LOGICAL FALLACIES

Logical Fallacies

Logical untruths or faulty logic

Refers to inaccurate or misleading information that

weakens an argument.

They can be used maliciously

Relying on audience ignorance of the issue

Relying on audience trust

Believing that the audience will not or cannot look further into

the evidence.

It is important to be able to both recognize poor logic when you

are reading and also to avoid it in your own communication.

Types of Fallacies

Logical Fallacies are used to 1) distract, 2)

distort, or 3) omit information. Often this is done

by over-relying on an appeal other than logic or

disguising a pathetic or authoritative appeal as

logic.

Emotion: Relying solely or unfairly on the

audience’s emotions – guilt, insecurity, anger,

fear, etc.

Authority or Trust – focusing solely on

character assassination or claiming authority

where none exists

Logic- Distorting, Distracting or Omitting

Logical Fallacy

Practice

Practice 1

My roommate said her philosophy class was hard, and the one I’m in is hard, too. All philosophy classes must be hard!”

What’s wrong here?

Two people’s experiences are, in this case, not enough on which to base a conclusion.

Generalization: Making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on an inadequate sample that is inadequate (usually because it is atypical or too small). Stereotypes about people (“librarians are shy and smart,” “wealthy people are snobs,” etc.) are a common example of the principle underlying hasty generalization.

Practice 2

“Animal experimentation reduces our respect for life. If we

don’t respect life, we are likely to be more and more

tolerant of violent acts like war and murder. Soon our

society will become a battlefield in which everyone

constantly fears for their lives. It will be the end of

civilization. To prevent this terrible consequence, we

should make animal experimentation illegal right now.”

What’s wrong here?

Problem 1: Since animal experimentation has been legal for some

time and civilization has not yet ended, it seems particularly evident

that this chain of events won’t necessarily take place.

Problem 2: Even if we believe that experimenting on animals

reduces respect for life, and loss of respect for life makes us more

tolerant of violence, that may be the spot on the hillside at which

things stop—we may not slide all the way down to the end of

civilization.

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Slippery slope: The arguer claims that a sort of chain

reaction, usually ending in some dire consequence, will

take place, but there’s really not enough evidence for that

assumption. The arguer asserts that if we take even one

step onto the “slippery slope,” we will end up sliding all

the way to the bottom; he or she assumes we can’t stop

Practice 3

Guns are like hammers—they’re both tools with metal parts that could be used to kill someone. And yet it would be ridiculous to restrict the purchase of hammers—so restrictions on purchasing guns are equally ridiculous.

What’s wrong here?

Guns and hammers share certain features- having metal parts, being tools, and being potentially useful for violence.

However, these are not the ones at stake in deciding whether to restrict guns.

Rather, we restrict guns because they can easily be used to kill large numbers of people at a distance- a feature hammers do not share.

Weak analogy

Definition: Many arguments rely on an analogy

between two or more objects, ideas, or situations. If

the two things being compared aren’t really alike in

the relevant respects, the analogy is weak.

Analogies Are Tricky-- You can make an analogy of some kind between almost any two things in

the world:

“My paper is like a mud puddle because they both get bigger when it

rains and they’re both kind of murky.”

So the fact that you can draw an analogy between two things doesn’t prove

much.

Practice 4

“We should abolish the death penalty. Many respected people, such

as actor Ryan Gosling, have publicly stated their opposition to it.”

What’s wrong here?

While Ryan Gosling may be an authority on acting, there’s no

particular reason why anyone should be moved by his political

opinions.

False appeal to authority: References to respected sources or

authorities and explaining their positions on the issues are often used

appropriately to strengthen an argument. However, a false appeal to

authority tries to get readers to agree with a conclusion simply by

impressing them with a famous name or appealing to a supposed

authority, who really isn’t much of an expert.

Practice 5

“Same-sex marriages are immoral; 70% of Americans think so.”

What’s wrong here?

While American majority opinion might be relevant in determining what laws we should have, it certainly doesn’t determine moral vs. immoral.

Ex. At one time, a substantial number of Americans were in favor of segregation, but their opinion was not evidence that it was moral.

There are many versions of the ad populum fallacy, but in all of them, the arguer takes advantage of the desire most people have to be liked and to fit in with others.

Bandwagon Fallacy– The most common type in which the arguer tries to convince the audience to do or believe something because everyone else (supposedly) does.

Practice 6

“Caldwell Hall is in bad shape. Either we tear it down and put up a new building, or we continue to risk students’ safety. Obviously we shouldn’t risk anyone’s safety, so we must tear the building down.”

What’s wrong here?

The argument neglects to mention that we might repair the building or find some way to protect students from the risks in question—for example, if only a few rooms are in bad shape, perhaps we shouldn’t hold classes in those rooms.

False dichotomy: The arguer sets up the situation so it looks like there are only two choices. The arguer then eliminates one, so it seems that we are left with only one logical option-- the one the arguer wanted us to pick in the first place.

Remember, often there are really many different options, not just two, and those options are more complex.

Practice 7

“Feminists want to ban all pornography and punish everyone who looks at it! But such harsh measures are surely inappropriate, so the feminists are wrong: porn and its fans should be left in peace.”

What’s wrong here?

The feminist argument is being overstated. In fact, most feminists don’t propose an outright “ban” on porn or any

punishment for those who merely view it or approve of it; often, they propose restrictions on particular things like child porn, or propose to allow those hurt by porn to sue publishers and producers—not viewers—for damages.

Straw Man: In the straw man fallacy, the arguer sets up a weak version of the opponent’s position and tries to score points by knocking it down.

It is appropriate to anticipate and respond in advance to opposing views.

Just as being able to knock down a straw man (like a scarecrow) isn’t very impressive, defeating a watered-down version of an

Cherry-Picking

also known as “card-stacking”

Ignoring 1) evidence that disproves your

argument 2) opposing arguments, or valid points

or concerns of opposing argument in order to

make yours more appealing

All arguments should be fair-minded and truthful.

VISUAL EXAMPLES…

The poster

reads:

The Jew:

Inciter of war,

prolonger of

war.”

YOUR ADS

1. What fallacies or types of “bad logic” were you able to find in the Jaguar commercial?

2. What fallacies or types of “bad logic” were you able to find in your own ads?

YOUR WRITING

Focusing on a situation in which you would not have visuals and other digital tools-like a formal academic essay for class– how would you go about appealing to your audience, especially pathos and ethos?