Critical Thinking: Chapter 6

Critical Thinking: Chapter 6 More Rhetorical Devices: Psychological and Related Devices

Psychological and Related Devices • A good argument provides a justification for accepting its conclusion.

Psychological and Related Devices • Some rhetorical devices can be made to look like arguments containing premises and conclusions. But they don’t really provide legitimate proof of what they supposedly are proving. • This is called pseudoreasoning.

The “argument” from outrage • A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning. • It is a mistake to think that something is wrong simply because it makes us angry.

The “argument” from outrage • The “argument” from outrage consists in inflammatory words (or thoughts) followed by a “conclusion” of some sort. • It substitutes anger for reason and judgment in considering an issue.

The “argument” from outrage • Scapegoating is a breed of “argument” from outrage in which one person, or a group, gets blamed for everything bad.

The “argument” from outrage • Example: Dear Editors: When Al Jones wrote in to criticize city workers, he didn’t mention his occupation. Maybe he’s a millionaire without a care in the world, that he has the time to criticize people working for him--if he’s even a taxpayer.

Scare Tactics • When the emotion appealed to is fear, rather than anger, this is the fallacy known as a scare tactic. A rhetorical device that uses a threat instead of good reasons to get someone to accept a claim.

Scare Tactics • In a special case of scare tactics, the “argument” by force amounts to saying, “Agree with me or I will hurt you.”

Scare Tactics • Legitimate warnings are not scare tactics even though they may be scary. • “If you don’t check your parachute before jumping, you may die” is an excellent argument!

Scare Tactics • Example: You bet I’ll explain why Fantasy Land [an adult bookstore] should be closed down! You go in there, and we’ll send your license plate number to the newspaper. Are you going to like people knowing what kind of stuff you read?

Argument from Pity • “Argument” from pity. You need a job and although you are not qualified you try to get it by making the employer feel bad for you. The name of a rhetorical device that plays on your compassion to get you to accept a claim instead of relying on sound reasons.

Argument from Pity • Example: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: My client stands before you accused of three bank robberies. But the prosecution has not told you about three little children in this story, who will have a hard time getting food on their table if their daddy goes to prison.

Apple Polishing Fallacy • The apple polishing fallacy is when we allow praise of ourselves to substitute for judgment about the truth of a claim, or when we do this to others.

Apple Polishing Fallacy • Officer: Excuse me, sir. Do you know how fast you were going? Driver: I never get over the sight of you mounted policemen. How do you leap down off the horse’s back so fast? And you must have them well trained, not to run away when you dismount.

Wishful Thinking Fallacy • Wishful thinking: Happens when we accept or reject a claim simply because it would be pleasant (or unpleasant) if it were true.

Wishful Thinking Fallacy • Example: There must be life on other planets. Imagine how lonely we’ll find the universe if we discover that we’re the only ones here.

Peer Pressure Fallacy • Peer pressure “argument”: Plays on our desire for acceptance and our fear of rejection. It is the name of the rhetorical device that argues for a course of action on the grounds that taking this course will win the approval of others and especially of one’s friends.

Peer Pressure Fallacy • Example: Are you telling me that you’re twenty-one years old and still a virgin? I’d keep quiet about that if I were you--you’d be the laughing stock of the dorm if that were widely known.

Group Think Fallacy • Group think fallacy occurs when someone lets identification with a group take the place of reason and deliberation when arriving at a position on an issue.

Group Think Fallacy • Example: “My country right or wrong.” • Example: Pynchon is where it’s at. All the Alpha Kappas read him.

Fallacies based on emotions • Remember: When “arguments” evoke emotions that make us want to accept the conclusion without support, look for fallacies and rhetoric.

Rationalizing • Rationalizing is when we use a false pretext to satisfy our own desires or interests. • Rationalizing involves a confusion in thinking. It involves an element of self-deception about our true motivation.

Rationalizing • Example: She’ll be glad I spent the night out drinking. I’m giving her some personal space.

Argument From Popularity • “Argument” from popularity is when we accept the conclusion of an argument because a lot of other people have accepted the same conclusion. The name of a rhetorical device that encourages the acceptance of a claim on the grounds that it is already accepted by some substantial number of others.

Argument From Popularity • Example: There must be an afterlife. Wherever you find human beings you find their minds naturally returning to this thought. • Example: Obviously it was right for the United States to attack Iraq in 1991. Polls at the time showed that over 90 percent of Americans thought the war was justified.

Argument From Popularity Example: My opponent would like to see TV networks label their programming, on the grounds that violent shows make children who watch them violent. But everyone knows a couple of shows can’t change your personality.

Common Practice Fallacy • The name of a rhetorical device that tries to justify an action on the grounds that it is normal behavior, accepted by all or most people. • Example: Why do you take a bus to work when most people drive?

Relativism • Review of Chapter 1: “Truth is relative.” Opinions are relative, but not factual claims. Remember: factual claims can be tested or verified.

Subjectivist Fallacy • The name of a rhetorical device that is based on the view called relativism, that what is true for one is not true for another.

