FALLACIES FALLACIES A fallacy is a common error

FALLACIES

FALLACIES A fallacy is a common error in reasoning which people (even well educated, careful people) often fail to notice in their own arguments or which devious people might use in their arguments in the hope that we won't notice them A syllogism is an argument that has a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion, and often appears in the form 'A is B, C is D, therefore E is F‘. This is a specific form of argument with very specific rules that are easy to break. In many ways, syllogistic fallacies are the 'classic' form of fallacy.

• Example 1: Whichever basketball team scores the most points will win the game. Virginia scored more points than UNC. Therefore Virginia won the game. • Valid?

• In Example 1, the first two sentences are premises and the third is the conclusion. The argument is valid, for the two premises provide genuine support for the conclusion.

COMMON FALLACIES

Straw Man • It misrepresents the position of the opposing side in such a way that the opposing position appears obviously false or ridiculous. (That is, it creates a 'straw man' just so it can be knocked down. ) • It's worth noting that 'straw manning' often takes place on both sides of charged debates like the one concerning abortion. • ''Strawmanning' your opponent can be an effective strategy in an argument. If your audience doesn't realize that's what you're doing, you may succeed in convincing them that your opponent's view is wrong. However, it's an intellectually dishonest strategy & so not useful for getting at the truth about things.

Slippery Slope • Slippery slope arguments falsely assume that one thing must lead to another. They begin by suggesting that if we do one thing then that will lead to another, and before we know it we’ll be doing something that we don’t want to do. They conclude that we therefore shouldn’t do the first thing. • What’s the problem with this logic?

• If we pass laws against fully-automatic weapons, then it won't be long before we pass laws on all weapons, and then we will begin to restrict other rights, and finally we will end up living in a communist state. Thus, we should not ban fully-automatic weapons. • You should never gamble. Once you start gambling you find it hard to stop. Soon you are spending all your money on gambling, and eventually you will turn to crime to support your earnings. • If I make an exception for you then I have to make an exception for everyone.

Red Herring • Red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue. In literature, this fallacy is often used in detective or suspense novels to mislead readers or characters or to induce them to make false conclusions. • The term red herring means a kind of dried red fish, which has a pungent smell. In fox hunting, hounds are prevented from catching the fox by distracting them with the strong scent of red herring. Similarly, a person can be stopped from proving his point in an argument by distracting him with an irrelevant issue.

Bandwagon Thinking • The name "bandwagon fallacy" comes from the phrase "jump on the bandwagon" or "climb on the bandwagon", a bandwagon being a wagon big enough to hold a band of musicians. • Everyone’s doing it

• “Does god exist? Several billion people can’t be wrong!” • “ 7 in 10 doctors say acupuncture works, therefore it must work” • Bill says that he likes the idea that people should work for their welfare when they can. His friends laugh at him, accuse him of fascist leanings, and threaten to ostracize him from their group. He decides to recant and abandon his position to avoid rejection.

Ad Hominem Ad hominem (Latin) means “against the man”. As the name suggests, it is a literary term that involves commenting on or against an opponent to undermine him instead of his arguments

Non Sequitur • Non sequiturs are those literary devices which include the statements, sayings and conclusions that do not follow the fundamental principles of logic and reason. They are frequently used in theater and comedies to create comedic effects. • In fact, non sequitur is a Latin phrase that means “it doesn’t follow”. Here “non” means not and “sequitur” means to follow.

• People generally like to walk on the beach. Beaches have sand. Therefore, having sand floors in homes would be a great idea! • Buddy Burger has the greatest food in town. Buddy Burger was voted #1 by the local paper. Therefore, Phil, the owner of Buddy Burger, should run for President of the United States. • There really is no exceptions to this rule. Any good argument must have a conclusion that follows from the premises

PRACTICE Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look at the bloody clothes, the murder weapon. Imagine the helpless screams of the victim. Such a crime deserves no verdict except guilty, guilty! Fallacy?

• Red herring. The fact that the crime was horrible doesn’t imply the defendant’s guilt.

• How can you possibly believe in evolution? That would mean that you believe that an elephant evolved from a mouse, and that’s just ridiculous.

• Straw man. Reducing the (very complex) theory of evolution to “elephants evolved from mice” is to create a distorted and oversimplified view of theory.

Now in groups – use the questions Lexus https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=a. VKoa. MZn v. Zs

• Coca-Cola, “Old Man Has a Good Life”

• “Bush-Hitler”