🤥 Logical Fallacies

November 9, 2022

The Trouble Studying Fallacies
  • We sometimes turn a blind eye to faulty logic if we agree with the principle of the argument.
  • There are many types of fallacies and different people call them by different names. This lesson will cover the most common types.

Category 1
  • The “snap decision group”

Either-Or Fallacy
  • When an argument suggests that there are only 2 options or potential outcomes.
  • Usually the intent is to lead the audience to believe that one of the outcomes is the obvious “correct” choice.

Hasty Generalization
  • Making a rushed conclusion without considering all of the factors or variables.
  • Stereotypes are a particularly gross form of hasty generalization.
  • Example → “A person is walking through a town and he meets a few polite kids, seeing that he concludes that all the kids in that town are polite.”

Appeal to Ignorance
  • Saying something must be true (or false) because there isn’t evidence to the contrary.
  • Example → “You can’t prove that you are innocent; therefore, you must be guilty.”

Practice
  • “She was wearing cowboy boots in her last Instagram picture so she must be into country music.”
    • Hasty Generalization
  • "No one I know was on that Apollo mission, so I can’t say with certainty that we ever put a man on the moon.”
    • Appeal to Ignorance
  • “Do you want to live in a world where you can get breakfast from McDonald’s all day, or would you rather live in a dictatorship?”
    • Either-Or

Category 2
  • The “people” group

Bandwagon Appeal
  • If the main premise of the argument is that many people believe it or agree with it or do it so it must be true/good/acceptable, then it’s a bandwagon fallacy.

Authority Fallacy
  • While it can build ethos to have a source of authority “endorse” your argument, it becomes a fallacy if the entire premise of the argument is that “a famous person believes it so it must be true,” or if your endorser doesn’t have anything to do with the topic of your argument.

Ad Hominem
  • Attacking the person’s character or credentials instead of addressing the real argument they’re making.

Practice
  • “Well, it doesn’t matter how I answer your question because your network is just left-wing bias.”
    • Ad Hominem
  • [sign outside McDonald’s] “Over 100 billion served.”
    • Bandwagon

Category 3
  • “That’s a stretch…” group

Slippery Slope
  • This type of argument suggests that taking a minor action will lead to major and sometimes ridiculous consequences.

False/Faulty Causality
  • ^not “casuality.” Cause-ality.
  • This is the assumption that because one event followed another, the first caused the second.

Weak Analogy
  • This fallacy is when an analogy is used to prove or disprove an argument, but the analogy is too dissimilar to be effective, that is, it is unlike the argument more than it is like the argument.

Practice
  • “Schools are a lot like businesses, and students are the customers so we must assume they are always right.”
    • Weak Analogy
  • “If we allow college entrance with no ACT, then the next thing you know, colleges will not consider GPA either!”
    • Slippery Slope
  • “My cousin went to that restaurant and was really sick the next day, so we’d better go somewhere else if we don’t want food poisoning.”
    • Faulty Causality

Category 4
  • The “look over there!” group

Appeals to Pity / Overly Emotional Appeals
  • When the appeal to pathos (pity, fear, pride, vanity) is the basis of the argument

Straw Man Argument
  • If you are arguing something related to the topic, but avoiding the ACTUAL topic, you are making a straw man argument.

Non-Sequitur Fallacy
  • A conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
  • Note → rule out other fallacies first; if it fits none of them, then it’s likely a non-sequitur.

Practice
  • Defense attorney to jury: “How can you convict this man of murdering her mother? He’s an orphan!”
    • Appeal to Pity
  • Person A: I think we should consider reducing the voting age to 16. Person B: Oh sure. Letting little kids pick the president and run for mayor will definitely make our country better.
    • Straw Man
  • People enjoy walking on beaches, which are made of sand, so people would probably enjoy floors made of sand in their homes, too!
    • Non-Sequitur