Favorite Fallacies

[TerryB]

Not sure your use of begging the question works. It's often misused by talking heads on the tube, usually along these lines; "You say you're not a crook, but that begs the question why did you do it, anyway?" That construction comes close, but doesn't really beg the question. BTQ is really a form of circular logic, such as "Bigfoot doesn't exist because there are no credible eyewitness accounts. I mean, anyone who says they saw Bigfoot is hardly a credible witness!"

 

[TerryB]

One of my favorite tactics I see on the tube is when someone is asked a question like, "So when did you stop beating your wife, Senator?" Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[alan polk]

-

How about Straw Man arguments? The following is taken from today's Washington Post:
"Republicans say they don't believe in government." The writer then goes on to refute the idea, which was simply never her opponent's position in the first place! I see this technique used in the forum all the time.




(Mods: This is emphatically not a political argument, it is an example of faulty logic for illustrative purposes only! Posters please do not use this as an opportunity to start a prohibited modern political discussion!)

Thanks. I failed to include the Straw Man. You are right, it is often used in arguments here and everywhere else. I also failed to mention another and that is the Red Herring. So, I will give examples of each from the text book:

1. Straw Man - Mr. Goldberg has argued against prayer in the public schools. Obviously Mr. Goldberg advocates atheism. But atheism is what they have in Russia. Atheism leads to the suppresion of all religions and the replacement of God by an omnipotent state. Is that what we want for this country? I hardly think so. Clearly Mr. Goldberg's argument is nonesense.
(In school, I always confused this with "Slippery Slope."

2. Red Herring -- Environmentalists are continually harping about the dangers of nuclear power. Unfortunately, electricity is dangerous no matter where it comes from. Every year hundreds of people are electrocuted by accident. Since most of these accidents are caused by carelessness, they could be avoided if people would just excercise greater caution.

 

[tmh10]

Im liking the Red Herring. Now I just have to figure out how to use it.

 

[NFB22]

Okay, I love this site because we all can argue and fight. But I also love it because most of us use fallacies in our arguments. When I read the posts here, I keep my old Logic book from Ole Miss to reference. I try to know when I'm using fallacies on purpose, or when I am using them but am unaware. I just thought I would give you my favorite fallacies used on this site with examples from my old text book. Anyway, here are my favorites. I will give the name of the fallacy, and then an example of such fallacy from my old textbook:

1. Appeal to Authority - Dr. Bradshaw, our family physician, has stated that the creation of muonic atoms of deuterium and tritium hold the key to producing a sustained nuclear fusion reaction at room tempature. In view of Dr. Bradshaw's expertise as a physician, we must conclude that this is indeed true.

2. Appeal to Ignorance - People have been trying for centuries to provide conclusive evidence for the claims of astrology, and no one has ever succeeded. Therefore, we must conclude that astrology is a lot of nonesense.

3. Hasty Generalization - After only one year the alternator went out in Mr. O'Grady's new Chevrolet. Mrs. Doodson's Oldsmobile developed a transmission problem after 6 months. The conclusion is obvious that cars made by General Motors are just a pile of junk these days.

4. Slippery Slope - Attempts to outlaw ****ography threaten basic civil rights and should be summarily abandoned. If ****ography is outlawed, censorship of newspapers and news magazines is only a short step away. After that there will be censorship of textbooks, political speeches, and the content of lectures delivered by university professors. Complete mind control by the central government will be the inevitable result.

5. Weak Analogy - Harper's new car is bright blue, has leather upholstery, and gets excellent gas mileage. Crowley's new car is also bright blue and has leather upholstery. Therefore, it probably gets excellent gas mileage, too.

NOW FOR MY FAVORITES

6. Begging the Question - (This gets pushed into the Slavery issue).

Capital punishment is justified for the crimes of murder and kidnapping because it is quite legitmate and appropriate that someone be put to death for having committed such hateful and inhuman acts.

7. Suppressed Evidence - (We see this form a lot) The Second Amendment to the Constitution states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. But a law controlling handguns would infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. Therefore, a law controlling handguns would be unconstitutional.

8. Equivocation - (I've seen this lately on this site. In the below example, the word "law" -- in its first use -- is statutory law. In its second usage, it is natural law. Anyway, here is the example): Any law can be repealed by the legislative authority. But the law of gravity is law. Therefore, the law of gravity can be repealed by the legislative authority.

I just pulled out my "Backpack Writing" book from Indiana haha. I've actually got 13 different types of fallacies. 9 of them are "Fallacies of logic" and 4 are "Fallacies of emotion and language" I may have to come back and compare and contrast later

 

[littledoug]

Slippery Slope = Domino Theory

 

[bankerpapaw]

This reminds me of the evolution question posed by Pickett in the movie, "Gettysburg."

 

[tmh10]

This reminds me of the evolution question posed by Pickett in the movie, "Gettysburg."

That and Pickett's the South being in a gentleman's club and deciding to resign theory to Fremantle.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

That and Pickett's the South being in a gentleman's club and deciding to resign theory to Fremantle.

I love that scene, especially Longstreet's exasperated reaction to it and Kemper's rejoinder "Just how many of your relatives is it that are apes?" You really get a sense of camaraderie and friendly rivalry from them.