Subjectivist Fallacy • Example: Professor: I gave you a D on your essay because your grammar was faulty and your organization was difficult to follow. Student: That’s just your opinion!

Subjectivist Fallacy • Example: Biker: I refuse to buy a Japanese motorcycle. I don’t believe in doing business with Communist countries. Reporter: But Japan isn’t communist. Biker: Well to me they are.

Two wrongs make a right • Two wrongs make a right is a fallacy because wrongful behavior on someone else’s part doesn’t convert wrongful behavior on your part into rightful behavior.

Two wrongs make a right • Example: Well! Finally after all these years, the telephone company makes an error on my bill in my favor! And I’m surely not going to point it out to them. They’ve been gouging me since the telephones first came into existence.

Red Herring • A red herring fallacy is caused when a person brings a topic into a conversation that distracts from the original point, especially if the new topic is introduced in order to distract.

Red Herring • Example: It’s clear enough to me that Senator John McCain would have made a great president. Look, it isn’t often that we get a chance to elect a guy who’s a war hero, a prisoner of war in an enemy prison camp, and we ought to have done it when we had the chance.

Smokescreen • Basically the same as a red herring. A smokescreen is when you pile up so many issues the original issue gets lost. The name of a rhetorical device that tries to side-track someone by bringing up a related but irrelevant topic.

Smokescreen • “To the people who brought you ‘The Great American Smokeout,’ we make The Great American Challenge. We challenge the American Cancer Society to clean up the air in its ‘smoke free’ offices. We are willing to bet there isn’t much cigarette smoking at American Cancer Society offices. But, according to a recent study from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), cigarette smoke also wasn’t the problem in 98 percent of 203 buildings reported to have indoor air problems. . . . Indoor air inspections resulting from worker complaints typically find viruses, fungal spores, bacteria, gases, closed fresh air ducts, and ventilation systems in need of maintenance.” • —Full-page ad in USA Today, sponsored by the Tobacco Institute

Smokescreen • A real, literal smokescreen! The Tobacco Institute is playing off reports of dangerous office environments, but the ad is meant to divert attention away from the even greater dangers of cigarette smoking. The ad may also hint that those who feel ill at the office should not blame the smoker; but the “Smokeout” was directed to actual smokers.

Exercises • Identify instances of pseudoreasoning in the following passages: • “Listen, Higgins. I need your vote in the next department election or I may not get elected chair. Remember, if I do get elected, it will be me who decides what hours your classes meet next year.”

Exercises • “Listen, Higgins. I need your vote in the next department election or I may not get elected chair. Remember, if I do get elected, it will be me who decides what hours your classes meet next year.” • Scare tactics

Exercises • When several people in Harvey’s department get new computers, he is annoyed because he is not among them. “I’ll tell you what,” Harvey says to his wife, “if they want to rip me off by not getting a new computer for me, I’ll just rip them off for extra office supplies. They’ve got a lot of stuff at work we could use around here, and they’ll have no way of knowing that it’s gone. Turnabout’s fair play.”

Exercises • When several people in Harvey’s department get new computers, he is annoyed because he is not among them. “I’ll tell you what,” Harvey says to his wife, “if they want to rip me off by not getting a new computer for me, I’ll just rip them off for extra office supplies. They’ve got a lot of stuff at work we could use around here, and they’ll have no way of knowing that it’s gone. Turnabout’s fair play.” • Two wrongs

Exercises • You saw what the former governor of Illinois did: He declared a moratorium on executions in the state. It was a good thing, too, because it turns out that a large number of the inmates on death row had to be turned loose because DNA evidence proved them innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s about time we got serious about the fact that we’ve been convicting innocent people and sentencing them to death.

Exercises • You saw what the former governor of Illinois did: He declared a moratorium on executions in the state. It was a good thing, too, because it turns out that a large number of the inmates on death row had to be turned loose because DNA evidence proved them innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s about time we got serious about the fact that we’ve been convicting innocent people and sentencing them to death. • No fallacy. I think it’s about time too.

Exercises • No, I do NOT believe that a murderer has a right to live, and here’s why. The criminal justice system in this country has gotten completely out of control, what with rapists, murderers, you name it—all getting off scot-free. It’s got to change!

Exercises • No, I do NOT believe that a murderer has a right to live, and here’s why. The criminal justice system in this country has gotten completely out of control, what with rapists, murderers, you name it—all getting off scot-free. It’s got to change! • Red herring

Exercises • Those four officers who killed the innocent man in New York by mistake should be found not guilty of any crime. None of them had ever been in any kind of trouble before, and, tragically, this kind of thing is just going to happen when we have aggressive police work.

Exercises • Those four officers who killed the innocent man in New York by mistake should be found not guilty of any crime. None of them had ever been in any kind of trouble before, and, tragically, this kind of thing is just going to happen when we have aggressive police work. • Red herring; in fact, two red herrings

Exercises • Gays in the military? No way. Clinton promoted the idea just to get the homosexual vote.

Critical Thinking: Chapter 6