LOGICAL FALLACIES

BELL WORK

Watch the following clip:How does Aladdin play with language in order to get out of the cave?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr2bKXBV67o

Post-Discussion: https://youtu.be/yhOTQYzhjNw

OBJECTIVE

You will be able to identify four kinds of logical fallacies in order to avoid using

them in future debates.

LANGUAGE IS KEY

There are several things you want to avoid when arguing/persuading.

Even though Aladdin convinced Genie, this does not mean that his tactics were honest or proper.

TYPES OF LOGICAL FALLACIES

Definition: An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.

Types: Hasty Generalization Faulty Causality Equivocation Ad Hominem Attacks Straw Man Bandwagon

HASTY GENERALIZATIONS

Because my Honda broke down, all Hondas must be junk.

All Italians are romantic. If you are Mexican, you take siestas

daily.

Definition: An inference drawn from insufficient evidence; stereotype

FAULTY CAUSALITY

The rooster crowed; therefore, the sun rose!

A gun in the house means people will be injured or die.

Definition: Inaccurately describing cause and effect.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Because I stepped on the brakes, my car stopped.

Because the intruder was threatening my life, I shot him in the leg and stopped his devious actions.

TURNING IT INTO AN ANALYTICAL WARRANT

A gun in the house may result in injury if not properly locked away.

EQUIVOCATING

Someone who plagiarizes an essay says, “I wrote the entire paper myself.” She is misusing the word “wrote.”

Definition: a half-truth, usually using tricks of language

AD HOMINEM ATTACKS

“How can we vote for a man who is a busted liar, a con artist, and a womanizer?” Does this say anything about his intentions to

govern a community?

Definition: Attacks directed at the character of a person rather than at the claims he or she makes.

YOU TRY!

Read each argument and write which logical fallacy is being used in the example.

EXAMPLES TO TRY!

Cleveland led the game until I called my brother to celebrate. I obviously jinxed them. Faulty Causality: Two things are not necessarily

connected just because they happen consecutively or concurrently.

Since many of the students at St. Cloud State University get A's, St. Cloud State must be a top-rated school. Hasty Generalization: a whole does not always

possess the characteristics of its parts! We may need to relook at an example from Worksheet

1!

YOU TRY!

I believe in supernatural beings because every time I drive past the cemetery where my grandmother is buried, a light on my dashboard flashes. Her spirit causes this because it never happens otherwise. Faulty Causality: we cannot assume that

because two events occur consecutively or concurrently, they are causally related.

YOU TRY!

Oprah Winfrey's diet advice is useless; she has had problems with maintaining her weight for most of her life, bouncing back and forth between being overweight and slender. Ad Hominem Attack: Do not attack the

opposition personally for who they are and not for what they say. The validity of logical reasoning does not depend on the morality of the speaker.

YOU TRY!

Jesus is the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God. Therefore: Jesus is the Bible. Equivocation: a term is used in two or more

different senses within a single argument.

Parents car insurance rates can spike anywhere from 50-200 % higher once a teen driver is included on the policy. So teenagers are bad drivers. Hasty Generalization: trying to make a logical

leap, but it is far greater than what the data allows.

YOU TRY!

Pointing to a fancy chart, Roger shows how temperatures have been rising over the past few centuries, whilst at the same time the numbers of pirates have been decreasing; thus pirates cool the world and global warming is a hoax. Faulty Causality

We should not believe an argument on law enforcement from a woman who was once arrested. Ad Hominem

YOU TRY!

Daniel was a precocious child and had a liking for logic. He reasoned that atoms are invisible, and that he was made of atoms and therefore invisible too. Hasty Generalization

We clearly have an issue with police brutality. Just look at this headline: “Sent city police out at 11:38 a.m. to kick kids off the roof of a downtown furniture store.” Equivocation

BETTER?!

Let’s see if we can explain each one in our own words now after seeing several examples.

MORE LOGICAL FALLACY EXAMPLES!

An environmental group illegally blocked loggers and workers at a nuclear plant. Therefore, environmentalists are radicals who take the law into their own hands. Hasty Generalization

Because I watched The Big Bang Theory last night, I passed my math test. Faulty Causality

EVEN MORE!!!!!

The audience was polled and voted that the speaker did not seem like an ethical person; his work ethic is therefore clearly poor. Equivocating

My opponent suggests that decreasing the amount of dairy in our diet will be a badidea -- this is coming from a woman who eats a pint of Ben and Jerry’s each night! Ad Hominem

BAND WAGON

Definition: appeals to the growing popularity of an idea as the reason for accepting it as true It has an emphasis on current fads and

trends.

Ex: Millions of people stood in line to buy the new iWatch, therefore, the iWatch must be awesome.

STRAW MAN

Definition: misrepresenting the other person's argument Misquoting the other person Focusing on one weakness in an argument

for an entire argument

EXIT SLIP

Based on what was learned today, what is important to keep in mind when

presenting rebuttals and arguments?