Fallacy Project

1
Fallacy Project
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Appeal to
Fear

• A non-rational persuasion designed to invoke fear
  by threatening the safety or happiness of
  ourselves or someone we love often called scare
  tactics or appeal to force.
• If God should let you go, you would
  immediately sink, and sinfully descend, and
  plunge into the bottomless gulfThe God that
  holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds
  a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire,
  abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked his wrath
  towards you burns like fire he looks upon you as
  worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the
  fire. - Jonathan Edwards Sinners
  in the Hands of an Angry God
• In this excerpt, Edwards is attempting to
  frighten his audience into submission to an
  angry God. By threatening both their safety and
  well-being, he is able to use this scare tactic
  to achieve his purpose.

3
Burden of Proof

• In general, it is up to the person making an
  argument to try to prove it. It's your job to
  prove me wrong when I make the assertion in
  question.
• Why can't the religious believer simply put the
  burden on the skeptic, and ask him to justify his
  unbelief, with the underlying assumption that as
  between theism and atheism, it is the former that
  is obviously true and the latter that is
  obviously false? -Professor Ralph
  McInerny, Why the Burden of Proof is on the
  Atheist
• - Here Ralph McInerny tackles the ever-present
  battle between faith-based beliefs and
  non-faith-based beliefs. However, he says that
  the atheists, not the faith-following people,
  needed to prove themselves, thus shifting the
  burden of proof.

4
Wishful Thinking

• Wishful thinking is, in some ways, a fallacy
  opposite to an appeal to indirect consequences.
  In wishful thinking, an extremely positive
  outcome, but one just as remote, is suggested in
  the hope that it will distract from the merits of
  the case at hand.
• For a bowl of water give a goodly meal. For a
  kingly greeting bow thou down with zeal. For a
  simple penny pay thou back with gold. If they
  life be rescued, life do not withhold. Thus the
  words and actions of the wise regard. Every
  little service tenfold they reward. But the truly
  noble know all men as one, and return with
  gladness good for evil done. -Gandhi
• Here, Gandhi is attempting to mask the aspects of
  hunger, poverty, or any other lacking, by saying
  that any decent and good action will receive
  goodness in return. This logic, while comforting,
  is wishful thinking.

5
Two Wrongs

• Two wrongs make a right is similar to appeal to
  common practice. This faulty logic is based on
  the idea that it is acceptable to do something,
  not because other people are doing it, but
  because they are doing other things just as bad.
  It implies that the action or thought is wrong,
  but one can see why it would be falsely assumed
  acceptable due to the circumstances. Both actions
  are not supported by any idea other than
  retribution. In "two wrongs, it's not just that
  other people are doing something wrong, but that
  they are doing it to you and that seems to
  excuse what one would likely recognize as
  unacceptable.
• Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there
  was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice,
  hitherto latent, but active now, in this
  unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a
  more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever
  wreaked upon an enemy. All that dark treasure to
  be lavished on the very man, to whom nothing else
  could so adequately pay the debt of vengeance.
  -Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
• Hawthorne proceeds to explain about the mans
  belief that he had been wrongfully treated, and
  therefore the evil that he wrongfully subjected
  people to was actually brought on by themselves.

6
Loaded Question
?
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• A loaded question has a false presupposition and
  is loaded with a false statement. A loaded
  question is one in which cannot be directly
  answered without implying a falsehood. Especially
  found in yes/no questions.
• He sprang on her and sputtered, Why didnt you
  hit him back? Wheres your spirit? Do you think
  Id a let him beat me?
• Do you call me a liar or a blindman! he
  shouted.
• Jedge not, he shouted, lest ye be not
  jedged! The tinge of his face was a shade more
  purple than hers. You! he said. You let him
  beat you any time he wants to and dont do a
  thing but blubber a little and jump up and down!
• He nor nobody else has ever touched me, she
  said, measuring off each word in a deadly flat
  tone. Nobodys ever put a hand on me and if
  anybody did, Id kill him.
• And black is white, the old man piped, and
  night is day!
• 
  -Flannery OConnor A View of the Woods
• - OConnor presents a complicated situation in
  which the physical health of an individual is
  being questioned. In this situation, answering
  the question Do you think Id let him beat me
  is loaded despite the answer a yes answer
  would indicate doubt in the persons pride, and a
  no answer would indicate a doubt in the
  persons physical abilities.

