Prove Me Wrong!
Ask Yourself:
“O. J. Simpson couldn’t have murdered his wife. He’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He’s
This doesn’t make sense because…
…the fact that he’s in the Hall of Fame has
This isn’t necessarily true because…
The reasoning for this statement is in the
Fallacy
(Rhetorical, Logical, Argumentative, etc. fallacy)
Rhetorical fallacies, or fallacies of argument, don’t allow for the open, two-way exchange of ideas upon which meaningful conversations depend.
Suggesting one thing will lead to another, oftentimes with disastrous results.
Slippery Slope
AKA Domino fallacy
When the Supreme Court ruled that school officials need not obtain search warrants or find “probable cause” while conducting reasonable searches of students, they violated freedoms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. If you allow a teacher to look for a knife or drugs, you’ll soon have strip searches and, next, torture.
-- from an American Civil Liberties Union fund-raising letter
Mark Hughes, owner of Herbalife
International, was questioned by a Senate subcommittee about the safety of the controversial diet products marketed by his company. Referring to a panel of three nutrition and weight-control authorities, Hughes asked, “If they’re such experts, why are they fat?”
--New York Times
Red Herring
Introducing a side issue to distract from the main issue.
Mother: It’s bedtime Jane
Jane: Mom, how do ants feed their babies?
Mother: Don’t know dear. Close your eyes now. Jane: But mama, do ant babies cry when hungry?
Non Sequitor
(Umbrella Term)
A statement that doesn’t logically follow the argument coming before it.
Guns have been used to attack and kill people.
All guns are weapons are used as weapons against innocent individuals.
1. All men are humans. 2. Mary is human.
Straw Man
AKA Straw Person
Will: We should put more money into health and education
Warren: Wow, I’m surprised that you hate America so much that you want to leave it defenseless by
cutting military spending.
Either-Or
AKA False Dilemma
Reducing the issue to 2 sides, 1 is extreme and must be avoided (there is no gray area).
“I don’t like the idea of abortion either, but it’s better than having some poor woman kill herself trying to raise 11 or 12 children.”
-- William Weld, former Massachusetts governor
“For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery.”
“…give me liberty or give me death!” -Patrick Henry
Hasty Generalization
Drawing a conclusion based on limited evidence.
A concerned citizen says: “That man is an alcoholic. Liquor should be banned.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=owGykVbfgUE
False Cause
AKA Post Hoc Cause (A) Effect (B)
A Conclusion rests on the presumption of a link
between two phenomena, when in fact all that has been shown is a correlation.
Assuming that correlation implies causation.
Joan is scratched by a cat while visiting her friend. Two days later she comes down with a fever. Joan concludes that the cat's scratch must be the cause of her illness.
Ad Populum
The fallacy of attempting to win popular assent to a conclusion by arousing the feeling and enthusiasms of the multitude.
Playing on the collective emotions of the crowd. Bandwagon = “everyone else is doing it, so...”
Faulty Analogy
AKA “Apples to Oranges”
Comparing 2 things that are fundamentally dissimilar.
A psychologist who researched rat behavior discovered that if a group of rats were confined in a limited space, they would begin to exhibit anti-social behavior. He concluded that crime in inner cities can be explained by urban over-crowding.
Scare Tactics
Trying to frighten people into agreeing with the arguer by threatening them or predicting
unrealistically dire consequences.
Circular Logic
Sometimes called “Begging the question.”
A is true because B is true; B is true because A is true.
An argument is circular if its conclusion is among its premises--if it assumes (either explicitly or not) what it is trying to prove.
“You can’t give me a C; I’m an A student!”
Interviewer: Your resume looks impressive. But I need another reference.
Bill: Jill can give me a good reference.
Interviewer: Good. But how do I know that Jill is trustworthy?
