Informal Fallacies: Fallacy Fest!

FALLACY FEST!!!!

1. Bad/DA

2. Bad/AC

3. Appeal to Authority

4. Fallacy of Equivocation

5. Hasty Generalization

6. Ad Baculum (Appeal to Force)

7. Red Herring

8. Appeal to Authority

9. Ad Hominem

10. Ad Misercordiam (Appeal to Pity)

11. Begging the Question

12. Straw Man

13. Complex Question

14. Internet Fallacy



Identify the (Bad) Reasoning Fallacy then Create 1 Example of Your Own

Concept 1:

A: Person 1: Everything in life happens for a reason...maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. There's a greater purpose to everything.

Person 2: That's ridiculous. What's the reason for my moving my finger right now?

Person 1: Because you had the thought "move your finger" which caused the nerves leading to your finger to fire in succession, culminating in the movement of your finger...duh.


B: Science has discovered many laws of nature. This surely constitutes proof that there is a God, for wherever there are laws, there must be a lawgiver. Consequentially, God must exist as the great lawgiver of the universe.


C: Since, as scientists tell us, energy neither comes into being nor goes out of being, there should be no energy crisis.









Fallacy of Equivocation: The fallacy of equivocation is when a key term in the argument isn't used with a consistent meaning throughout the premises and/or conclusion. In other words, a term might be used differently between premises or between the premises and the conclusion.

Concept 2:

A: Why should I believe what he says about our economy? He's not even a citizen!


B: You can't accept her advice. She is so old she has no idea what goes on in today's world.


C: Why would you listen to him? He's too young to have any wisdom about life.


D*: Of course Senator X thinks my administration's tax proposals are bad for the country. After all, his political party lost the last election, and everyone knows that losers are jealous.


E*: You don't want cars to get better gas milage because you are a self-centered rich bastard who isn't affected by gas prices. All you care about it how big your engine is.


F*: Of course you think that people should take drugs. You work for a pharmaceutical company and you make more money if more people take drugs.













Explanation of Ad hominem (against the person): When a claim is rejected or judged to be false based on an alleged character flaw of the person making the claim. A second form occurs whenever someone's statement or reasoning is attacked by way of a stereotype, such as a racial, sexual, or religious stereotype. A third form involves the use of circumstances of a person's life to reject his claims. Exception: denying someone's claim by calling them a liar and they have a reputation for being one.

Concept 3

A. Vaccines cause autism. Didn't you hear the interviews with Robert DeNiro and Jenny McCarthy?


B. The Food Babe says GMOs cause cancer. There's no way I'm eating those franken foods!













Explanation of Argument from Authority: Appealing to an unqualified authority to support a position.

Concept 4:

A.













Non-sequitur: Literally "does not follow". When a premise is irrelevant to the conclusion.

Concept 5:

A. Conrad Hilton started out dirt poor and became super-rich, therefore anyone can do it.

B. About half of my friends at BGSU have student loans, therefore about half of BGSU students have student loans.

C. Acupuncture helped my back feel better, it must work.












Hasty Generalization: Moving from a small (likely unrepresentative sample) to a generalization.

Concept 6:

A.

B. Last night my mom got mad at me, then my dog got sick. Can you change my grade from a C to a B?
















Appeal to Pity (Ad Misercordiam): Arguing for a claim by appealing to pity.

Concept 7:

A: If you don't get rid of your suspected chemical weapons we will bomb you.

B: If you don't do your homework, I will judo chop you.














Appeal to Force (Ad Baculum): When the arguer essentially presents a threat of force instead of a reason for accepting a position.

Concept 8:

A. Person A: Given the tragic nature of mass shootings, we should consider implementing some sort of background check to make sure people buying guys don't have any known major psychological problems or any records of violent criminal behavior.

Person B: My opponent doesn't think people have the right to own guns. In person A's world, citizen's won't be able to lawfully defend themselves or even go hunting.







B. Person A: If you deny people the right to self-defense then you are risking increasing the rate home break-ins because a major deterrent will have been removed.

Person B: My opponent thinks we should give children AK-47s for self-protection when their parents aren't home. This is obviously a bad idea.













Straw Man: The opposing view is distorted and exaggerated so it can easily be defeated.

Concept 9:

A. (From the Washington Post)
BLM contends that Bundy owes $1 million in fees, and will also have to pay the round-up expenses. Bundy — who retorts that he only owes $300,000 in fees — says the city folk are only hurting themselves by taking his cows. He told a reporter from the Las Vegas Review Journal that there would be 500,000 fewer hamburgers per year after his cows were towed away; “But nobody is thinking about that. Why would they? They’re all thinking about the desert tortoise. Hey, the tortoise is a fine creature. I like him. I have no problem with him. But taking another man’s cattle? It just doesn’t seem right.”




B. How could anyone think GMOs are safe? They're inserting fish genes into tomatoes!!!!!111!!!1111!!! It just ain't natural!!!!11!!!!11!!













Red Herring Structure:

Topic A is under discussion.
Topic B is introduced as though it is relevant to topic A.
Topic B ends up being discussed, leaving topic A unresolved.

Concept 10:

A. Celibacy is an unnatural and unhealthy practice, since it is neither natural nor healthy to exclude sexual activity from one's life.

B. Thoughts are not part of the physical world, since thoughts are in their nature non-physical.

C. Happiness is the highest good for a human being, since all other values are inferior to it.
















Begging the Question: When you assume your conclusion, implicitly or explicitly, in your premises. That is, your premises already assume they very thing you're trying to prove.

Concept 11:

A. Are you going to admit that you're wrong?

B. When should I expect your apology?

C. Why do you hate America?

D. When are you going to stop drinking and grading?














Complex Question: When a question assumes only one possible answer.