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36 Cards in this Set
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False Dilemma
(also known as the Black and White fallacy) |
Def: involves a situation in which limited alternatives are considered, when in fact there is at least one additional option. The options may be a position that is between two extremes or may be completely different alternatives.
Ex: America, love it or leave it! |
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Red Herring
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Def: purposeful change in opid to distract from original topic
Ex: We can't talk about the enviornment, we're in the middle of the war! |
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Snow Job
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Def: “proving” a claim by overwhelming an audience with irrelevant facts, numbers, documents, graphs and statistics that they cannot be expected to understand.
Ex: Gas prices have never been lower. When taken as a percentage of the national debt, filling up at your corner gas station is actually far cheaper today than it was in 1965. |
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Appeal to Force
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Def: To tell someone that unpleasant (potentially violent) consequences will ensue if he or she does not comply to your demands.
Ex: If you don’t accept that the sun orbits the earth, rather than the other way around, then you’ll be excommunicated from the church. |
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Straw Person
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Def: Attempting to discredit a view by criticizing a weak version of it or the reason given in support of it.
Ex: Politician: My opponent believes that higher taxes are the only way to pay for needed improvements. She never met a tax she didn't like. But I have a better idea: let's cut waste in government first |
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Style over Substance
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Def: The style with which an argument is presented is sometimes taken as adding to the substance or strength of the argument.
Ex: Nixon lost the presidential debate because of the sweat on his forehead. Trudeau knows how to move a crowd. He must be right. |
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Prejudicial Language
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Def: Loaded or emotive terms are used to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition.
Ex: It is only humane to reconsider the ban of animal euthanization in pet clinics. |
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The Fallacy Fallacy
(also known as argumentum ad logicam) |
Def: The fallacy fallacy occurs when one dismisses a conclusion to an argument as incorrect on the grounds that the argument contains a fallacy. Just because an argument contains a fallacy does not mean that its conclusion is incorrect.
Ex: Mr. A: “Most of the students in TOK are procrastinators, therefore most of the students of Columbia River are procrastinators” Mr. B: “Ah, but you have committed the fallacy of unrepresentative sample, therefore your conclusion is incorrect and most of the students at CR are not procrastinators” (Although Mr. A’s argument contains a fallacy, it does not necessarily his conclusion is false) |
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False Analogy
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Def: An unjustified inference drawn on the basis of similarities between two items or types of items.
Ex: Supporting gun control is like supporting Hitler who supported Nazism; therefore, you support Nazism. Ex: He dresses like Mr. Andersen who dresses like a nerd; therefore, he dresses like a nerd. |
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Sweeping Generalization
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Def: applying a principle to a specific situation while ignoring the context under which the principle was formed.
Ex: All the men I've ever fallen for were heartless pigs, so all men must be heartless pigs. |
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Bandwagon Fallacy
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Def: whenever one argues for an idea based upon an irrelevant appeal to its popularity.
Ex: A lot of people have eaten at McDonald’s; therefore, McDonald’s is a good place to eat. |
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Tu quoque
(This is a kind of ad hominem circumstantial fallacy) |
Def: occurs in our reasoning if we conclude that someone’s argument not to perform some act must be faulty because the arguer himself or herself has performed it.
Ex: Jerry tells Larry to stop eating sugar because Larry has too many cavities, when in fact Jerry eats more sugar and has the same amount of cavities. |
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Ad Hominem
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Def: attacking the character or circumstances of an individual who is advancing a statement or an argument instead of trying to disprove the truth of the statement or the soundness of the argument. Often the argument is characterized simply as a personal attack
Ex: Your fashion opinion isn't valid; you can't even afford new shoes |
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Gambler's Fallacy
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Def: Whatever has happened in the past is bound to not occur again because of the pattern that has been produced. The past results will not affect future results, but the results can provide information about what sort of results that tend to be produced.
Ex: Lightening won’t strike in the same place twice. |
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Appeal to Authority
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Def: Basic structure of the argument:
1. Professor X believes A 2. Professor X speaks from authority Ex: Bob Smith, an actor on a medical drama, recommends 15 hours of sleep a night for people aged 15 through 20. (Although Bob Smith may be an expert actor he is not an authority on the amount of sleep young people should get each night.) |
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Appeal to Popularity
(Appeal to the People) |
Def: concludes a proposition to be true because many or all people believe it; it alleges that “If many believe so, it is so.”
Ex: "But officer, I don't deserve a ticket; everyone goes this speed. If I went any slower, I wouldn't be going with the flow of traffic." |
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Exclusion
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Def: Relevant evidence which would undermine an inductive argument is excluded from consideration. The requirement that all relevant information be included is called the "principle of total evidence".
Ex: Scientists perform an experiment with a certain goal in mind, so they only take the data to support their claims. Then, say that the data proves they’re correct. Without taking into account the other data, the end conclusion is not accurate. |
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Guilt by Association
(also, Bad Company Fallacy) |
Def: in which a person rejects a claim simply because it is pointed out that people she or he dislikes accept the claim
Ex: You think that 1+1=2. But, Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Joseph Stalin, and Ted Bundy all believed that 1+1=2. So, you shouldn't believe it. |
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Complex Question
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Def: is usually (but not always) in the form or a question. The fallacy involves the asking of a question that tacitly assumes the truth of a statement (or occurrence of a state of affairs) not generally granted or given unto evidence.
