1 Lesson 9: Fallacies SOCI 108 - Thinking Critically about Social Issues Spring 2012

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Lesson 9: Fallacies

SOCI 108 - Thinking Critically about Social IssuesSpring 2012

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Learning Outcomes

Define Fallacy Identify common fallacies

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What a Fallacy

A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning A fallacious argument is one that contains a

mistake in reasoning If an argument exhibits a fallacy, it is

probably a bad argument, but not always

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Fallacies of Relevance

The statements are not relevant to the conclusion.– What’s that got to do with the price of tea in

China?

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Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence

The statements don’t provide enough evidence The statements don’t provide the right kind of evidence, not

weighty enough– My brother said versus an expert said

Consider the source– Dr. Phil’s diet

Do you question the source’s observations/is the source generally reliable?

– Enquirer vs The New York Times Did the person making the argument understand and cite the

original source correctly? Is there a conflict with other experts?

– Smoking pot

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Fallacies of Ambiguity

Ambiguous language or poor grammatical structure so you can’t follow

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