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7
Appeal to Authority

• Appeal to Authority might not originally be seen
  as a fallacy. Often arguments are based on the
  ideas or theories or simple statements of people
  in authoritative positions, those we consider
  experts. Thus, we do not look behind the
  statements rather we accept them as fact. This
  fallacy is also known as an appeal to
  questionable authority.
• for we are told by a grave author, an eminent
  French physician, that fish being a prolific
  diet, there are more children born in Roman
  Catholic countries about nine months after Lent
  than at any other season therefore, reckoning a
  year after Lent the markets will be more glutted
  than usual, because the number of popish infants
  is at least three to one in this kingdomby
  lessening the number of popists among
  us. -Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
• - Swift refers to a grave author and an
  eminent French physician (being the same person)
  and continues to build his argument with the
  mans statements. He does not supply any support
  other than this mans statements, and therefore
  makes an Appeal to Authority because the argument
  is not founded.

8
Appeal to Prejudice

• A prejudice is a predisposition to judge groups
  of people or things either positively or
  negatively, even after the facts of a case
  indicate otherwise. By appealing to a prejudice
  in the listener, the person making the argument
  attempts to ensure a favorable reaction. Most
  often, such an appeal works on negative images,
  and extreme cases can be classified as so-called
  "hate speech.
• This international power structure is used to
  suppress masses of dark-skinned people all over
  the world and exploit them of their natural
  resources. - Malcolm X, February14,
  1965 (taken from essay Malcolm X, our
  revolutionary son and brother by Patricia
  Robinson)
• Malcolm X is here trying to inspire affirmative
  and abrupt actions in response to his statements.
  Therefore, he adopts the appeal to prejudice
  logic, tapping into the emotions of the listener,
  presumably a black radical person, and instead of
  creating truth, displaying faulty logic.

9
Appeal to
Spite

• Appeals to Spite, to hatred, and to indignation
  attempt to tap into the animus a person feels
  about an individual or group of people or things.
  They differ from appeal to prejudice in the sense
  that prejudice works on a pre-existing belief,
  which may be positive or negative, but spite can
  be elicited by the attempt at persuasion itself,
  and is always negative.
• This woman has brought shame upon us all, and
  ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly,
  there is, both in the Scripture and the
  statutebook. Then let the magistrates, who have
  made it of no effect, thank themselves if their
  own wives and daughters go astray! -The
  Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
• - Nathaniel Hawthorne is using Appeal to Spite
  here to show the emotions of the townspeople in
  The Scarlet Letter. This statement allows
  Hawthorne to explore the full extent to which the
  peoples hatred might grow against Hester and how
  it could grow even more when one man or woman was
  outspoken about her adultery, tapping into each
  persons emotions.

10
STRAW MAN

• A fallacy that occurs when a person misrepresents
  another's view so as to easily discredit it. This
  can happen intentionally or unintentionally. The
  image that this fallacy conjures up is that of a
  person building a straw man just to knock it
  over. The author attacks an argument which is
  different from, and usually weaker than, the
  opposition's best argument.
• We all want our families, our soldiers, our
  unions, our sports teams to be united toward
  clear, common goals. But is it not dangerous for
  a democratic populace weighing if and how to wage
  war to value unity above all else? It is all too
  easy to mandate patriotism, as the New York Board
  of Education did last week, bringing back the
  Pledge of Allegiance, as if that will stop the
  Osama Bin Ladens of the world.
  
  
  
  
  - Robert Schere, A True Patriot Can Pose
  Hard Questions, Los Angeles Times, October
  23, 2000
• - Schere uses Straw Man to explain his point
  that unity will not stop terrorism, despite all
  the national pride it may create. He begins his
  passage by agreeing that all Americans would like
  unity and then proceeds to explain why unity is
  dangerous and why we, in fact, do not want unity.

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Indirect Consequences

• This type of fallacy centers around the claim
  that if we justify an action, then this will also
  justify some other actions, and these will not be
  desirable. The idea here is that the reasoning
  which justifies one action will also justify
  other actions, ones which will be detrimental or
  undesirable.
• The use of COBOL cripples the mind its teaching
  should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal
  offense. -Edsgar Dijkstra, mathematician
• - In this short comment, Dijkstra provides us
  with his opinion that the use of COBOL should be
  a criminal offense. However, he bases this on the
  justification of another argument, where it is
  justified to not use COBOL due to its harmful
  effects on the mind. This is a clear use of
  Indirect Consequences.

