Fallacies yippie Flashcards
Thought experiments
Imagined scenarios created by philosophers to test ideas and explore the boundaries of concepts.
John Harris’ Survival Lottery
When doctors have many dying patients in need of organ transplants a healthy person is selected to die so their organs will help supply life to many other people.
Rebuttal: Why don’t you just take the transplants from the dying patient since they’re already dying?
Since it would be considered as a ‘natural death’ and will help more people
Casual Fallacy
Making incorrect inferences about the cause of something
Example:
Whenever I wear my lucky jersey, my team loses. So it must actually be my unlucky jersey
Straw Man
Rewording someone’s argument so it’s easier to prove wrong.
Arguer criticises a distorted or simplified version of the position rather than criticising the opponents real position.
Example:
Parents tells their child they can’t go out, the kid responds with ‘Why do you hate me!’
Deriving an ‘ought’ from an ‘is’
A conclusion that makes a claim on what ‘ought’ to be the case is deduced from claims about the world
Example:
P1 - Stealing Tommy’s makes him cry
C - Violet shouldn’t steal Tommy’s toys
Ad Populum Fallacy
When we blame an argument or praise it because everyone else agrees
Example:
70% of the population disagrees with nuclear energy therefore I disagree with it
Ad Personam Fallacy
We Judge an argument according to emotions, how we feel rather than judging it by it’s merits
Example:
The idea of helping someone commit suicide doesn’t ‘sit right with me’
Slippery Slope
Take argument to an extreme conclusion without showing the logical steps necessary
Arguer assumes an action will lead to an undesired outcome
Example:
Legalising Euthanasia will lead to a state-sanctioned suicide for the depressed and the unhappy
Ad Hominem Fallacy
Rather than addressing an argument, the individual presenting the argument is attacked
Example:
We shouldn’t visit Columbia
Well your breath stinks
Therefore your argument is rejected
Scare Tactics
Tactics intended to incite fear for the purpose of influencing behaviour
Example:
If Australia doesn’t enforce mandatory detention our borders will be swamped by asylum seekers and our country will no longer be safe
Inconsistency Fallacy
Characterising two or more statements or beliefs which contradict one another
Example:
I agree that it’s wrong to kill innocent human beings although I support abortion
Genetic Fallacy
Judges the facts of a claim according to it’s origin
Judging the source not the claim
Example:
Professor Marks will argue that climate change exists. He used to be a left-wing political activist in his university days
Naturalistic Fallacy
Arguer attempts to prove an ethical claim by appealing to what is good considering natural properties
- Relies on appeals to nature to support conclusion
Example:
Strong dominate the weak because that’s what occurs in nature
Begging the Question
A remark that invites further questions. Somebody leaving reasoning out causing more questions instead of answers
Example:
Nature being diverse and complex and only god can create such things therefore god must exist
False Dilemma
Arguer misrepresents number of possible positions on issue. There might be more than the two options you are confined to
Example:
Be my friend or be my enemy
(you could be a stranger, limiting your position)
