Chapter 5 notesFallacies“Fallacy” comes from Fallex (deceptive) and Fallere (to deceive) A moral Compass?- We often hear it said of someone that “has lost her moral compass”*this expression means that the person in questions doesn’t know what is right from wrong*lose direction in making moral decisions What is a fallacy?- Deception, trickery, trick- A deceptive or misleading argument: a sophism. - A flaw, material or formal, which vitiates an argument.- A delusive notion, an error, especially one founded on false reasoning.Logical Fallacy(fallacy): argument that contains a mistake is reasoningFallacy of Relevance: mistakes in reasoning that occur because the premise are logically irrelevant to the conclusionRelevance: statement is relevant to another statement if it would, if, true, provide at least one some evidence that the second statement is true of false *statement could be relevant to the statement, even if it is falsePositive relevance: X has positive relevance to Y, if X provides evidence that Y is trueEX: All dogs have five legs and Rover is a dog. Rover has five legsNegative relevance: X has negative relevance to Y, is X provides evidence that Y is false.EX: Marty is a high school senior. So, Marty has a Ph.D. Personal attack (Ad Hominem)- Fallacy that dismisses an argument by attacking the person that made the argument, rather than attacking the claims themselves.EX: Hugh Hefner argued against censorship. But Hugh Hefner is a degenerate. Therefore, his argument is worthless.Common pattern:1. X is a bad person2. Therefore, X’s argument must be faulty. *Personal attacks are not fallacious when they appear in arguments that are trying to establish something about the character of the person.EX: Stalin killed millions; therefore Stalin was ruthless. Attacking the Motive- The error of criticizing a person’s motivation for offering a particular argument or claim.Common pattern:1. X is biased or has questionable motives2. Therefore, X’s argument or claim should be rejected.Motivation is not always irrelevant. If someone is motivated to misrepresent the facts, then you have a good reason to be skeptical about the “facts” they put forth. Look Who’s talking- When an arguer rejects another person’s argument or claim because that person fails to “practice what they preach.”EX: I don’t need to stop smoking just because my doctor tells me too; he smokes and wont stop either!*arguments are good or bad because of their own intrinsic strengths or weaknesses, not because of who offers them up.Two Wrongs Make a Right- Committed when one tries to make a wrong action look right, by comparing it to another(perhaps worse) actionEX: I don’t feel guilty about cheating; everyone does it.*Sometimes actions can be justified by the fact that another action have taken place.EX: I killed the man b/c he was about to kill me; it was an act of self defenseScare Tactics(Appeal to force)- Committed when an arguer threatens harm to a reader/listener if they do not accept theargument’s conclusion and this threat is irrelevant to the truth of the conclusion.EX: this gun control bill is wrong for America, and any politician who supports it will discoverhow wrong he/she is at the next selection Common form:1. If you don’t accept what I say then something bad will happen.2. Therefore, what I say is true.Appeal to Pity(Emotion)- Occurs when an arguer inappropriately attempts to evoke feelings of sympathy from his listeners or readers.*he deserves to be on the football team; if not he will be really upset.Bandwagon Argument- An argument that plays on a person’s desire to be popular, accepted, or valued.EX: everyone who is cool smokes. So, you should too.Not all are always fallaciousEX: all the villagers say it is safe to drink the water, so it is probably safe to drink. Straw Man- Committed when an arguer distorts an opponent’s argument to make it weak and thus easier to attack EX: Bob argued that we should outlaw violent pornography. Obviously, he is against free speech.No one should take him seriously.Common Pattern:1. Misrepresentation of X’s views2. That view is false3. Therefore, X’s view should be rejected. Red Herring - Committed when an arguer tries to sidetrack his audience by raising an irrelevant issue and then claims that the original issue has effectively been settled by the irrelevant diversion EX: many people criticize Jefferson for owning slaves. But he was one of our greatest presidents.Such criticism must be unfounded. *distract people from the main argument Equivocation- Arguments commit this fallacy of equivocation when it “switches the meaning” of one ormore of its ambiguous termsBegging the question - Committed when one assumes, as a premise, the very thing that is one’s conclusionEX: capital punishment is wrong because it is ethically impermissible in inflict death as punishment for a crime.*no new info is added Common Form: P. Therefore