Logical Fallacies
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Presentation Transcript
Logical Fallacies What to Avoid in Your Argument
Informational Slide on Fallacies • Murky reasoning that... • clouds an argument. • leads to unsound conclusions. • Prevalent in the media and politics. • Most common: • Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (False Cause) • Hasty Generalization • Bandwagon • Affirming the Consequent • Ad Hominem • Slippery Slope
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc • “After This, Therefore Because of This” • Just because one event happened before another event, doesn’t mean the first event caused the second. • When the New York police department changed its policing tactics in the early 1990s, the crime rate plummeted. But did the new police tactics cause the decline in crime? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVgT-vZLK6Q
Hasty Generalization • Refers to claims based on insufficient or unrepresentative data. • The news frequently carries stories about vicious pit bulls. Therefore, all pit bulls must be vicious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v9nCPbbngmI
Bandwagon • The popular ideas are necessarily right. • “Come on, everybody’s doing it” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKMn-_aQoPk
False Analogy • Arguers often use analogies to support a claim. • While there are similarities, there are usually differences as well. • Gun control will work in the United States because it works in England. It’s a mistake to force little Johnnie to take piano lessons because you can’t turn a reluctant child into a musician any more than you can turn a tulip into a rose. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzbZ14KHAoI
Either/Or Reasoning • A complex, multisided issue is reduced to two positions without acknowledging the possibility of other alternatives. • Either you are pro-choice on abortion or you are against the advancement of women in our culture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtP-S9OS0o0
Affirming the Consequent • Premise: You loved The Matrix. • Premise: Keanu Reeves was in The Matrix. • Premise: Keanu Reeves was in Speed. • Conclusion: You must love Speed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zrzMhU_4m-g
Ad Hominem • Attacking the person who is making the argument, rather than the validity of the argument itself. • “Who cares if the French oppose invading Iraq; they haven’t won a war in centuries!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anKkX1wvgBw
Circular Reasoning • You state your claim and then, usually after rewording it, you state it again as your reason. • Marijuana is injurious to your health because it harms your body. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CGyASDjE-U
Non Sequitur and Red Herring • “It does not follow” • There is no evident connection between a claim and its reason. • Also, using a diversionary tactic so as not to answer the question. • I don’t deserve a B for this course because I am a straight-A student. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
Slippery Slope • Arguing from the perspective that one change inevitably will lead to another. • “If I extend your curfew tonight, you’ll go out and drink, and then you’ll be tempted to do this every night, and, eventually, you’ll become an alcoholic” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFJAe9snWDg