1. Persuasion Fallacies are our Friends?!?

2. FALLACIES – What are they and how do you recognize one?
Informal Fallacies are commonly heard statements that are based on faulty or weak reasoning.
Hundreds of kinds of fallacies have been identified.

3. Here are some of the most common. . .
Fallacy of Equivocation
Argument from Ignorance
Fallacy of False Cause
Fallacy of Hasty Generalization
Fallacy of Composition
Fallacy of Division
Appeal to Force
Appeal to People
Appeal to Authority
Fallacy of False Dilemma

4. Begging the Question Fallacy
Uses ambiguous words which cloud meaning

5. Argument from Ignorance
An argument from ignorance uses information that has not been proven to be either true or false
Although pictures “exist;” it’s never been proven that
Big Foot or the Loch Ness
Monster really exist.

6. Appeal to Authority
An appeal to authority who uses the testimony of an expert who is not an expert on the subject being discussed
Tiger Woods is an expert golfer, but does he know how to create a golf ball?

7. Fallacy of False Dilemma
A fallacy of false dilemma offers fewer options than really exist.
Face it Doris – All you’ll
Ever be in this company
Is a secretary or a second-
Rate salesperson.
No – someday I’ll be your
Boss and you can kiss
Your job good-bye.

8. Appeal to Force An appeal to force convinces by arousing fears.
Go to sleep now or that monster
under your bed
will come out and get you!
1960’s political ad from Lyndon B. Johnson

9. Fallacy of Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
This concludes that since two incidents happened at the same time, and that one even caused the other.
He’s down on his luck. Did the piano fall on
him because of his luck or was he in the
wrong place at the wrong time?

10. Fallacy of Hasty Generalization
This judges a group by the actions of appearance of one or a few members of that group.
Example:
Will the whole world know
her husband’s an idiot? Or
will all of the people who
have internet access know?
Political Example:
Republicans always try to drag women back into caves by their hair.
- Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (DNC Chair)

11. Appeal to People – Argumentum Populum - Bandwagon
An appeal to people argues that since most people do something, you should too.
Everyone is jumping off the cliff –
Are you going to too?
Everyone has a nose piercing these –
You should get one too.

12. Fallacy of Division
This argues that if a whole unit has a quality, then each part must have that quality.
The universe has existed for
fifteen billion years. The universe is made out
of molecules. Therefore, each of the
molecules in the
universe has existed for
fifteen billion years.

13. Fallacy of Composition
This assumes that because every part has a characteristic, the whole unit will also have that characteristic.
A car makes less pollution than a bus.
Therefore, cars are less of a
pollution problem than buses.

14. Fallacies We are bombarded by fallacies every day in our lives. Why?
Do they prevent us from knowing the whole truth and nothing but the truth about people, products, entertainment, etc?