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Fallacies Part II
English 125 - fallacies for second test
| Definition | Answer |
|---|---|
| Sheltering behind ambiguous meanings so that meaning can be changed later; involves preparation for definitional retreat Ex: "All I said was I would be home at a reasonable time. I think three o'clock in the morning is reasonable for what I was doing." | Hedging |
| Attacking the arguer in a way that has nothing to do with the argument itself; trashing the opponent's reputation but never commenting on the actual argument | Hominem (abusive), argumentum ad |
| Not focusing on the actual argument, but on the special circumstances that appeal to the audience; not a general argument Ex: "You can't accept the legitimacy of lending for profit. You are a Christian and Christ drove the money lenders from the temple." | Hominem (circumstantial), argumentum ad |
| Using the lack of knowledge to infer the opposite is true; what has not been disproved must happen Ex: "Ghosts exist because research teams have spent many years and millions of dollars to prove that they don't and they have not been successful." | Ignorantiam, argumentum ad |
| Tries to prove one thing, but ends up proving something else; a conclusion is proven, but it is the wrong one Ex: "How could my client have ordered the murder? I have proven without a doubt that he was out of the country at the time of the murder." | Ignoratio elenchi |
| Argument that makes unsupported claims; pretext talks about some and conclusion talks about all Ex: "All tax-collectors are civil servants, and all tax-collectors are bullies, so all civil servants are bullies." | Illicit Process |
| Jocular material irrelevant to the subject is introduced in order to divert attention away from the argument Ex: "My opponent's position reminds me of a story...."(that has nothing to do with anything) | Irrelevant Humor |
| Ignoring the argument altogether and refusing to discuss its central claim; throwing out an argument because it is found to be offensive Ex: "He's a friend of mine. I won't hear a word against him." | Lapidem, argumentum ad |
| Trusting someone's opinion simply because they are poor; being poor makes him smarter than a rich man | Lazarum, argumentum ad |
| Using the deliberate prejudiced terms; when the words used are meant to conjure up an opinion more fervent than the simple facts would | Loaded Words |
| Allowing pity to determine the best basis for argument; turning to pity instead of reason | Misericordiam, argumentum ad |
| Using constant repetition to validate an argument Ex: "Just the place for a snark! I have said it thrice; what I tell you is three times true." | Nauseam, argumentum ad |
| Supposing that everything worth doing or saying has already been said or done Ex: "If tobacco is really harmful then why didn't they ban it years ago?" | Non-Anticipation |
| Assuming that something is right just because it is new | Novitam, argumentum ad |
| Wrongly equating the number of supporters of an argument with its rightness Ex: "50 million Frenchmen can't be wrong!" | Numeram, argumentum ad |
| When only the good points or bad points of an argument are taken into consideration Ex: "I'm not going to get married. There would be all the extra responsibility, not to mention the loss of my freedom..." | One-Sided Assessment |
| Use is made in the argument of something which the conclusion seeks to establish Ex: "Justice requires higher wages because it is right that people earn more." | Petitio Principii |
| Discrediting the opposition before they have uttered a word; makes unpleasant remarks about anyone who would join the opposition Ex: "Everyone except an idiot knows not enough money is spent on education." | Poisoning the Well |
| Appeals to the popular opinion - based on prejudice; case does not have facts, just based on emotions Ex: "Are we to see the streets of this ancient land of ours overrun by strange faces?" | Populum, argumentum ad |
| A positive conclusion follows from two premises which include a negative one (fallacy); one premise is negative, so a valid conclusion would would have to be negative Ex: "Some cats are not black, and all cats are animals, so some animals are black." | Positive Conclusion from Negative Premise |
| Supposing that because one event follows another second event must be caused by the first Ex: "Immediately after the introduction of canned peas, the illegitimate birthrate shot up to a new high and didn't decline until frozen peas became more popular." | Post hoc ergo propter hoc |
