Logical Fallacies English II

Essential Question: How do we recognize logical fallacies? Unit Objectives: By the end of this unit, you will understand how authors use language to advance an argument and achieve purpose. You will also use language to advance your own claims and analysis. Today’s Objective: Identify commonly used logical fallacies in print and audiovisual media.

A Look at Logic? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmcij5bge3k Today we are going to learn about 11 logical fallacies! As we learn, keep this clip in mind so that you can explain the fallacies used by the protagonist before leaving class today.

What is a Logical Fallacy? An inconsistency within your logical appeal (logos) Lowers your credibility (ethos)

Ad Hominem “Against the Man” Attacking the arguer rather than the argument Discrediting an argument by trashing the person making it. Watch for this is EVERY political debate! Examples Jenny is just a stupid blond on unemployment. Why would you ever consider her strategy for getting a job? Hilary Clinton would make a terrible president because her husband was impeached while in office.

Appeal to Authority When a statement is considered true because it is made by someone who is considered an “authority” on the topic. Example My doctor says taking St. John’s Wart everyday will make me less depressed. He should know—he’s a doctor!

Appeal to Authority Attempting to add strength to our arguments by referring to respected sources or authorities and explaining their positions on the issues we're discussing. Example: "We should abolish the death penalty. Many respected people, such as actor Guy Handsome, have publicly stated their opposition to it." While Guy Handsome may be an authority on matters having to do with acting, there's no particular reason why anyone should be moved by his political opinions--he is probably no more of an authority on the death penalty than the person writing the paper.

Appeal to Ignorance When a claim is considered true because it hasn’t been disproven (or vice versa). Example Since you cannot prove that aliens do not exist, they must exist.

Bandwagon When a concept is considered true because lots of people believe it’s true. Example 9 out of 10 doctors agree that Medicine X is the best, so Medicine X must be the best.

Begging the Question When the statement is assumed true based on the statement itself. Example The Bible is the word of God because it says so in the Bible.

Loaded Question When a question contains the presumption of guilt. Example So when exactly did you stop hitting your wife?

Non Sequitor When a statement’s conclusion does not follow from its premise. Example If you don’t buy this type of food, then you are neglecting your children’s health.

Red Herring When someone diverts the attention away from the topic to a new topic to throw you off and win the argument. Example So you think abortion results in lower crime rates. Well, we’ve all seen what happened in Nevada with that abortion doctor who killed his patients with dirty equipment. You want that? You want to see patients killed in dirty clinics? Then go ahead and support abortion.

Slippery Slope Predicting without justification that one step in a process will lead unavoidably to a second, generally undesirable step. When it is assumed that a small step leads to a larger chain reaction of events resulting in a greater impact. Example If we legalize abortion, the next thing you know we’ll be killing new born babies.

Slippery Slope Definition: 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 halfway down the hill. Example: "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." Since animal experimentation has been legal for some time and civilization has not yet ended, it seems particularly clear that this chain of events won't necessarily take place.

Straw Man When someone ignores the argument and replaces it with a distorted or exaggerated version of that argument. Examples Person A says, “Evolution states that humans developed over a long period of time from the same common ancestor as the gorilla.” Person B says, “Everyone listen to Person A. He’s saying that we descended from baboons!” Example: After Will said that we should put more money into health and education, Warren responded by saying that he was surprised that Will hates our country so much that he wants to leave it defenseless by cutting military spending.

Weak Analogy Definition: Many arguments rely on an analogy between two or more objects, ideas, or situations. If the two things that are being compared aren't really alike in the relevant respects, the analogy is a weak one, and the argument that relies on it commits the fallacy of weak analogy. Example: "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." While guns and hammers do share certain features, these features (having metal parts, being tools, and being potentially useful for violence) 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. This is a feature hammers do not share--it'd be hard to kill a crowd with a hammer. Thus, the analogy is weak, and so is the argument based on it. If you think about it, 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 (I work more when I'm stuck inside) and they're both kind of murky." So the mere fact that you draw an analogy between two things doesn't prove much, by itself.

Back to the Beginning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmcij5bge3k Let’s watch the Billy Madison clip one more time and see if we can determine which logical fallacies are being employed in the protagonist’s response to the debate prompt.

Exit Ticket Put a proper MLA heading in the upper left-hand corner of your paper. Identify at least one logical fallacy Billy Madison uses in the video clip. Using correct grammar structure, write a paragraph describing HOW the speaker exemplified the fallacy(ies) you identified.