Fallacies and Non-Rational Persuasion

1. Fallacies and Non-Rational Persuasion

2. Appeal to Authority • a misdirected appeal to authority in which something is mentioned as a trusted source when, in fact, it is not reliable.

3. Example of Appeal to Authority • “Barry Schweid of the Associated Press, in his efforts to criticize President Reagan's space-based defense against Soviet missiles, came up with a report from some Stanford University group that claimed to find little evidence of cheating by the Soviet Union on arms-control treaties.” • Middleton B. Freeman, Louisville, "Letters From Readers,"The Courier-Journal, April 1, 1987.)

4. Explanation • The article mentions “some Stanford University group” as a source of information about missiles. The author points out that this group may not be correctly informed, and that just because the group is from a prestigious school does not mean it is a viable source.

5. Appeal to Common Belief • A fallacy that appeals to a wide-held general opinion and is inappropriate to use in most statements used to verify facts.

6. Example of Common Belief • “Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great-Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her own account.” • Thomas Paine. Common Sense. 1776

7. Explanation • Thomas Paine appeals to the belief that at the time of the American Revolution, Britain had no personal interest in the colonies, but, rather, cared only for what the colonies produced. He appeals to the common opinion of that time and does not take into consideration that perhaps this belief is not true

8. Common Practice • Misleading appeal to common practice in which an action is justified because “everyone else is doing it.”

9. Example of Common Practice • “We found a lot of agreement on the basic goals of reform. No one is content with the status quo. Most are open to new ideas. Everyone agrees at least that the problems are serious and action is urgently needed.” • Radio address by President Bush to the nation. 27 January 2001

10. Explanation • Twice in this example, President Bush lumps all Americans into the pronouns “no one” and “everyone.” He says that no one is content with the status quo and that actions are need immediately. Although a majority of Americans might agree with Bush, he does not consider those who disagree with him.

11. Two Wrongs • Argument that it is acceptable to do something, not because people are doing it, but because others are doing things that are just as bad.

12. Example of Two Wrongs • “The operation cost just under $500, and no one was killed, or even hurt. In that same time the Pentagon spent tens of millions of dollars and dropped tens of thousands of pounds of explosives on Viet Nam. Because nothing justified their actions in our calculus, nothing could contradict the merit of ours.” • (Bill Ayers, “Fugitive Days,” quoted in Radical Chic Resurgent, by Timothy Ash.)

13. Explanation • Although the first action mentioned was wrong, the author argued that it could not be wrong because another action used at the same time was also wrong. One action’s being more wrong than the other, does not give the first action any more merit.

14. Indirect Consequences • Distantly possible, but usually negative effects are presented as the consequence of a course of action or belief with the idea that the negativity of those effects will ensure the rejection of that course of action or belief.

15. Example of Indirect Consequence • "If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools, and next year you can make it a crime to teach it in the church. At the next session you can ban books and the newspapers.” • (Clarence Darrow, cited in Stephen Jay Gould's Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes, p. 278.)

16. Explanation • The author states that if teaching evolution becomes a crime, the whole educational system will fall apart. Because the author believes that this will happen, he lists several negative consequences in order to make his point seem like the “right” idea.

17. Wishful Thinking • Like Indirect Consequence, this fallacy uses remote facts. However, wishful thinking uses an extremely positive outcome so it distracts from the values of the case at hand.

18. Example of Wishful Thinking • “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character... we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children will be able to join hands and sing.” • Martin Luther King, Jr.“I Have a Dream”

19. Explanation • King uses only positive and idealistic outcomes in his speech. Though these outcomes are nice to think about, they were seemingly impossible for the nation at that time.

20. Appeal to Fear • A non-rational persuasion used to threaten the safety or happiness of ourselves or someone we love; the use of “scare tactics” in order to get one’s way.

21. Example of Appeal to Fear • “There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it.” • excerpt from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards

22. Explanation • During the 1st Great Awakening, people thought that God was an unmerciful and harsh being. Edwards reaffirms this fact by telling the violent consequences of not obeying God and appeals to the fear that each human has of afterlife.

23. Hasty Generalization • stating premises, or drawing conclusions, based on too little information, or generalizing from too few particulars that are probably not representative of an entire group

24. Example of Hasty Generalization • "I hardly think that 58 is the right age at which to talk about a retirement home unless there are some serious health concerns. My 85-year-old mother power-walks two miles each day, drives her car climbs stairs, does crosswords, and could beat Slatalla at almost anything."(Nancy Edwards, "Letters to the Editor", Time, 6/26/00.)

25. Explanation • The author assumes that since her mother, who is 85, is so active, that every other woman her age is just as active. She does not take into concern that her mother may be an exception.

26. Appeal to Pity • Persuading the reader to agree with the preposition because of the pitiful state the author is in.

27. Example of Appeal to Pity • “How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal? In N.A.R.A.L. we generally emphasized the drama of the individual case, but when we spoke of the latter it was always "5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year." I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the "morality" of the revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics. The overriding concern was to get the laws eliminated, and anything within reason which had to be done was permissible.”-Bernard Nathanson, M.D., Aborting America (New York: Doubleday, 1979), 193.

28. Explanation • Explanation- The author describes how he was put under the impression that the death rate would be lower. He also used the argument of “morality” to tug at the emotions of the readers and to make evident the pitiful state of the situation.