12
Part for the Whole

• A part-whole relationship indicates that one or
  more object is part of another object.The problem
  is that non-equivalent terms have been
  substituted. Substituting the parts for the whole
  is sometimes called the fallacy of division.
• This single farm of ours would support a dozen
  horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep and all
  of them living in a comfort and a dignity that
  are now almost beyond our imagining.
  -Animal Farm, George Orwell
• In this excerpt Orwell attempts to show that the
  one singular farm will encompass all of the
  characters happiness and wishes--thus
  substituting part for the whole.

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Whole for the parts

• Substituting the whole for its parts is sometimes
  called the fallacy of composition. It is trying
  to say that the part is as important as the
  whole, which is fallacious.
• He claimed to know of the existence of a
  mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to
  which all animals went when they died. It was
  situated somewhere up in the sky, a little
  distance beyond the clouds, Moses said. In
  Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a
  week, clover was in season all the year round,
  and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the
  hedges. -Animal Farm, George Orwell
• This quote states that each of the individual
  parts of Sugarcandy Mountain is just as important
  as the entire mountain, mainly the idea of
  happiness after death.

14
False Compromise

• The fallacy of false compromise usually occurs
  when we do not know or care much about the terms
  of the debate.Without looking at the arguments
  being made, we can never rule out the possibility
  that one side is completely right, and the other
  side is completely wrong.
• Some of the animals talked of the duty of loyalty
  to Mr. Jones, whom they referred to as Master,
  or made elementary remarks such as Mr. Jones
  feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to
  deaththe pigs had great difficulty in making
  them see that this was contrary to the spirit of
  Animalism. The stupidest questions of all were
  asked by Mollie, the white mare. The very first
  question she asked Snowball was Will there
  still be sugar after the Rebellion? And shall
  I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?
  asked Mollie. Comrade, said Snowball, Can you
  not understand that liberty is worth more than
  ribbons? Mollie agreed, but she did not sound
  very convinced. -Animal Farm,
  George Orwell
• In this example, Mollie is portrayed as being
  quite indifferent to the rebellion, which is the
  main point of discussion and more worried about
  her everyday luxuries.

15
False Equity

• The fallacy of false equity can be committed
  either by someone making an argument, or someone
  analyzing one. While it is often a good strategy
  to cover both sides of an argument, such a
  strategy is never a necessary requirement of a
  good argument and we also should not be swayed
  by someone simply because he or she does cover
  both sides.
• There is little shame in the Democratic Party
  these days when it comes to fund-raising. Last
  year Democratic candidates for the Senate
  received more in soft money contributions than
  Republicans. Soft money is the worst, but by no
  means the only, kind of special-interest money
  allowed by the law. The interests that donate
  these hundreds of millions of dollars have the
  greatest influence over both parties.
  -Jim Shannon, Democrats Fall Short on Shame,
  Boston Globe
• - This excerpt cover both sides of the issue,
  but still conveys its original purpose which is
  to condemn the Democrats who received soft money.

16
Common Practice

• The basic idea that people do something to
  support an action or practice. It is a fallacy
  because the mere fact that most people do
  something does not make it correct, moral,
  justified, or reasonable.
• "In my time," said the grandmother, folding her
  thin veined fingers, "children were more
  respectful of their native states and their
  parents and everything else. People did right
  then. Flannery OConnor A Good Man is Hard to
  Find
• - In this excerpt, OConnor shows the
  grandmothers naivety and lack of knowledge about
  the modern society by basing one of her
  statements on common practice. The grandmothers
  idea that all children in her day respected their
  native states and their parents is not founded,
  rather it is based on the fact that most children
  did so. This does not support the argument
  adequately, making it faulty.

