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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
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Changing the Question |
Type of Fallacy: Error of Reasoning Changing the subject or arguing for a different conclusion to the point of contention. For example, a government Minister responds to evidence of insufficient funding foruniversities by saying “I have nothing but admiration for the splendid staff ofuniversities who are working in difficult circumstances and doing a wonderful job.” |
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Begging the Question |
Type of Fallacy: Error of Reasoning Assuming the POC as a premise in the argument. For example, “The death penalty isjustified for those found guilty of genocide, because it is legitimate and appropriatethat someone be put to death for having murdered thousands of people.” |
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Argument from Ignorance |
Type of Fallacy: Error of Reasoning Arguing that a claim is true on the grounds that there is either no evidence orinsufficient evidence against it. For example, “Since we cannot, using reason orscience disprove the existence of God, we should have faith that God does exist.” |
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Illegitimate Appeal to Authority |
Type of Fallacy: Error of Reasoning Relying on someone’s say-so when they are not a reliable or relevant source. Forexample: “According to this gold medal wining athlete, this is the most effectiveheadache tablet on the market.” |
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Improper Analogy |
Type of Fallacy: Error of Reasoning An argument based on a comparison of two cases where the relevant differencesbetween the two cases outweigh any similarities. For example: “Thinking aninternational problem can be solved by bombing another country is just as ridiculousas thinking you can settle an argument with your next door neighbour by blowingup their house.” |
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Slippery Slope |
Type of Fallacy: Error of Reasoning Arguing without sufficient evidence that a policy will lead to unwelcome consequencesand therefore should not be adopted. For example, “We have to stop the $40 increasein student amenities fee. The next thing you know, they'll be charging $10,000 asemester!” |
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Argument against the author (ad hominem) |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Arguing against the person giving the argument, rather than addressing theargument itself. For example: “We should not accept the arguments of the PrimeMinister. He is only putting them forward because he thinks those policies will gethim re-elected.” |
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Appeal to Pity |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick An argument in which someone tries to support their conclusion by exploiting theiraudience’s feelings of pity or guilt. For example: “You should give me a better gradefor this assignment: if I don’t get good grades my parents will get very upset and Imight lose my student visa.” |
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Social Identification (Appeal to Popularity) |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick An argument in which someone tries to support a claim by associating the idea withsomething that the audience desires or identifies with. For example: “Everyone theseday has an iPhone – you should get one!” |
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False Dilemma |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick An argument which assumes falsely or without sufficient evidence that there are onlytwo (or more) possible alternatives. For example: “People who are opposed tofighting the war on terror are either cowards or traitors. In either case we candismiss their arguments.” |
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Misuse of Language Name the Different Types: |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick 1. Use of Ambiguous Terms 2. Use of Vague Terms 3. Use of Slogans 4. Use of Jargon 5. Use of Metaphors 6. Use of Emotive/Loaded Language |
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Misuse of Language 1: Use of Ambiguous Terms |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Using words that can have different meanings in different contexts. For example, "There's been an arrest in Ward 3" could mean either that a patient has had a cardiac arrest or that a patient (or staff) has been taken away by police. |
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Misuse of Language 2: Use of Vague Terms |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Using meanings that are not specific which individuals can understand in many different ways. For example, if someone urges you toengage in 'appropriate behaviour', or to be a 'good student', it is possible for you tointerpret those phrases in ways that reflect your understanding of what appropriatebehaviour would be in that context, or of what it is to be a good student. And thisinterpretation might differ from what the author intended. |
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Misuse of Language 3: Use of Slogans |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Slogans are words or phrases used to elicit positive or negative responses withoutactually conveying very specific meanings. For example, the most frequent context for the misuseof slogans is politics. Politicians will speak of 'family values', or of preserving 'the way of life of ordinary people'. Naturally we all respond positively because we likewhat we hear. But what does it actually mean? |
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Misuse of Language 4: Use of Jargon |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Using language that is specific to a particular field of knowledge or activity that is not widely understood by lay people, it canbe used to obfuscate or to impress without good reason. |
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Misuse of Language 5: Use of Metaphors |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Using metaphor and simile to over exaggerate in a harmful way; forceful without much substance. For example, the idea that the victim of a disease can 'fight' it, may lead to the thought that thevictim will have failed in some blameworthy way if they 'succumb' to that disease.Along with the suffering of the disease itself, there will then be the feeling of failureand loss of self-worth that patients often feel when they are ill. |
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Misuse of Language 6: Use of Emotive/Loaded Language |
Type of Fallacy: Dirty Trick Communication designed to arouse the emotions of theaudience and appeal to unquestioned attitudes, possibly even prejudices, without any use ofreason and argument. Forexample, euthanasia or abortion might be defined as murder without a justificationfor such a definition being offered. |
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Composition and Division (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
Arguing that since something applies to a part, it therefore applies to the whole(composition) or that since something applies to a whole, it therefore applies to apart (division). An example of division: “Australia is a rich country and Jason isAustralian, therefore Jason is rich’ (Australia as a whole is a rich country but that doesnot mean everyone in Australia is rich). An example of composition: “None of theindividual executives of this corporation are directly responsible for the deathscaused by the faulty product. Therefore, the corporation cannot be legallyresponsible.” (A corporation as a whole can have legal responsibilities that none ofthe individuals running it have). |
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Straw Man (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
Misinterpreting someone's argument or claim in such a way as to make it ridiculousor easy to refute. For example: “The theory of evolution is ridiculous. According tothe theory whales evolved from animals similar to cows. But how could an animalthat was half a cow and half a whale possibly survive?” |
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Guilt by Association (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
Refuting or discrediting a claim because thebelief in question is held by a strongly disliked person/group for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the claim in question. Forexample: “You have argued that the government should take control over certainessential services. Others have held the same view. They have names like ‘AdolfHitler’ and ‘Josef Stalin’. We should dismiss your arguments without wasting anymore time on them.” |
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Appeal to Nature (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
Arguing that something must be good or permissible because it is ‘natural’ or thatsomething is bad or impermissible because it is ‘unnatural’. For example, “Amonogamous partnership between a male and a female is common in many different species of mammals. Therefore, monogamous marriage between a man and womanis the most suitable arrangement for human beings.” |
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The Gambler's Fallacy (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
The fallacy of thinking that the result of a random event depends on prior randomevents when the events are actually independent. For example, "I’ve tossed this cointen times in a row and it came up heads each time. So it must be more likely than notto come up tails on the next toss”. (The chance that the coin will come up tails is still50%, no matter what has happened before, assuming that the coin is fair.) |
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The Genetic Fallacy (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
Arguing for a claim based on irrelevant facts about the origin or source ofsomething. For example: “The original meaning of the word ’educate’ means to‘draw out’. Therefore education should involve more than just trying to druminformation into student’s heads, it should involve helping them to develop abilitiesthey already possess.” |
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Cherry Picking (Additional Fallacy - may not be tested on this) |
Selectively using facts and figures to support a conclusion, rather than consideringall of the available evidence. For example: “Gun control laws do not lead to areduction in crime. After Australia introduced gun control laws in the 1990s, violentassaults in the suburb of Collingwood in Melbourne actually increased.” (Thisargument ‘cherry picks’ one statistic from one suburb of one city in one state ofAustralia. If similar statistics from other cities and states were included, the totalevidence might tell a quite different story.) |
