1. 1 Lesson 9: Fallacies SOCI 108 - Thinking Critically about Social Issues Spring 2012

2. 2 Learning Outcomes Define Fallacy Identify common fallacies

3. 3 What a Fallacy A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning A fallacious argument is one that contains a mistake in reasoning If an argument exhibits a fallacy, it is probably a bad argument, but not always

4. 4 Fallacies of Relevance The statements are not relevant to the conclusion. – What’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?

5. 5 Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence The statements don’t provide enough evidence The statements don’t provide the right kind of evidence, not weighty enough – My brother said versus an expert said Consider the source – Dr. Phil’s diet Do you question the source’s observations/is the source generally reliable? – Enquirer vs The New York Times Did the person making the argument understand and cite the original source correctly? Is there a conflict with other experts? – Smoking pot

6. 6 Fallacies of Ambiguity Ambiguous language or poor grammatical structure so you can’t follow

7. 7 Sign up for Fallacies!