Rhetorical Fallacies (fallacy = fault)

1. Rhetorical Fallacies(fallacy = fault) Recognize holes in arguments to better deconstruct and analyze

2. Ethos Appeals (creditiblity)

3. Ad Hominem • Attacks the person instead of the argument. • Ex: “What she says about global warming is garbage, she never even graduated highschool.” • Also, guilt by association.

4. Moral Equivalence • Compares minor problems with much more serious crimes or vice versa. • Direct TV Commericial • http://youtu.be/Hv2p5wNJXdo

5. Appeal to Authority • Making the claim that something is true based on the opinion of a supposed expert. • Ex: Michael Phelps may be an expert in swimming, but is he qualified to tell me what credit card I should have in my wallet? • Endorsements for Speedo are not fallacious!

6. Red Herring/The Chewbacca Defense • An argument where an opponent raises a side issue that may appear to be related to the issue at hand but is not. • Ex: It does not make sense. If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit!

7. Straw Man (fallacy of extension) • An argument based on the misrepresenting of an opponent’s position such that an easily knocked down target, or “straw man” is defeated rather than the actual issue or position. • Ex: “Senator Jones refuses to fundthe attack submarine program. I don’t understand why he wants to leave our country defenseless likethat.”

8. Pathos Appeals (emotion)

9. Slippery Slope • An argument in which the claim is made that if one event happens a series of other undesirable events will follow. • Direct TV “Roadside Ditch” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpwlh1yl054

10. Appeal to Pity • An argument where an opponent tries to winsupport for his or herargument by exploiting emotions such as pity or guilt.

11. Appeal to Fear An argument where anopponent attempts to create support for his idea by creating fear,prejudice, and uncertainty. Ex: Any argument endingin “…we’ll all be killed in our beds.”

12. Bandwagon (appeal to popularity) • The argument that something is true or right simply because a lot of people are doing it or believe it to be true. • Ex: Islam is believed by more people than any other religion, therefore it must be true.

13. False Dilemma (either/or fallacy) • This argument involves creating only two choices when in fact others exist. • “Every nation, in every region,now has a decision to make. Either you are with us or youare with the terrorists”—George W. Bush

14. Logos Appeals (logic)

15. Sweeping Generalizations • Making the claim that if something is true in one or many situations it must be true for all situations. • Ex: One should never lie…A man approaches you with a smoking gun and asks “which way did my wife go?” Do you send him off in the right direction? • The converse of SG, SelectiveObservation, occurs when a anarguer uses the exception to therule to support his conclusion.

16. Weak Analogy • This argument attempts to support its conclusion by making questionable or weak comparisons. • Ex: The universe is like a watchbecause it displays order andcomplexity. Therefore, theuniverse, like the watch, musthave been made by an intelligent being.

17. Begging the Question (circular reasoning) • An argument where the conclusion to be proved is assumed in one of the premises. • Ex: All intentional actsof killing human beingsare morally wrong. The death penalty is an intentional act ofkilling a human being. Therefore, the death penalty is morally wrong.

18. Non Sequitur (it does not follow) • An argument where the conclusion is not supported by the premises. • Ex: Our nation will prevail because God is great! • Ex: Racism is wrong. Therefore, we needaffirmative action.

19. Equivocation • A half-truth or a statement that is partially correct but that purposefully obscures the entire truth • A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

20. Confusing Correlation with Causation • An argument that claims because A and B are close to one another in time and space that A caused B. • Ex: Sexual assaults increase indirect correlation to the sale of ice cream. Therefore, ice cream should be banned toprevent these horrible crimes.

21. Extra Fallacies (Not on Study Guide)

22. Affirming the Consequent • This argument occurs when a hypothetical position with an antecedent and a consequent asserts that the truth of the consequent implies the truth of the antecedent. • Ex: If Bill Gates owns FortKnox then he is rich. Bill Gates is rich, thereforehe owns Fort Knox.

23. Inflation of Conflict • The argument that because scholars debate a certain point that they must know nothing, and their entire field is questionable or “in crisis.” • Ex: The Bible says the earth is 6,000 years old. Scientists disagree on how old the earth is. Therefore the earth is 6,000 years old.

24. Complex Question • The fallacy of phrasing a question in such a way that it assumes something is true or false. • Ex: Do you support freedom and the right to bear arms?

25. Argument by Selective Observation • Pointing to individual cases ordata that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoringa significant portion of data thatmay contradict that position. • Ex: Doctor: “Why don’t people take care of themselves? My office is full of people who eat too much, drink too much,smoke, and don't get any exercise.”