17
Appeal to Common Belief

• While surveys of common beliefs and popular
  opinions are a legitimate way to support some
  evaluative statements, they can never be used to
  argue the accuracy of most statements of
  verification. Using popular opinions to support a
  claim that must be verified in another manner is
  a fallacious appeal to common belief. Such
  fallacies are also called appeals to opinion, to
  belief, and to popular belief.
• Had she been in any degree intellectual, he
  could have proved to here form early Christian
  history that no excess of virtue is justified,
  that a moderation of good produces likewise a
  moderation in evil, that if Anthony of Egypt had
  stayed at home and attended to his sister, no
  devils would have plagued him.
• -Flannery OConnor,The
  Comforts of Home
• - OConnor uses the thoughts of a man
  pondering great thoughts of ancient times to
  exhibit Appeal to Common Belief. Through his
  statements about virtue, evil, and Anthony of
  Egypt, we see that they are fallaciously based on
  common belief or popular opinion, and are not
  validated, thus making them fallacious Appeals to
  Common Belief.

18
Faulty Dilemma

• This fallacy is committed when a person argues
  that there are only so many options, and you must
  choose between them, when in fact there are more
  options available. This fallacy is also called
  the either/or fallacy. because it looks like
  you have to choose either this, or that. A false
  dilemma is an illegitimate use of the "or"
  conjunction and is often seen as treating a
  complex issue as if it has only two sides.
• And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned,
  this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
  Jesus answered, It was not that this man
  sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God
  might be made manifest in him. - John 92-3
• - In this excerpt from the Bible, a disciple
  presents Jesus with a question that has only two
  answers, the man or his parents. However, Jesus
  sees the faulty dilemma and contradicts it by
  presenting his statement and explaining why this
  faulty dilemma is fallacious.

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• Establishing an unjustified link between cause
  and effect. The fallacious reasoning goes like
  this one event happened soon after another
  event. Therefore, the first event caused the
  second one to occur.
• "The only policy that effectively reduces public
  shootings is right-to-carry laws. Allowing
  citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces
  violent crime. In the 31 states that have passed
  right-to-carry laws since the mid-1980s, the
  number of multiple-victim public shootings and
  other violent crimes has dropped dramatically.
  Murders fell by 7.65, rapes by 5.2, aggravated
  assaults by 7, and robberies by 3."
  - ("The Media Campaign Against Gun
  Ownership", The Phyllis Schlafly Report, Vol. 33,
  No. 11, June 2000.)
• - In this anti-gun ownership campaign, this
  article is presented, clearly representing post
  hoc. While certain crime numbers may have dropped
  and in those states right-to-carry laws had been
  implemented, there are no direct correlation
  between the two fact. However, this is the
  fallacious reasoning of the passage.

Post
Hoc
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Hasty
Generalization

• In a hasty generalization, the size of the sample
  is too small to support the conclusion, thus the
  statement is not supported enough.
• Of course your columnist Michele Slatalla was
  joking when she wrote about needing to talk with
  her fifty-eight year old mother about going to a
  nursing home. While I admire Slatallas concern
  for her parents and agree that as one approaches
  60 it is wise to make some long-term plans, I
  hardly think that 58 is the right age at which to
  talk about a retirement home unless there are
  some serious health concerns. In this era when
  people are living to health and ripe old age,
  Slatalla is jumping the gun. My 85-year old
  mother power walks two miles each day, drives her
  car (safely), climbs stairs, does crosswords,
  reads the daily paper, and can probably beat
  Slatalla at almost anything.
  - Nancy Edwards,
  Letters to the Editor, Time, June 26, 2000
• - The author of this passage makes all her
  assumptions about the elderly on her mother, who
  is apparently a remarkable woman. By basing her
  opinions on her mother, Edwards proceeds to make
  a hasty generalization about the elderly
  population.

21
Ad hominem

• Another fallacy is called ad hominem meaning
  argument to the man. This fallacy is committed
  when instead of dealing with what a person is
  arguing, one argues that the person is lacking in
  character. The reason that this is fallacious is
  that a persons character has no bearing on the
  truth or falsehood of truth claims.
• For John came neither eating nor drinking and
  they say he has a demon the son of man came
  eating and drinking and they say behold, a
  glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
  collectors and sinners! Yet wisdom is justified
  by her deeds. -Matthew 1118-19
• - Throughout the gospel, Jesus is attacked by
  the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were looking
  to discredit Jesus. In this passage, he rebukes
  their ad hominem arguments, pointing to the
  stubborn nature of that generation, (they would
  not be pleased with either John or Jesus), but he
  making the point that while they may attend to
  demean his character they will be proved wrong
  and Jesus will be proved right by his actions.