29. Appeal to Prejudice • Tendency to judge people, good or bad, even after the facts of a case indicate otherwise.

30. Example of Appeal to Prejudice • “Authority” (as Professor Aitken reminded us last night in her splendid sermon at the Liturgy) is a slippery idea. In which connection, I incline to agree with Robert W. Jenson: questions such as, “What is the authority of Scripture?” are largely meaningless, if by them we intend to imply that there can possibly be discerned any one way in which the Bible relates to or regulates Christian discourse.[1]

31. Explanation • The speaker is still doubting the authority of “authority”, even though the previous sermon supported the contrary well. This shows how even though there is evidence that authority is a good idea, the author still thinks that it is not reliable.

32. Appeal to Loyalty Appeal to the feeling of patriotism or loyalty to a certain group or belief, instead of appealing to logic

33. Example of Appeal to Loyalty • As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling the right of it in question and as the King of England hath undertaken in his OWN RIGHT, to support the Parliament in what he calls THEIRS, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. • -Thomas Paine, Common Sense

34. Explanation • Thomas Paine appeals to the loyalty of the colonial citizens by giving them the message appealing to their feelings of rebellion. He stresses that the king has harmed the colonists by making his every action “HIS OWN RIGHT.” Therefore, he encourages the colonists to reject the king’s rules and become loyal to the new cause, the revolution.

35. Appeal to Vanity • creating a tendency toward agreement by complimenting

36. Example of Appeal to Vanity Idols define good and evil in ways contrary to God's definitions. They establish a locus of control that is earth-bound: either in objects (e.g., lust for money), other people ("I need to please my critical father"), or myself (e.g., self-trusting pursuit of my personal agenda). Such false gods create false laws, false definitions of success and failure, of value and stigma. Idols promise blessing and warn of curses for those who succeed or fail against the law: "If you get a large enough IRA, you will be secure. If I can get certain people to like and respect me, then my life is valid." There are numerous idolatrous values which influenced Wally and continue to pressure him: beguiling him, frightening him, controlling him, constraining him, enslaving him. 

37. Explanation This example shows how idols appeal to vanity, by giving the “victim” what they want, or telling them what they want to hear, or appealing to them by complementing them, thus leading them down a path of falsehood and lies.

38. Appeal to Spite • spite is replaced with evidence when an argument is made against a claim

39. Example of Appeal to Spite • True salvation revolves around three focal points. These are the Word of God, the work of Christ and the witness of the Spirit. Cain found a substitute for all three and founded a false religion. In Genesis 4:1-3 he substitutes his own religion for the Word of God. While he did not have the written record we have today, he had the witness of his parents as well as direct communication with the Lord (Genesis 4:9). There can be no doubt from the Scriptures that blood must be shed for an acceptable sacrifice (Exodus 12:3, I John 1:7, I Peter 1:18-19).

40. Explanation This example describes how in the bible, the act of Cain killing his brother was out of pure spite. Therefore, he tries to justify his religious choice.

41. Argument from Silence • Instead of using evidence to support a generalization, all the audience hears is silence.

42. Example of Argument from Silence • “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” • 1 John 4:12

43. Explanation • No one knows God or if he loves us, but the Bible states that we should believe in him even though there is a lack of evidence. This example asks the reader to believe in something without knowing the facts or background information.

44. Ad Hominem • The argument is not directed at the conclusion one wishes to deny, but at the person who supports or doesn’t support the conclusion. • There are two forms of Ad Hominem: • Abusive-attacking the character the one assessing the argument • Circumstantial: the irrelevant connection between the beliefs held and the circumstances of those holding the beliefs

45. Example of Ad Hominem • “Kenneth Robinson, when he was Great Britain’s minister of health, told Parliament that Scientology was “potentially harmful” and “a potential menace.” Elliott, the local minister of the Church of Scientology, was asked to comment on those criticisms. Of the remarks made before Parliament, he said: “I am afraid Mr.. Robinson has since suffered two demotions and was just in the last few weeks quietly released from the Wilson Administration altogether.” • Honolulu Advisor, November 22, 1969 p.6

46. Explanation • This is an abusive example of ad hominem. Elliott attacks Kenneth Robinson’s character with information of his job situation. Robinson attacks the Church of Scientology with phrases such as “potentially harmful” because the only reason Robinson holds these beliefs is because he thinks the Church of Scientology to be morally wrong based on his own personal religious beliefs. Robinson holds little or no basis for his accusations against the Church of Scientology except for the fact that they go in direct opposition to his own beliefs.

47. Post Hoc • The use of the proposition as an example of a fallacy arguing from a sentence to a cause and effect relationship

48. Example of Post Hoc • “When Rodger Babson, whose prediction of the great stock market crash brought him renown, became ill with tuberculosis, he returned to his home in Massachusetts rather than follow his doctor’s advice to remain in the West. During the freezing winter he wore a coat with a heating pad in the back, and had his secretary wear mittens and hit the typewriter keys with rubberhammers. Babson got well he attributed the cure to fresh air. Air from pine woods, according to Babson, has chemical or electrical qualities (or both) of great medicinal value.” • -Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

49. Explanation • Gardner employs a post hoc fallacy through his dissection of Babson’s illness and how Babson acted throughout his illness as well as Babson’s final outcome from his illness and Babson’s explanation for becoming well. Gardner shows the cause and effect relationship, linking Babson’s prediction of the stock market crash to his illness and Babson’s illness to his form of recovery, even though each of the events did not actually directly deal with one another.

50. Sweeping Generalization • When the conclusion drawn exceeds what the evidence given supports