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Fallacies
Chapter 5
Everything's an Argument
A fallacy is a hole in an argument. Fallacies are dangerous because they break down civil conversation and make arguments more difficult. Some people who use fallacies probably do not realize they do it. Some people do it for the sole purpose of confusing and/or tripping up people. Avoid fallacious reasoning in arguments. Fallacies are grouped according to the appeals ethos, logos, and pathos. Chapter 5 outlines the most common fallacies, but thousands of fallacies exist. For more information on fallacies, see the AP/CEP Symbaloo tiles on my webpage.
Pathos Fallacies
Scare Tactics- An exaggeration on possible dangers beyond their statistical likelihood. These are dangerous because they close off rational thinking. People who are scared rarely act rationally. Look at this presidential campaign from 2012:
This ad is unique in that the person running for president does not appear in the video. How is this ad a scare tactic? What appeal does this ad rely on? What part of the ad was the most frightening? The most believable? This was from 2012: did any of the events in the ad happen?
Look at the size of the "widespread and intense transmission" on the map. Now look at the rest of the map. The horrors of Ebola spreading has been exaggerated because people rarely
act or think rationally when they are scared. Do you see the reality of this disease? Even the numbers on the map tell a different story from the previous poster. Either-Or- This fallacy only gives two options—one preferred over the other. No “gray areas." This is, basically, an ultimatum. Hardly anyone likes ultimatums. Either-Or Fallacies are used to seduce those who do not know any better. These become fallacious when they reduce a complicated issue to simple terms. Overly Sentimental Appeal - These use tender emotions excessively to distract readers from the facts. Emotions become an impediment to rationality when they stop people from thinking clearly.
Slippery Slope - Todays’ tiny misstep is tomorrow’s slide into disaster. The slippery slope, like the scare tactic fallacy, could be a statistical unlikelihood.
Identify the fallacy...
Dogmatism Fallacy - A writer expresses a particular position is the only one that is acceptable. No arguments are necessary and the truth is self-evident. Dogmatists believe people are rational and should believe what the writer believes.
Ad Hominem - Means “to the man” in Latin. This fallacy is an attack on the person or the person’s character rather than the argument. This is for the sole purpose of destroying someone’s credibility. These often turn into two-sided affairs with the good guys vs. the bad guys.
Stacking the Deck - This happens when the arguer shows only one side of the story—the one in his/her favor. Be careful not to do this! You MUST consider the other side and admit you have no ulterior motives. If you fail to address the other side, you are setting yourself up for this fallacy. “You know teenagers today: they are lazy, incompetent, druggies, criminals,” said the middle- aged employee to his elderly boss. (BTW, the middle-aged employee is vying for a promotion over a teenager and is “stacking the deck” in his favor. LOGOS FALLACIES Hasty Generalization - A conclusion built on insufficient evidence: because my sister is dumb and is a blonde, ALL blondes and sisters are dumb. This fallacy is the basis for most
stereotypes. Lady Macbeth uses this against Macbeth (as well as many other fallacies) when she said, “Screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.” To avoid this fallacy you MUST use QUALIFYING words: few, many, most, rarely, occasionally, possibly, in some cases, under certain circumstances, in my limited experience, etc. Faulty Causality -Also known as Post Hoc, Ergo Prompter Hoc = after this, because of this. This fallacy leads others to believe that one event caused the second. Example-A writer sued the Coors beer company claiming his consumption of vast amounts of Coors beer prevented him from writing a novel. (He didn’t win, by the way.)
Equivocation - A half truth or double meaning. These are tricks of language. Macbeth curses the witches’ predictions when he realizes he has believed “half truths”: “…to doubt the equivocation of the fiend that lies like truth.” Example- A plagiarist who copies a paper word for word from another declares, “I wrote that paper myself!” Example- “Do you have any change?” “No, I don’t.” (But he has a $20.00 bill.)
The audience has two interpretations of the players. If the audience listens closer, two different conversations are occurring, but the words used have different meanings. And the most infamous equivocation..... Hmmmmm.....
Red Herring - A distraction. This comes from the act of dragging a dried red herring fish across the path of the fox to throw the hounds off the trail. A red herring occurs when someone tries to “distract” the audience from the topic.
Even cartoons know the infamous red herring:
RED HERRING.MP4RED HERRING.MP
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