Logical Fallacies

What does this mean? Fallacy – trickery, deception Fallacious – tending to deceive or mislead When seeking out information about a topic, you need to be careful about fallacious reasoning. Make sure you are making decisions based on facts.

Ad Hominem Attacking the arguer (or your opponent) instead of the argument. Ex: You’re so stupid, of course your ideas won’t work. Ex: I figured you wouldn’t get it right so, I ignored your comment. Ex: America is in the midst of a recession because Obama is an idiot. Youtube – Ned Lamont Has a Messy Desk

False Dilemma *Also called “Black & White Thinking” or “Either/Or Thinking” When two alternative statements are held to be the only possible options, when in reality there could be more. Ex: You have to make up your mind, either you can afford the stereo system or you do without music for a while. Ex: Either you eat your dinner or you’ll starve. Ex: Either we stop buying coffee every morning or we’ll go broke. Video Example: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/151029/

Faulty Cause and Effect Says that “A” causes “B.” (without real proof that this is true) Ex: Money causes people to be arrogant. (Not all people, and not always just money) Ex: Drinking fresh water will keep you healthy. (It may contribute, but it’s not the only cause) Ex: A black cat crossed Meg’s path early yesterday, and, sure enough, that night she was involved in a car accident. (The cat didn’t cause the accident) Ex: Because America is full of fast food restaurants, American people are fat. (May contribute, but not total reason)

Bandwagon Appeals to Majority or Popularity (Joining a cause because of its popularity) Ex: Idea “X” is popular. Therefore, idea “X” is correct. Ex: Jen likes classical music, but since most of her classmates listen to rap, that is all she has on her ipod. Ex: Seven out of ten doctors say that acupuncture works so, therefore, it must work. http://www.theonion.com/content/video/new_live_poll_allows_pundits_to

Sweeping Generalization An unqualified generalization. Statement with no support. Ex: All high school students are irresponsible. (No support as to why) Ex: The people of America are suffering. (Why? How?) Ex: When a politician says, “I will fix this.” Or, “This needs to be fixed.” (How will you fix it?) Jersey?

Hasty Generalization Making a decision or coming to a conclusion based on too few examples. Ex: A person travels through town for the first time. He sees ten people, all of them children. The person concludes there are no adult residents in the town. Ex: Governor Christie chose to randomly pick five NJ high schools to take a reading test. Four out of the five schools failed the test, therefore, all NJ high schools need a new reading program. Ex: You’ll love the movie Mr. Deeds. If you loved Fifty First Dates and Big Daddy, you’ll love Mr. Deeds.

Appeal to Authority When a person who seems like they should be an expert on a subject (perhaps because they are in a position of authority) makes a statement or claim about a subject, but he/she is not an expert on the subject.

Basically says: “Old Ways are Best” Appeal to Tradition Basically says: “Old Ways are Best” Ex: X is traditional. Therefore, X is better. Ex: One day, Janie and her mom are baking a ham. In preparing the ham for the oven, Janie's mom cuts off the bottom third of the ham before putting the rest of it in the pan to go into the oven. Janie asks, "Mom, why do you cut off the bottom third of the ham like that?" Janie's mom replies, "Well, I do it because that's the way grandma does it." So Janie asks, "Ok, why does grandma do that?" Mom replies, "I don't know, let's call her." They call grandma and ask. Grandma says, "I do it because great-grandma did it that way." So Janie asks, "Why did she do it that way?" Grandma replies, "I don't know, let's call her." They call great-grandma and ask, "Nana, in our family we always cut the bottom third of the ham off before putting it in the oven. Why do we do that?" Great-grandma replies, chuckling, "You know, I never understood why all you fools keep doing that. I did it because I never had a pan big enough for a full ham!”

Red-Herring When the arguer diverts the attention of the audience by changing the subject. Ex: I think it’s a great idea to make requirements stricter for graduate students. I recommend that you support it too. After all, we are in a budget crisis and we do not want our salaries affected. Ex: I know I forgot to buy more dog food, but nothing I do pleases you.

Slippery Slope Because “A” happened, “B,” “C,” and “D” will have to happen. Ex: If you don’t graduate from high school then you’ll never get a job and you’ll become homeless. Ex: The U.S. shouldn’t get involved in other countries’ wars. Once our government gets involved, we send in troops and thousands die. Ex: If you start gambling then you spend all your money on gambling and you turn to crime to support your habit.

Experimenting with Logical Fallacies Your Assignment: Find your own examples of logical fallacies! -Your examples can be of your own creation or they can be from real life. -You must have one example for each of the ten Logical Fallacies we have studied. -Format: You must provide the type of logical fallacy, an explanation of the example and an image to go along with your example.