FALLACIES

How to detect erroneous statements and arguments

FALLACY (…meaning)

• 7.0. Fallacy – error in reasoning; a product of one’s failure to think or argue correctly

Categories...• Categories of Fallacy:

7.1.Fallacy of Relevance:

• 7.1.1. Appeal to Force/ Staff (argumentum ad baculum) -- someone in a position of power threatens to bring down unfortunate consequences upon anyone who dares to disagree with a proffered proposition. (Ex. If you do not agree with my political opinions, you will receive a grade of F for this course.)

Cont’n• 7.1.2. Appeal to Pity (argumentum

ad misericordiam) -- tries to win acceptance by pointing out the unfortunate consequences that will otherwise fall upon the speaker and others, for whom we would then feel sorry.

• (Example: I am a single parent, solely responsible for the financial support of my children; If you give me this traffic ticket, I will lose my license and be unable to drive to work.)

Cont’n

• 7.1.3. Appeal to Emotion (argumentum ad populum) --relies upon emotively charged language to arouse strong feelings that may lead an audience to accept its conclusion

Cont’n• 7.1.4. Appeal to Authority (argumentum

ad verecundiam) --involves the mistaken supposition that there is some connection between the truth of a proposition and some feature of the person who asserts or denies it; the opinion of someone famous or accomplished in another area of expertise is supposed to guarantee the truth of a conclusion. As a pattern of reasoning, this is clearly mistaken: no proposition must be true because some individual (however talented or successful) happens to believe it.

Fallacy cont’n…

• 7.1.5. Ad Hominem Argument -- we are encouraged to reject a proposition because it is the stated opinion of someone regarded as disreputable in some way

• 7.1.6. Appeal to Ignorance (argumentum ad ignoratiam) -- proposes that we accept the truth of a proposition unless an opponent can prove otherwise. (Example: No one has conclusively proven that there is no intelligent life on the moons of Jupiter. Therefore, there is intelligent life on the moons of Jupiter.)

Cont’n…• 7.1.7. Irrelevant Conclusion

(ignoratio elenchi) -- tries to establish the truth of a proposition by offering an argument that actually provides support for an entirely different conclusion. (Example:All children should have ample attention from their parents; Parents who work full-time cannot give ample attention to their children; Therefore, mothers should not work full-time)

Fallacies of Ambiguity

• 7.2.1. Equivocation -- trades upon the use of an ambiguous word or phrase in one of its meanings in one of the propositions of an argument but also in another of its meanings in a second proposition. Example: Really exciting novels are rare; But rare books are expensive; Therefore, expensive things are really exciting novels.

Cont’n

• 7.2.2. Amphiboly -- can occur even when every term in an argument is univocal, if the grammatical construction of a sentence creates its own ambiguity. (Example: A reckless motorist Thursday struck and injured a student who was jogging through the campus in his pickup truck. Therefore, it is unsafe to jog in your pickup truck).

Cont’n

• 7.2.3. Accent -- the fallacy of accent arises from an ambiguity produced by a shift of spoken or written emphasis (Ex. Desert –double meaning).

Cont’n

• 7.2.4. Composition -- involves an inference from the attribution of some feature to every individual member of a class (or part of a greater whole) to the possession of the same feature by the entire class (or whole). [Ex.: "My philosophy course was well-organized; therefore, college courses are well-organized."]

Cont’n

• 7.2.5. Division -- involves an inference from the attribution of some feature to an entire class (or whole) to the possession of the same feature by each of its individual members (or parts). (Example: Tamaraws are now dying out; Kolokoy is a Tamaraw; Therefore, Kolokoy is now dying out)

Exercises (1-10)

• What fallacies are involved in the ff?:

• 1) The suspect was begging for forgiveness after he was apprehended by the police in the snatching incident last week along the University belt.2) A certain Barbara Fields was arrested inside a mall after she was identified as the culprit after the victim told the security guards that the person who took her cell phone was wearing jeans and black shirt..

Cont’n

• 3) The Barangay Captain was given a stern warning by the Mayor of the town not talk about the brawl involving the latter’s two sons during the town fiesta. 4) Manny Pacquiao would never win in any Congressional election because he is not highly educated compared to his political rivals.

Cont’n

• 5) Where did the Governors bring the money given them by the President during the visit in the Palace?

• 6) All the apostles are faithful followers of the Lord. Therefore, Judas Iscariot is a faithful follower of the Lord being an apostle.

• 7) The reason why the Bar topnotcher got the plum was because she took her undergraduate course from the Jesuit university known for its excellent education.

Cont’n

• 8) Some Filipinos are servants or domestic helpers in foreign lands. Therefore, all Filipinos are servants or domestic helpers.

• 9) She failed to win the World’s Quiz Bee because she missed to pray the novena to St. Jude.

• 10) The head of the state was mad at his critics after the former read in the news he was the butt of joke in the latter’s party convention

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