Fallacies

Begging the Question Arguing in a circle; using a statement as both premise and conclusion Argument The Bible was written by God The Bible says that God exists Everything the Bible says is true because it was written by God So, God exists Injustice of Inequality cannot be remedied by injustice of affirmative action Affirmative Action cannot be just

Equivocation Equivocation assigns two different meanings to the same term in an argument Argument A fetus is an individual that is indisputably human A human is endowed with the inviolable right to life Therefore, a fetus has a right to life. Two readings of “human” i) having human DNA ii) being a person (with moral rights)

Ad Hominem Attacking the person instead of attacking his argument. Examples Von Daniken's books about ancient astronauts are worthless because he is a convicted forger and embezzler. (Which is true, but that's not why they're worthless.) Turing thinks machines think. Turing lies with men. Therefore, machines don't think How can you argue for vegetarianism when you wear leather shoes? Evolutionary biology is a sinister tool of the materialistic, atheistic religion of Secular Humanism Questioning Expertise: Ad Hominem is not fallacious if the attack goes to the credibility of the argument. For instance, the argument may depend on its presenter's claim that he's an expert. E.g. Trial judges allow this category of attacks. Hypocrisy: See Eg. 3. Missing the point. Someone can not practice what they preach, but still be giving a correct argument.

Composition The composition fallacy occurs when someone mistakenly assumes that a characteristic of some or all the individuals in a group is also a characteristic of the group itself, the group “composed” of those members. Example: Each human cell is very lightweight, so a human being composed of cells is also very lightweight.

Appeal to Authority Relying on the opinion of someone thought to be expert who is not

Slippery Slope Fallacy of using dubious premises to argue that doing a particular action will inevitably lead to other actions that will results in disaster, so you should not do the first action Example 1. Rampant proliferation of pornography on the Internet leads to obsession with pornographic materials 2. Obsession with pornographic materials disrupts relationships, and disruption leads to divorce 3. So, we should ban pornography on the Internet A Demand for the person to show that the drastic consequence follows (i.e. give a reason for premise 2) Implicitly missing a moral premise

Faulty Analogy When a neighbor needs your help (as when he needs to borrow your garden hose to put out a fire in his house), it is morally permissible to lend the neighbor what he needs Britain is a neighbor of the US and it is in dire need of help to win the war against Germany So, it is morally permissible for the US to lend Britain the material and equipment it needs to defeat Germany

Appeal to Ignorance Examples When a neighbor needs your help (as when he needs to borrow your garden hose to put out a fire in his house), it is morally permissible to lend the neighbor what he needs Britain is a neighbor of the US and it is in dire need of help to win the war against Germany So, it is morally permissible for the US to lend Britain the material and equipment it needs to defeat Germany

Strawman Misrepresenting someone’s view and objecting to that view as if it is their own Example Democrats want to create death squads to provide funding for their health care bill Death squads are bad So, One should oppose the health care bill