Critical Thinking Lecture 5a Fallacies in Reasoning (1) By David Kelsey

Fallacies A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning. But like rhetorical devices, there is an intent to persuade with fallacies, an intent to influence beliefs, attitudes and behavior.

Argument from outrage An argument from outrage is given when inflammatory words are followed by a conclusion. This is to make an appeal to anger… My favorite examples are political talk shows where you see someone, for example Rush Limbaugh or Alex Jones, screaming our shouting…

Scapegoating To scapegoat a person or group is to blame that person or group for something they didn’t do. You often see children scapegoat their siblings. A little brother might say his little sister was the one that broke the vase when he did it.

Scare Tactics One uses scare tactics when she tries to scare someone else into believing some claim. Invoking fear… Examples in anti-smoking commercials and other advertisements like this…

Argument by force One makes an argument by force when she tries to get someone to accept some claim by threatening her. Also an appeal to fear… Do it or else.

Argument from pity One makes an argument from pity when she evokes compassion to cause a mistake in reasoning. The fallacy occurs when feeling sorry for someone persuades us to do or believe something

Argument from Envy One makes an argument from envy when she evokes envy or jealousy to cause a mistake in reasoning. You see this clearly in cases where one person wants what another person has. We might say ‘oh I wish I had that beautiful sports car’ or ‘I wish I lived the life Leo DiCaprio lives’.

Apple Polishing Apple polishing occurs when pride causes a mistake in reasoning. It occurs, in particular, when pride leads one to exaggerate her own accomplishments and abilities. My favorite example of Apple Polishing occurs on talent shows such as American Idol. An even simpler way to think of apple polishing is what some call ‘brown nosing’ or ’kissing up’.

Guilt Trip A guilt trip occurs when guilt is evoked to get someone to accept a claim. For example, you might guilt someone into giving you money by saying something like “I really need it and besides you know I would give you the money if the situation was reversed.”

Wishful Thinking Wishful thinking is accepting a claim simply because it would be pleasant if it were true. For example, you may believe in God simply because you desire to go to Heaven. Examples in Axe body spray commercials and other advertisements…

The peer pressure argument To commit this fallacy is to persuade someone into doing something or believing something because that person will be accepted if he does. For the best examples you can think back to high school or college parties... Sometimes peer pressure isn’t so subtle though. Think of fraternity initiation practices.

The Group Think fallacy The group think fallacy occurs when one substitutes pride of membership in a group for reason and logic in arriving at some claim. For example, I might for example think that my schools football team is going to beat our rival school even if we haven’t won a game all year

Nationalism Nationalism occurs when national pride leads one to blind endorsement of a country and its policies. A form of the group think fallacy. It is blind patriotism. You see this fallacy in the claim ‘my country right or wrong’!!! Examples in the famous George Washington Dodge Challenger commercial and other advertisements…

Rationalizing One rationalizes when she uses a false pretext to satisfy her own desire. I take this fallacy to be like cooking up reasons for doing something you really wanted to do all along. I see this example most clearly in the excuses we make up to go shopping.

Argument from popularity This occurs when someone believes some claim on the grounds that all or most of some group of people believe it. The mistake here is believing because something is popular among non-experts. Consider at one time most people in the world believed the Earth was flat even though some very important and credible scientists said it wasn’t.

Argument from common practice An argument from common practice occurs when someone justifies some action on the grounds that it is common. This is sometimes also called the bandwagon fallacy. For example, I might become a Golden State Warriors fan because they just won the title. Examples also in speeding and cheating on your taxes…

Argument from tradition An argument from tradition occurs when someone justifies some action on the grounds that it is tradition. Consider some of the quite barbaric traditions that have evaporated on this planet such as human sacrifices. Just because something is tradition doesn’t mean it must be Right.

Red Herrings A red herring is used to distract away from some argument by pulling attention away from it and toward some irrelevant claim. A red herring usually changes the subject to something irrelevant and this change of subject is on purpose because the new subject is somehow preferred… You see this tactic often in political debates. The move is often called a pivot…

Smokescreens One creates a smokescreen when an argument is being made in favor of a claim and she attempts to distract attention away from it by piling issues on top of it or by making the argument overly complex until the original argument is lost in the verbal “smoke”. A smokescreen is an obliteration of red herrings, of subject changes. With smokescreens there are often several changes of subject. This strategy is again often seen in politics.