| Appears to be a three-term argument, but is actually four Ex: "John is to the right of Peter, Peter is to the right of Paul, so John is to the right of Paul." vs. "John is in awe of Peter, Peter is in awe of Paul, so John is in awe of Paul." | Quaternio Terminorum |
| Irrelevant material is used to distract people and divert their attention away from the argument Ex: "What are you doing with that diamond necklace hanging out of your pocket? Oh is that a purebred German Shepard?" | Red Herring |
| Attention is focused on discrediting the example used to support the argument rather than the argument itself Ex: "Teenagers are so bad mannered. That neighbor boy didn't even apologize when he knocked into me! You're wrong. Simon isn't a teenager." | Refuting the Example |
| Supposing that words must denote real things; supposing abstract nouns are real objects Ex: "We have extracted the blueness of the summer sky and inserted it into this bar of soap." | Reification |
| Committed when an argument used to support a course of action would also support more of it; Ex: "Lowering the speed limit from 70 to 60 would save more lives. But so would lowering it to 50, or even 40, or 30, etc." | Runaway Train |
| Hasty generalization; a conclusion is reached based on few and unrepresentative arguments Ex: "I was in Cambridge for ten minutes and I met three people, all drunk. The place must be in a state of perpetual inebriation." | Secundum Quid |
| Shifting the meaning of the argument; change the whole ground they were maintaining Ex: "I said I liked the project. However I share your objections and can only say this reinforces the view I've long had that it's not enough for a project to be likable. | Shifting Ground |
| Putting forth an assertion without justification, on the basis that the audience must disprove it if it is to be rejected; Ex: "School children should be given a major say in the hiring of their teachers. Why? Give me one good reason they shouldn't." | Shifting the Burden of Proof |
| Believing that one step in a certain direction will inevitably result in the entire distance being covered; ruin is reached in stages Ex: "I oppose to lowering the drinking age to 18. Soon it will be to 16 and then 14 and then babies will be drinking." | Slippery Slope |
| Double standard; some cases are exceptions, but rules still apply elsewhere Ex: "Our attempt at conversation was spoiled by all the people noisily chatting a way." | Special Pleading |
| Misrepresentation of the opponents argument that is very easy to knock down Ex: "We should liberalize marijuana laws. No, any society with unrestricted access to drugs loses its work ethic." | Straw Man |
| Englishman's fallacy; the moderate view is the correct one, regardless of its other merits; everything is alright in moderation Ex: "Unions have asked for 6% and management has asked for 2% so let's just go with 4% and avoid the hardship of a strike." | Temperantiam, argumentum ad |
| Blame is attached no matter what the outcome is; heads you lose, tails you lose, edge you still lose | Thatcher's Blame |
| Leave the central thesis largely untouched; opposes the argument on the basis of minor and incidental aspects Ex: "I am totally opposed to the new road in town. It will make all of our town maps outdated." | Trivial Objections |
| When a case is undermined on the claim that its proponent himself is guilty of what he talks of Ex: "Why should we listen to Brown's support for the new car park when last year he was totally opposed to the idea?" | Tu Quoque |
| Argument with one of its stages understood rather than stated; important part of the argument is omitted Ex: "Bill must be stupid. You have to be stupid to fail a driving test."(it's assumed that Bill failed his driving test) | Unaccepted Enthymemes |
| Three line argument in which the middle term is not thoroughly distributed Ex: "All men are mammals. Some mammals are rabbits, so some men are rabbits. (term "mammals" is never once referred to as "all mammals")" | Undistributed Middle |
| When lack of perfection is used as a basis for rejection of an argument, even though none of the alternatives are perfect either Ex: "We should ban the generation of nuclear power because it can never be made completely safe." | Unobtainable Perfection |
| Appeal to false authority; supposing an expert in one field can lend support in another Ex: "Hundreds of scientists reject the theory of evolution. (though few could have their expertise in evolutionary biology)" | Verecundiam, argumentum ad |
| Using wishful thinking in place of an actual argument Ex: "Going to work in this awful weather would be no good for anyone. I think I'll take the day off and stay in bed." | Wishful Thinking |
Created by:
fritzsm
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