Assignment #4
Definitions and Example of Fallacy
Ad hominems are a fallacy of relevance where someone rejects or criticizes another person’s view on the basis of personal characteristics, background, physical appearance, or other features irrelevant to the argument at issue.
Example 1: “MacDougal roots for a British football team. Clearly he’s unfit to be a police chief in Ireland.”
Example 2: “All people from Crete are liars”
Example 3: “ A politician arguing that his opponent cannot possibly be a good choice for women because he has a religious conviction that causes him to be pro-life”
Example 4: “A lawyer who argues that his client should not be held responsible for theft because he is poor”
Example 5: “A parent who says that the teacher doesn't know how to teach because she graduated from a community college”
The Strawman fallacy is aptly named after a harmless, lifeless, scarecrow. In the straw man fallacy, someone attacks a position the opponent doesn’t really hold. Instead of contending with the actual argument, he or she instead attacks the equivalent of a lifeless bundle of straw, an easily defeated effigy, which the opponent never intended upon defending anyway.
Example 1: “The Senator thinks we can solve all our ecological problems by driving a Prius.”
Example 2: “Quite the contrary, the Senator thinks the environment is such a wreck that no one’s car choice or driving habits would make the slightest difference.”
Example 3: “Senator Smith says that the nation should not add to the defense budget. Senator Jones says that he cannot believe that Senator Smith wants to leave the nation defenseless.”
Example 4: “Caroline says that she thinks her friends should not be so rude to the new girl. Jenna
says that she cannot believe that Caroline is choosing to be better friends with the new girl than the girls who have always known her.”
Example 5: “Pamela is the class secretary. She says that she thinks that the class should do more service projects. Mark says he can't believe that Pamela doesn't support the annual school dance.”
Appeal to Ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) Any time ignorance is used as a major premise in support of an argument, it’s liable to be a fallacious appeal to ignorance. Naturally, we are all ignorant of many things, but it is cheap and manipulative to allow this unfortunate aspect of the human condition to do most of our heavy lifting in an argument.
Example 1: “We have no evidence that the Illuminati ever existed. They must have been so clever they destroyed all the evidence.”
Example 2: “I know nothing about Tank Johnson except that he has a criminal record as long as your leg, but I’ll bet he’s really just misunderstood.”
Example 3: You can't prove that there aren't Martians living in caves under the surface of Mars, so it is reasonable for me to believe there are.
Example 4: No one can actually prove that God exists; therefore God does not exist.
Example 5: A cat who has roamed freely around a house speaks to a mouse who is hiding behind the wall. Through the hole in the wall, the cat says to the mouse, "Come on out! All the furniture out here is made of cheese!"
False Dilemma/False Dichotomy This fallacy has a few other names: “black-and-white fallacy,” “either-or fallacy,” “false dichotomy,” and “bifurcation fallacy.” This line of reasoning fails by limiting the options to two when there are in fact more options to choose from. Sometimes the choices are between one thing, the other thing, or both things together (they don’t exclude each other). Sometimes there are a whole range of options, three, four, five, or a hundred and forty-five. However it may happen, the false dichotomy fallacy errs by oversimplifying the range of options.
Example 1: “Either we go to war, or we appear weak.”
Example 2: “Either you love me, or you hate me.”
Example 3: You are for us, or you are against us.
Example 4: I thought you cared about other people, but I didn't see you at the fundraiser for the Harris Family
Example 5: Child to parent: Either you buy me this new book, or you decide that reading is not important at all.
The slippery slope fallacy works by moving from a seemingly benign premise or starting point and working through a number of small steps to an improbable extreme. This fallacy is not just a long series of causes. Some causal chains are perfectly reasonable. There could be a complicated series of causes which are all related, and we have good reason for expecting the first cause to generate the last outcome. The slippery slope fallacy, however, suggests that unlikely or ridiculous outcomes are likely when there’s just not enough evidence to think so.
Example 1: “Your coach’s policy is that no one can be a starter on game day if they miss practice. So, if you miss basketball practice today, you won’t be a starter in Friday’s game. Then you won’t be the first freshman to start on the Varsity basketball team at our school.”
Example 2: “If America doesn’t send weapons to the Syrian rebels, they won’t be able to defend themselves against their warring dictator. They’ll lose their civil war, and that dictator will oppress them, and the Soviets will consequently carve out a sphere of influence that spreads across the entire Middle East.”
Example 3: If we allow the children to choose the movie this time, they are going to expect to be able to choose the school they go to or the doctors they visit.
Example 4: We need to stop allowing colleges to increase tuition every year. The next thing we know, it's going to cost more to attend college for one semester than it is to buy a new home!
Example 5: If you allow the students to redo this test, they are going to want to redo every assignment for the rest of the year.
