Irving Shapiro's Fallacies Of Logic

In “Fallacies of Logic” Irving Shapiro describes the different ways a person, intentionally or unintentionally, can attack their opponent. Fallacies, when used, could be effective tools to confuse and distract opponents. The use of logical fallacies, also known as con, date back to Athens when a school taught students to win arguments using fallacies. The following are the most common fallacies used. Fallacies are easy to agree with and are simple statements with little or irrelevant information to back them up.
Some fallacies are based on the assumption that different events and observations are correlated. “Over-generalization” is a common fallacy that applies a certain observation to an entire group, drawn from an unrepresentative sample. Such observations lie in the past or present and are flawed because they are based on a small sample. These unfair assumptions involve making a general claim based on limited or specific evidence and applied in a greater context. A “thin entering wedge” have …show more content…
One fallacy, commonly known as Ad hominem, attacks the person directly suggesting that the other opponent ran out of ideas on the subject. This reasoning focuses the attention on the person who made the argument like criticizing his or her personal appearance. Such fallacy is irrelevant since a person has nothing to do with the discussion. The other one questions the authority of the person to make credible comments on the subject in which the opponent may undermine the qualifications of the victim. For example, an international economist being questioned of his experience when commenting on future fluctuations. Tu quoque also deviates the attention on the current argument in which the opponent “leaves the assertion unaddressed” (Shapiro). The comments added to the discussion can be completely off topic and do not necessarily take a position on the