one preceded event two then event one caused event two. ie A occurs before B therefore A is the cause of B.
What is equivocation?
using one word in two or more senses in the same argument. shift in meaning from one use to another. ie fine.
What is amphiboly fallacy?
ambiguous word choice or sentence structure that leads to multiple understandings. so unspecific lang leads to misinterpretations. ie duck
What is ad hominem?
arguments that attack the person making the argument rather than the argument. can involve prejudice and discrimination. sometimes the person is relevant.
What is appeal to inappropriate authority?
a premise involving support of the conclusion by a well-known person who doesnt have expertise in the area. ie accepting smthn from someone whos talking outside of their field of expertise.
What is appeal to ignorance?
appeal to lack of evidence to conclude smthn is false bc it has not been shown to be true. so attempting to use inability to disprove a conclusion as proof of conclusion. ie no one has ever proven ufos exist therefore they dont exist.
What is appeal to pity?
implies someone should accept a conclusion bc smthn unfortunate will happen otherwise. trying to use emotion to persuade.
What is appeal to force?
using force or pressure to justify a conclusion.
What is appeal to popularity?
implies that truth or acceptability is assured from popularity.
What fallacy is present; What Peter Singer said about us needing to give more to charity can’t be right. After all, Singer is just another obnoxious philosopher.
ad hominem bc singers argument isnt critiqued here, singer is.
What fallacy is present; Five days after they put fluoride in Winnipeg’s water i got a fever and very sore throat. i switched to drinking bottled water and i recovered in a day or so. That fluoridated water is dangerous stuff.
Post-hoc bc assumes fluoride caused sickness bc it came first.
What is appeal to emotions?
intentional use of emotionally charged language. using persuasive language. substituting facts and evidence with words that stir up emotion to manipulate someone to accept the conclusion.
What is guilt by association?
position criticized bc of a perceived link btwn a person and an unrespectable organization. so affiliation with an organization. fallacy of relevance. ie. his cousin and best friend are involved in crime, so he must be as well and is probably the person who stole the cookies.
What is two wrongs make a right?
reasoning based on the idea that it’s ok to condone a wrong action if a similar wrong has been allowed previously. ie. im not going to return the $10 i underpaid, bc if i had overpaid the store would not have returned the money.
What is red herring?
deliberately hiding a weakness in an argument by inserting distracting remarks. so distracting from argument. diversionary tactic. distract from lack of support for conclusion.
What is straw person/man?
refuting a misrepresentation of an opponents position. so attacking the straw/easy version of the argument, so watering the argument down and then arguing that. addressing an extreme, weak, or inaccurate form of the argument. your argument did not address my own.
What is slippery slope fallacy?
snowball/domino effect. arguing x should not be permitted bc it will lead to having to permit y, leading to permitting z, etc. chain rxn of cause and effect events with neg outcomes.
What is false analogy?
assumes that bc two entities have similarities they are alike in other respects. so just bc 2 things are similar doesnt mean they have all the same properties.
What is bifurcation?
assumes two categories are mutually exclusive or exhaustive. ignores overlap. involves a false choice/dichotomy. x or not-x presented as only choices when there are many more. right or wrong way fallacy.
What is hasty generalization?
drawing a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough to warrant a generalization. so when small sample is unrepresentative.
What is is to ought fallacy?
presenting a prescriptive conclusion with only descriptive premises to support. prescription conclusions cannot follow from entirely descriptive premises. Description= is statements Prescription= ought statements. so conclusion is telling us what to do, so need a premise that tells us what to do as well.
Practice; If you don’t get to bed early, you’ll be too tired to do well on your midterm tomorrow. If that happens, you won’t get accepted into a decent graduate school. You’ll end up forever unemployed and will never reach your goals.
Slippery slope fallacy bc several if-then claims that fail to support conclusion (you should go to bed early).
Practice; If we allow the use of genetic technology in sport then we will be faced with a load of mutant athletes as a result. Either we take a hard line on the issue and ban it, or we see the end of sport as we know it.
bifurcation/false dichotomy. there are more options then presented.
Practice; Undemocratic societies kill the human spirit. The reason is clear: unless the people have the power in their society, the human spirit withers.
begging the question bc the conclusion is the same as the premise just reworded.
Practice; Einstein’s theory of relativity is just that, a theory. Theories are just speculation with no evidence behind them. We don’t want our children to learn theories with no evidence behind them, so we shouldn’t allow the theory of relativity to be taught in school.
equivocation, using theory in two diff ways.
Practice; There’s nothing wrong with cheating at beer pong if you can get away with it.Everyone else does it so that means it’s fine.
two wrongs make a right.
Practice; Everybody knows that footballers get paid a fortune for just kicking a ball around while nurses get paid a fraction of that and are saving people’s lives. Therefore, all
footballers should be forced to donate some of their income to help nurses.
hasty generalization, is to ought fallacy. not all football players get paid. why should they donate their income to nurses, need to add prescriptive premise.
Practice; If we allow athletes wearing the banned buoyant swimsuits to compete in U Sports swimming meets, then before you know it all we’ll be doing is testing the technology not human ability.
slippery slope, if-then statements.
Practice; Boxing can cause brain damage and often draws in young, ill-educated people from deprived backgrounds. Therefore, boxing should be banned.
is to ought fallacy. need to add prescriptive premise like ppl shouldnt get brain damage.
practice; How can our teachers lecture us about the importance of keeping fit? Look at them – they are overweight and obviously do no exercise themselves!
ad hominem, red herring.
Practice; If we allow one foreign luge athlete to train at the Whistler sliding centre then before we know it others will follow and the sliding centre will be overrun with non-Canadian athletes. Soon our national team would have to be drawn from those in the lower levels who don’t get much sliding time, and we’d be a laughing stock on the international stage.
slippery slope, leaps and bounds to get to conclusion.
What are the rules of rational debate?
- do not attack the persons character, but the argument itself (ad hominem) 2. do not misrepresent a persons argument to make it easier to defeat. (straw man) 3. do not use a small number to represent the whole. (hasty generalization) 4. do not reduce the argument down to only 2 possibilities. (bifurcation) 5. do not confuse correlation for causation (post-hoc)
