Fallacious Reasoning 7 th Grade

The ability to identify logical fallacies in the arguments of others is a valuable skill.

A logical fallacy is basically an error of reasoning. Some logical fallacies are more common than others.

We are going to study six specific logical fallacies 1. Appeal to fear 2. Personal attack 3. False dilemma 4. False analogy 5. Categorical Claims 6. Stereotypes

1) Appeal to Fear They try to make you afraid of something instead of giving you facts and statistics. Example: Football is a very violent sport. If you play football you will get injured and have knee and back problems your entire life. I think it would be a good idea if you quit the football team.

2. Personal Attack This type of fallacious reasoning attacks the person making the argument rather than discussing the argument itself. The truth value of a claim is independent of the person making the claim. No matter how horrible a person is, they can still make true claims. Example: Rick believes we should donate money to the animal shelter, but I just saw him bully a third grader at the bus stop last week. Obviously donating money is probably a bad idea if he suggested it. Just because Rick is a bully doesn’t mean that the animal shelter should have donations.

3. False Dilemma They try to make you believe that there are only two options, when in reality there are more. Example: You either need to buy a brand new car, or be prepared to walk every where you go from now on. Why is this statement illogical?

4. False Analogy This reasoning is faulty because it is a comparison of two things that are too dissimilar. Andrea ’ s 30 year old roommate doesn ’ t even do her own laundry. Andrea may as well be living with a toddler. A lazy 30 year old and a toddler are not the same thing, so this is not a good comparison.

5. Categorical Claim The first statement is true, so they try to use that statement to make a false statement sound true. Ryan is in reading class and he is in the seventh grade so therefore all kids in a reading class are in the seventh grade. This is obviously not true- a sixth grader or an eighth grader could be in reading class.

6. Stereotype Stereotypes are considered a type of fallacious reasoning because they will refer to all members of a group as if they were all the same. Example: All women are bad drivers. Maybe they know a woman that is a bad driver, but that does not mean all women are bad drivers.

Why do you think it is important to learn about fallacious reasoning?

If you are reading a text quickly, an argument based on fallacious reasoning may look as if it made sense. This can be very dangerous, especially if the author is trying to trick you on purpose. Good readers are on the look out for fallacious reasoning!