common logical fallacies #3: misjudging or misusing people arguments
TRANSCRIPT
Common Logical Common Logical FallaciesFallacies
#3: Misjudging or Misusing
People Arguments
Appeal to Popularity Because everyone does it, it must be rightAlso known as BANDWAGON: Because everyone believes it, it must be
so. Because everyone does/has it, it must be
desirable.Related: COMMON PRACTICE Because something is done customarily or
traditionally, it must be right.
Example You have to let me go to that party.
Everyone else is going. We’ve never had a woman
president. We shouldn’t have one now.
That policy shouldn’t be changed. We’ve always done it that way.
Reasoning Based on Poll Results:
Our schools aren’t safe. 80% of Americans polled say that schools are unsafe.
False Authority Citing authority, “expert” opinion, to
support arguments, (legitimate authority), strengthens an argument.
However, the authority cited should be REAL.
Using False Authority is citing an “authority” who may be: Uninformed in the topic under consideration Biased about the topic of persuasion Unlikely to be telling the truth about the topic
Would you buy a car because Britney Spears recommended that particular brand and model?
Ad Hominem/Poisoning the Well:
Attacking the person whoproposes or opposes anargument or position rather than attacking the argument or position
Don’t support that environmental law! Robert Redford supports it, and you know he’s not very moral!
It’s OK to attack the person’s character if the issue is a character issue. The opponent’s character BECOMES part of the issue.Example: Don’t vote for Senator Snorth. He cheats on his wife and is an alcoholic who has been convicted of drunk driving.
You, Also (Tu Quoque) Arguing that an argument has no
value because the proponent of the argument doesn’t follow his own advice. (He/she’s a hypocrite.)
Example: How can that judge order stringent
penalties for convicted drug dealers? He used his influence to reduce the sentence to probation when his son was caught selling marijuana.
Two Wrongs Make a Right
Trying to justify something wrong that one is doing by arguing that either: Someone else did the same thing to the
arguerOR
Someone did some other bad thing to the arguer that justifies his/her bad action
It’s OK for me to cheat on my income tax because the government spends too much money, anyway.
Example:
Another Way of Cheating:
Lie without really Lying
Appeal to Force/Threatening Arousing people’s fears to threaten
them into supporting your thesis
Example: If you vote for X initiative, you’ll lose
your job because the company hurt by the initiative will go out of business, hurting Utah’s economy.
Red Herring Dragging a “red herring” across the
trail to divert the hunting dog from the path of the gameBECOMES
Changing the focus of the argument to something not directly connected to the thesis to divert the audience away from the thesis
Example: The mayor proposed building a new
baseball stadium. How can he consider allocating millions to this stadium when so many baseball players have drug problems?
Half TruthsDeceiving by telling only the PART of
the truth that supports the thesis, hiding that part of the truth that supports opposing points of view
“The teacher is unfair. She failed me becausemy term project was late.” Hidden: The teacher warned students of the deadline for over a month.
Use of Misleading Statistics(Half Truth with Statistics) Using true statistics, but not giving
contexts or not revealing the whole truth about the statistics
Example: Women will never be competent
firfighters; after all, only 50% of the women in the city’s training program passed the exam. Hidden: only two women were enrolled in the program.
Card Stacking: Half Truth in Comparisons
Stack the cards in the thesis’s favor (a kind of half-truth) In a comparison, only present the
points in which that idea is superior Or only present those facts that
back up one side of the argument
Example: Legalize marijuana because it has
medicinal benefits: it can help chemotherapy patients and glaucoma sufferers.
Hidden truth: there are other drugs that help these two groups. Marijuana, unlike the other drugs, is often abused.