26. Appeal to Ignorance • This argument claims that lack of evidence automatically proves that something is untrue. • Ex: If ghosts actually did exist someone would havediscovered undeniable proof of this by now. Nosuch proof has been found, therefore, ghost do not exist.

27. Appeal to Consequence (Wishful thinking) • Making the claim that the consequences of some action whether positive or negative makes it true or false. • Ex: “I acknowledge that I have no argument for the existenceof God. However, I have a great desire for God to exist and for there to be an afterlife. Therefore God exists.”

28. Argument from Inconsistency • The fallacy of making inconsistent cause and effect relationships • Ex: The declining life expectancy in Russia is a failure of communism. But thehigh infant mortalityrate in the United States is not a failureof capitalism.

29. Genetic Fallacy(poisoning the well) • An argument where a conclusion is suggested based solely on someone or something’s origin. • Ex: “Yeah, the environment-a lists do claim that over-development can lead toall kinds of serious problems.But we all know about thosegranola-eating tree huggers!”

30. Amphibology • An ambiguous grammatical structure in a sentence that can be perceived as meaning two different things • Ex: Why go to another used car dealer to be cheated. Try us first!

31. Accent • Similar to amphibology, where meaning shifts based on context • Ex: I told Jack that I never want to see another Bruce Willis movie. As a result, he never shows me another one, he just keep showing me the same one, over and over… • It would be illegal to give away FREE BEER!

32. Two Wrongs Make a Right • An argument wherein one tries to undermine an opponent by pointing out that the same flaws present in himself, or where support is given for “eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” situation. • “Those terrorists are justified in killing those people. After all their land was taken from them.”

33. Quoting Out of Context • Isolating what a person has said or written in such a way as to prove your argument. • “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical andchromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree”--Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

34. Fallacy of Unrepresentative Sample • When a person draws a conclusion about a population that is based on a sample that is biased or prejudiced. • A well-documented scientific study shows that the consumption of eggs leads to higher cholesterol, but the study fails to mention that the participants were sedentaryindividuals in their 50’s whowould have experienced heightened cholesterol regardless of diet.

35. The Fallacy of Division • An argument where characteristic of the whole are applied to its parts • Ex: John lives ina large building, therefore his apartment must be large. • Ex: Table salt ismade of sodium and chlorine, therefore it mustbe OK to eat thesechemicals.

36. The Fallacy of Regression orThe Sports Illustrated Jinx • An argument where the arguer fails to take into account naturaland inevitable fluctuations of thingswhen ascribing causes. • A week after this appearance onthe March SI cover Dennis Rodmanmissed four Lakers games and then took a leave of absence to address "personal matters." He filedfor divorce on April 6. The Lakers released him from his contract on April 15.

37. The Normal Distribution Bell Curve

38. Quiz Identify which logical fallacies exemplify the following arguments: • We should reduce sentences for child molesters. This will remove their incentive to silence their victims by killing them. • Animal experimentation reduces our respect for life and causes us to become more tolerant of violence and cruelty. The next thing you know they will allow experimentation on humans.

39. Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong." Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest." • Physicians cause 120,000 accidental deaths each year while handguns are only responsible for about 1,500 accidental deaths. Therefore doctors are more dangerous than guns. • Of course it rained today, I just washed my car!

40. If abortion becomes illegal women will just seek out dangerous back alley abortions. • It's okay for me to cheat on my taxes because everybody does it. • Really exciting novels are rare. But rare books are expensive. Therefore, really exciting novels are expensive.

41. The humanitarian work we do may well come out of our need to look good in front of our fellow man.  So humanitarian work is basically egotistical! • Alcohol has many destructive effects on society yet remains legal. Therefore, we should legalize marijuana.

42. A recent study showed that violent offenders enjoyed watching violent movies and playing violent video games. Obviously these types of media make people violent. • Allowing same sex marriages will produce 10,000 marriages new marriages each year. The current divorce law punishes the primary wage earner. Look, Paul McCartney’s ex-wife got 50 million! How many people are going to be financially ruined when these marriages end in divorce?

43. Answers • Red Herring/Chewbacca Defense • Slippery Slope • Ad Hominem • Weak Analogy • Selective Observation • False Dilemma • Bandwagon • Affirming the consequent • Poisoning the Well Straw Man • Two Wrongs make a Right • Unrepresentative sample • Straw Man