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Slippery Slope (misuse of 'if-then'). ○ If the first step in a “possible” series of events occurs, the other possible steps in the series must inevitably.
Typology: Study notes
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z Face it…some things are either true or false (specifying this formally is called “propositional calculus”) z A “proposition” is a meaningful statement z Limited number of operators: (not, and, or, if…then, if and only if) z Truth tables chart truth value of proposition by laying out state-of-world possibilities z Use of conditional logic (if certain conditions are met, then a proposition is true)
(^5) Logical Fallacies
(^6) Fallacies of Distraction
(^7) False Dilemma (misuse of “or”)
z A limited number of options (usually two) is given, while in reality there are more options. A false dilemma is an illegitimate use of the "or" operator. z Putting issues or opinions into "black or white" terms is a common instance of this fallacy z Examples:
(^8) Slippery Slope (misuse of ‘if-then’)
z If the first step in a “possible” series of events occurs, the other possible steps in the series must inevitably occur. z Examples
(^9) Appeals to Motives
(^10) Appeal to Force
(^11) Appeal to Pity
(^12) Prejudicial Language
(^13) Changing the Subject
(^14) Attacking the Person
z ad hominem (abusive): instead of attacking an assertion, the argument attacks the person who made the assertion.
(^15) Appeal to Authority/Anonymous Authority
z While sometimes it may be appropriate to cite an authority to support a point, often it is not. In particular, an appeal to authority is inappropriate if: (i) the person is not qualified to have an expert opinion on the subject (“Dr. Laura says Tide cleans best”) (ii) experts in the field disagree on this issue (“Noted developmentalist Dr. John Smith argues that all a fetus is a human being from the moment of conception”). (iii) the authority was making a joke, drunk, or otherwise not being serious (“We are headed for nuclear war. The President said we will begin bombing Russia in five minutes”) – this actually happened when President Reagan, after a speech about China, quipped “we’ll begin the bombing in 5 minutes” thinking the microphone was off
(^16) Inductive Fallacies
z Hasty Generalizations : the sample is too small to support an inductive generalization about a population