The Quality of Arguments: Fallacies Pei Lei:

Three Basic Fallacies Problematic premise: arguments that for any reason fail to fulfill the acceptability requirements. Irrelevant reason: an argument fails to minimally satisfy the criteria of relevance. Hasty conclusions: all evidence and links taken together fail to meet the test of sufficiency.

Basic Fallacy #1: Problematic Premise Begging the question Fallacy of incompatibility

Problematic Premise Free speech is good for the society because it is conducive to the interests of the community. Begging the Question

Basic Fallacy #1: Problematic Premise Green-card holder should get voting rights. They live in this country so they should have their voting rights to protect their interest. However, this wouldn’t harm the citizens’ interests, because the statistics shows not many of immigrants really get involved in their local affairs like voting for community leaders. Fallacy of incompatibility

Basic Fallacy #2: Irrelevant Reason Argument ad hominem Straw person fallacy Red herring Poisoning the well Guilt by association Appeal to fear Appeal to popularity Appeal to tradition

Irrelevant Reason Examples – Fallacious: Attacking a candidate for President of the debate club for failing a math examination. – Not fallacious: Attacking a candidate for the Ministry of Health for cheating on medical exams. – Ad Hominem

Irrelevant Reason Example: Someone opposing the death penalty argues that the death penalty risks executing an innocent person. The straw person response might be: “you’re suggesting we open the doors of our prisons and let everyone out to avoid wrongfully convicting anyone.” Straw Person

Irrelevant Reason George W. Bush announced that the congress got two bills and they’ll pass one of it. One is to ban cyclists across the nation the other is to launch the war in Iraq. A journalist asked why he wanted to ban cyclists. George responded: “ See, nobody cares Iraq. So we’ll pass the second motion.” Red Herring

Irrelevant Reason Additional Fallacies “Robert is an American. We can’t expect him to help Chinese debate education.” Poisoning the well: “How can you possibly expect Pei Lei to help with debate teaching in China. After all, she works for Robert!” Guilt by Association:

Irrelevant Reason Additional Fallacies attempting to take the focus off the argument by shifting the focus solely on the basis of fear. “If you vote for my opponent, we should all build bomb shelters because we will be attacked.” Appeal to fear:

Irrelevant Reason Additional Fallacies “All the nations in the world are taking actions towards CO2 emission. So should China.” Appeal to popularity: Using the popularity of someone or something to justify a favorable evaluation.

Irrelevant Reason Additional Fallacies “The Chinese has been using fireworks for hundreds of years so we should continue to do so in the future. Appeal to tradition:

Basic Fallacy #3 Hasty Conclusion Hasty generalization Fallacious slippery slope arguments Two wrongs fallacy Improper appeal to practice Fallacy of composition Fallacy of division Post hoc fallacy Faulty analogy

Hasty Conclusions I have five students in my class from Xi’an and they are all failing. I suppose Xi’an does not produce good students. Hasty Generalization

Hasty Conclusions “If the university bans electric ovens in dormitory. They will also ban TV. Then computer. Then our smartphones will also be banned. Even an iwatch will not be allowed. We will have no appliance or any electronic products at all. Because they produce heat and probably cause fire! ” Fallacious Slippery Slope Arguments

Hasty Conclusions As a college teacher, you shouldn’t complain about your salary, because college teachers are supposed to devote(sometimes sacrifice) themselves and ask for no return. Two Wrongs Fallacy

Hasty Conclusions Additional Fallacies “Why should government set a quota for woman in the office? Other businesses have more men than women.” Improper appeal to practice:

Hasty Conclusions Additional Fallacies “Tim Howard, the keeper for Manchester United, is a superb keeper. Therefore, Manchester United is one of the best football teams in Europe.” Fallacy of composition:

Hasty Conclusions Additional Fallacies “Harvard is an excellent university, therefore Law Professor Lawrence Tribe must be an excellent Professor.” Fallacy of division: The evidence is drawn from the whole, but the conclusion is about the part.

Hasty Conclusions Additional Fallacies the assumption that because one thing precedes another, the first must have caused the first. “After Barak Obama was elected, the U.S. economy went into recession. Therefore Obama was the cause of the recession.” Post hoc fallacy:

Hasty Conclusions Additional Fallacies Abortion practices are just like Hitler’s murder of six million Jews. Faulty analogy: this fallacy occurs when two events are compared to each other but are not similar in terms of the comparison.

Fallacies: Some Concluding Thoughts Fallacies are about the quality of an argument’s construction, not its truth. – An argument free of fallacies is not necessarily a true argument. – An argument is not necessarily false just because it contains a fallacy. Arguments are not either categorically “good” or “bad.” They exist on a continuum from more -or-less good to more-or-less bad.