For each fallacy listed below write down its definition and an example Do not simply google these You will be responsible for understanding each fallacy as it is explained in the assigned brief videos Circular reasoning is when the argument is restated rather than proven An example is opium is sleep inducing Opium has a sleep inducing quality This does not prove that opium is sleep inducing but it just confirms that it is The formula for circular reasoning is A is true because B is true and B is true because A is true Fabric softener makes clothes extra soft because that s what it s used for Hasty Generalization is when someone makes a sweeping statement without considering all the facts For example a man might walk through a town for the first time and see 10 people All of which are children He draws the conclusion that the town is only made up of children This is best seen as overgeneralization This argument fails to explore all the data surrounding the topic and attempts to suggest a conclusion based on this limited knowledge A conclusion based on the premise that one small step will lead to a chain of events resulting in some significant event which is usually negative If we allow A to happen an unwanted Z will happen and therefore A must not happen For example if you don t study on Saturday your grades will suffer which means you won t graduate with honors which leads to you not getting a good job Then you will be homeless One event has managed to unrealistically spiral into a bigger event that is not logically based on the first event Straw man is where someone distorts an opponent s claim so that it is easier to refute or where someone tries to refute a point someone made by giving a rebuttal to a point they did not make For example Andy talks to his parents about moving away for college rather than staying local His mother responds by crying and saying he will never come back and that he hates her In this case Andy s mother took his statement and twisted it to mean something else entirely Thus discrediting his original statement Notes Fallacies Circular Reasoning Hasty Generalization Slippery Slope Straw Man Ad Hominem An attack on a person s character or personal attributes to discredit their argument For example John tells Andy that the sky is blue Andy responds by saying that he doesn t discuss the weather with morons Whether or not john was rude has nothing to do with the fact that the sky is blue Andys comment attacked john s personal character rather than the information contributive to the argument False Dichotomy Appeal to Emotion Equivocation Bandwagon Appeal False Analogy False dichotomy or false dilemma occurs when an argument presents two points while disregarding or ignoring others in order to narrow the argument in one person s favor You are either for us or against us There are only two options given but there are more options available This attempts to drive the argument in a direction where only one answer can be given in order to incriminate the opposing party I thought you were a good person but you didn t donate to charity last year It ignores the possibility for neutrality in the situation Appeal to Emotion is when a writer or speaker uses emotion based language to try to persuade the reader or listener of a certain belief or position It follows the form of X is true think of how sad happy you will be if its true not true A common example of appeal to emotion is in political campaigns If you aren t voting for a candidate you are voting against the rights of other people Bot parties use appeal to emotion to push their own agendas and in turn make the opposing side feel guilty or ashamed for thinking the opposing way In literature emotion is being forced onto the reader This past week was so busy I had football practice every night and my girlfriend just broke up with me What someone perceives to be unfair how someone is feeling or even thigs that someone sees moral or immoral don t carry much weight in making an objective argument Equivocation or doublespeak fallacy is when an argument is present in an ambiguous double sided way making the argument misleading and confusing Definitions are not clearly used therefore the double meanings of the words might be wrongly incorporated into the argument For example Mom you said I should work on not being offensive but my coach doesn t want me to play defense anymore Offensive can mean a characteristic and a football term It is important to precisely define your words and be consistent with their usage This is an appeal that presents the thoughts of a group of people in order to persuade someone to think the same way It argues that one must accept or reject an argument based on peer pressure For example my family hold this to be true therefore everyone who disagrees is simply wrong It can also mean to appeal overwhelmingly to a group s emotional needs For example 67 of drivers in America speeds Therefore it is acceptable for me to speed False analogy also known as weak analogy is when two things that are unlike are being compared based on trivial similarity in order to prove a point For example People are like dogs They respond best to discipline This is an absurd analog that attempts to correlate people and dog based on one minor similarity False analogy usually consists of stereotypes and commercial advertisers