22
Sweeping Generalization

• Making a generalization that cannot be supported
  no matter how much evidence is supplied, usually
  done using absolute statements or stereotypes.
  Applying a generalization that is usually true to
  an exceptional case by ignoring the peculiarities
  of the case.
• Mercy on us, goodwife, exclaimed a man in the
  crowd, is there no virtue in woman, save what
  springs from a wholesome fear of the gallows?
  -The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel
  Hawthorne
• - Hawthorne uses sweeping generalization in
  this example to show the thoughts of the crowd,
  particularly one man. His words create a sweeping
  generalization about women, by saying that women
  have no virtue unless they fear death. This is
  the type of generalized statement that cannot be
  proven true.

23
Appeal to Vanity

• Also known as apple-polishing, the strategy
  behind this fallacy is to create a predisposition
  toward agreement by paying compliments. The
  success of the strategy depends on a combination
  of the vanity of the target and the subtlety of
  the compliment, and it is usually more effect
  when the compliment is somehow related to the
  issue at hand.
• Listen," the grandmother almost screamed, "I
  know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like
  you have common blood. I know you must come from
  nice people!
• "Yes mam," he said, "finest people in the
  world." When he smiled he showed a row of strong
  white teeth. "God never made a finer woman than
  my mother and my daddy's heart was pure gold," he
  said. -Flannery OConnor A Good Man is Hard
  to Find
• - The grandmother in this situation is
  practicing Appeal to Vanity. She fears for her
  safety and health, and thus begins to compliment
  the man who is threatening her, hoping that she
  can win him over rather than facing death.

24
Appeal to Pity

• A fallacious appeal to pity, also known as a sob
  story, is different from a simple (and perfectly
  legitimate) appeal to pity because it is used to
  replace logic, rather than to support it. When
  the fallacy does occur, it is usually exhibits
  either a greatly exaggerated problem or an
  inappropriate request. Mainly, a fallacious
  appeal to pity uses emotion in place of reason to
  persuade.
• "You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?" the
  grandmother said and removed a clean handkerchief
  from her cuff and began to slap at her eyes with
  it. - Flannery OConnor A Good Man is Hard
  to Find
• Once again, OConnor uses the character of the
  grandmother to use fallacious logic. Here, the
  grandmother attempts to use the emotions of
  herself as a woman and the emotions that the man
  might feel about a woman and exaggerates them,
  desperately trying to get out of her situation.

25
Appeal to Loyalty

• Appeal to Loyalty is based on the idea that one
  should act with the group's best interests,
  regardless of the merits of the particular case
  being argued. A version of appeal to loyalty is
  the fallacious use of peer pressure. In this
  case, one's agreement is sought, not on the basis
  of what is good for the group as in appeal to
  loyalty, but on the basis of what others in that
  group would or do think.
• "Listen," he said. I never asked much of you. I
  taken you and raised you and saved you from ass
  in town and now all I'm asking in return is when
  I die to get me in the ground where the death
  belong and set up a cross over me to show I'm
  there. That's all in the world I'm asking you to
  do."
• - Flannery O'Connor (You Can't Be Any Poorer
  Than Dead)
• - In this passage, OConnor character uses
  Appeal to Loyalty in an attempt to persuade
  someone to do them a favor. The man pleads with
  the other character, basing his opinion on what
  he believes is best for him (and therefore, best
  for the group). Thus his argument is an Appeal to
  Loyalty rather than a logical argument.

26

• Circular reasoning is arguing an argument with
  the conclusion that is to be drawn from the
  argument, or the conclusion of an argument if,
  explicitly or implicitly, used as a reason for
  itself.
• When I asserted that the YAHOOS were the only
  governing animals in my country , us, and what
  was their employment? I told him, we had great
  numbers that in summer they grazed in the
  fields, and in winter were kept in houses with
  hay and oats, where YAHOO servants were employed
  to rub their skins smooth, comb their manes, pick
  their feet, serve them with food, and make their
  beds. I understand you well, said my master
  it is now very plain,from all you have spoken,
  that whatever share of reason the YAHOOS pretend
  to, the HOUYHNMS are your masters I heartily
  wish our YAHOOS would be so tractable.
  -Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels
• - In this excerpt from Swifts work, we find
  this passage of circular reasoning. The man whom
  the narrator is speaking to actually proves the
  narrators point through circular reasoning, for
  he uses the conclusion of the speakers argument
  to found his own points, only further proving the
  validity of the narrators statements.

Circular
Reasoning