Ex: Have you stopped using drugs? (Use of two questions: have you used drugs, and have you stopped?) Ex: Are you still a procrastinator? (No: Implies that you were once a procrastinator and are not anymore. Yes: you still procrastinate.) |
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Slippery Slope
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Def: arguments falsely assume that one thing must lead to another. They begin by suggesting that if we do one thing then that will lead to another, and before we know it we’ll be doing something that we don’t want to do.
Ex: If you buy a Green Day album, then next you’ll be buying Buzzcocks albums, and before you know it you’ll be a punk with green hair and everything. |
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Gadarene Swine Fallacy
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Def: Supposing that because a group is in the right formation, it is necessarily on the right course; and conversely, of supposing that because an individual has strayed from the group and is not in formation, that he/she is off course.
Ex: A group of runners turned left on the course while a single runner turned right on the course. Therefore the single runner has made a wrong turn. |
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Poisoning the Well
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Def: the provision of any information that may produce a biased result.
Ex: Only an ignoramus would disagree with fluoridating water. Ex:Women who support abortion on demand are selfish and godless people. They put their own needs above everything and everyone else, and reject the divine gift of a child’s life. |
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Begging the Question
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Def: refers to its own assertion to prove the assertion; arguing for a conclusion that has already been assumed in the premise.
Ex: 3. Someone asks a man why he loves his wife. He replies that he loves her because she is the mother of his children. When asked why she had his children he says because he loved her. |
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Special Pleading
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Def: applying certain principles to others while keeping oneself exempt (using double standards). A general formula can be followed:
1.Person A accepts standard(s) S and applies them to others in circumstance(s) C. 2.Person A is in circumstance(s) C. 3.Therefore A is exempt from S. Ex: Your neighbor says, ‘I know there is a drought and we need to save water, but I am putting my prize flowers in a competition next week and I need to give them plenty of water |
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Irrelevant Conclusion
(also known as ignoratio elenchi) |
Def: An argument which purports to prove one thing but instead proves a different conclusion
Ex: We should not vote for Obama for president. Look at the number of people without jobs right now, and the high tax rates. We need a better president |
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Equivocation
(very similar to Amphiboly) |
Def: a term is used ambiguously twice in the same argument; one of the meanings makes the first premise true, but makes the other premise false, and vice versa.
Ex: The right path is always the best path to take. Therefore, when one is at a fork in the road, it is always best to turn right. |
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Appeal to Pity
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Def: Appealing to the emotion of pity rather than logic or reason to win an argument or convince someone of something
Ex: Give him the job because he spent the last year picking up dead kittens Ex: You must accept that 1+1=46, after all I'm dying... |
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Unrepresentative Sample
(Similar to Hasty Generalization) |
Def: The sample used in an inductive inference is relevantly different from the population as a whole.
Ex: The apples on the top of the box look good. The entire box of apples must be good. (Of course, the rotten apples are hidden beneath the surface.) |
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Argument from Ignorance
(also known as Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam) |
Def: a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false or that a proposition is false because it has not yet been proven true.
Ex: Since you cannot prove that ghosts do not exist, they must exist. |
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Slothful Induction
(opposite of hasty generalization) |
Def: an inductive argument is denied its proper conclusion, even if the evidence is very strong for the conclusion
Ex: "Hugo has had twelve accidents in the last six months, yet he insists that it is just a coincidence and not his fault." (This is an example of slothful induction, because it is inductively obvious that 12 accidents in six months is not a coincidence but Hugo denies it is his fault anyway.) |
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Amphiboly
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Def: an argument is invalid or possibly invalid due to an ambiguous construction of a sentence in one of the premises. One meaning makes the premise true, and the other meaning makes the premise false
Ex: “They said they suspect several people of setting the fire. Therefore I can’t be under suspicion, since I was alone that night.” |
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Hasty Generalization
(basically converse accident) |
Def: when a conclusion is reached based on lack of information or based on information that might not be representative of a whole population. This can often lead to stereotyping or prejudices based on limited experiences or limited information from a small range of people representing a group.
Ex: Brian Park is good at tennis. He is also Asian. Therefore, all Asians are good at tennis. Ex: Seamus is from Irish background. Seamus has been to Ireland. Therefore, everyone with Irish background has been to Ireland. |
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Appeal to Probability
(Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) |
Def: Assumes that because something could happen, it is inevitable that it will happen.
Ex: "There are many hackers that spread worms through the internet. Therefore, if you use the internet without a firewall, it is inevitable that you will be hacked sooner or later.“ |
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Affirming the Consequent
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Def: an argument in this form is invalid, ie the conclusion can be false even when the statements are true. Since 'p' was never asserted as the only sufficient condition for 'q', other factors could account for 'q'
Ex: If Bill Gates owns Fort Knox, then he is rich Bill Gates is rich Therefore, Bill Gates owns Fort Knox (invalid because owning Fort Knox isn't the only way to be rich.) Ex: If he is lying, he will sweat. He's sweating. So, he's lying. (invalid because he could be sweating for a number of reasons besides lying) |
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Appeal to Nature
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Def: in which it is proposed that "a thing is good because it is 'natural', or bad because it is 'unnatural'"
Ex: Cocaine is all natural, therefore it is good for you. |
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Genetic Fallacy
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Def: where a conclusion is suggested based solely on something or someone's origin rather than its current meaning or context.
Ex: America will never settle down; look at the rabble-rousers who founded it. Ex: I was brought up to believe in God, and my parents told me God exists, so He must. |