Ad hominems are a fallacy of relevance where someone rejects or criticizes another person’s view on the basis of personal characteristics, background, physical appearance, or other features irrelevant to the argument at issue.
Example 1: “MacDougal roots for a British football team. Clearly he’s unfit to be a police chief in Ireland.”
Example 2: “All people from Crete are liars”
Example 3: “ A politician arguing that his opponent cannot possibly be a good choice for women because he has a religious conviction that causes him to be pro-life”
Example 4: “A lawyer who argues that his client should not be held responsible for theft because he is poor”
Example 5: “A parent who says that the teacher doesn't know how to teach because she graduated from a community college”
The Strawman fallacy is aptly named after a harmless, lifeless, scarecrow. In the straw man fallacy, someone attacks a position the opponent doesn’t really hold. Instead of contending with the actual argument, he or she instead attacks the equivalent of a lifeless bundle of straw, an easily defeated effigy, which the opponent never intended upon defending anyway.
Example 1: “The Senator thinks we can solve all our ecological problems by driving a Prius.”
Example 2: “Quite the contrary, the Senator thinks the environment is such a wreck that no one’s car choice or driving habits would make the slightest difference.”
Example 3: “Senator Smith says that the nation should not add to the defense budget. Senator Jones says that he cannot believe that Senator Smith wants to leave the nation defenseless.”
Example 4: “Caroline says that she thinks her friends should not be so rude to the new girl. Jenna
says that she cannot believe that Caroline is choosing to be better friends with the new girl than the girls who have always known her.”
Example 5: “Pamela is the class secretary. She says that she thinks that the class should do more service projects. Mark says he can't believe that Pamela doesn't support the annual school dance.”
Appeal to Ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) Any time ignorance is used as a major premise in support of an argument, it’s liable to be a fallacious appeal to ignorance. Naturally, we are all ignorant of many things, but it is cheap and manipulative to allow this unfortunate aspect of the human condition to do most of our heavy lifting in an argument.
Example 1: “We have no evidence that the Illuminati ever existed. They must have been so clever they destroyed all the evidence.”
Example 2: “I know nothing about Tank Johnson except that he has a criminal record as long as your leg, but I’ll bet he’s really just misunderstood.”
Example 3: You can't prove that there aren't Martians living in caves under the surface of Mars, so it is reasonable for me to believe there are.
Example 4: No one can actually prove that God exists; therefore God does not exist.
Example 5: A cat who has roamed freely around a house speaks to a mouse who is hiding behind the wall. Through the hole in the wall, the cat says to the mouse, "Come on out! All the furniture out here is made of cheese!"
False Dilemma/False Dichotomy This fallacy has a few other names: “black-and-white fallacy,” “either-or fallacy,” “false dichotomy,” and “bifurcation fallacy.” This line of reasoning fails by limiting the options to two when there are in fact more options to choose from. Sometimes the choices are between one thing, the other thing, or both things together (they don’t exclude each other). Sometimes there are a whole range of options, three, four, five, or a hundred and forty-five. However it may happen, the false dichotomy fallacy errs by oversimplifying the range of options.
Example 1: “Either we go to war, or we appear weak.”
Example 2: “Either you love me, or you hate me.”
Example 3: You are for us, or you are against us.
Example 4: I thought you cared about other people, but I didn't see you at the fundraiser for the Harris Family
Example 5: Child to parent: Either you buy me this new book, or you decide that reading is not important at all.
The slippery slope fallacy works by moving from a seemingly benign premise or starting point and working through a number of small steps to an improbable extreme. This fallacy is not just a long series of causes. Some causal chains are perfectly reasonable. There could be a complicated series of causes which are all related, and we have good reason for expecting the first cause to generate the last outcome. The slippery slope fallacy, however, suggests that unlikely or ridiculous outcomes are likely when there’s just not enough evidence to think so.
Example 1: “Your coach’s policy is that no one can be a starter on game day if they miss practice. So, if you miss basketball practice today, you won’t be a starter in Friday’s game. Then you won’t be the first freshman to start on the Varsity basketball team at our school.”
Example 2: “If America doesn’t send weapons to the Syrian rebels, they won’t be able to defend themselves against their warring dictator. They’ll lose their civil war, and that dictator will oppress them, and the Soviets will consequently carve out a sphere of influence that spreads across the entire Middle East.”
Example 3: If we allow the children to choose the movie this time, they are going to expect to be able to choose the school they go to or the doctors they visit.
Example 4: We need to stop allowing colleges to increase tuition every year. The next thing we know, it's going to cost more to attend college for one semester than it is to buy a new home!
Example 5: If you allow the students to redo this test, they are going to want to redo every assignment for the rest of the year.
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