Lecture 5 PHIL 1102 1st Edition Outline of last lecturel. Informal fallacies ll. Fallacies of RelevanceOutline of current lecture lll. Fallacies of unwarranted assumption lV. Fallacies of ambiguity or diversion V. Recognizing fallacies in ordinary languageCurrent lecture lll. Fallacies of unwarranted assumptionA. Arguments that assume the truth of some unproved or questionable claim. B. Begging the Question - Assumes as evidence in premises the very thing that attempts to prove in the conclusion.Ex. Jane has the highest GPA among all he seniors in my school. There are three hundred graduating seniors in my class. Therefore, no senior has a higher GPA than her.Premise and the conclusion say the same thing; premise becomes irrelevant.C. Complex question - A single question that actually contains multiple hidden parts. Ex. Do you still cheat on you taxes?Answering yes or no presumes you do or did cheat on your taxesI asked if you still cheated on you taxes. You said “No” Therefore, by you own admission you did cheat on you taxes. The premises rely on two distinct questions”Did you ever cheat on you taxes?Do you now cheat on you taxes?D. Biased Sample - Uses a non-representative sample as support for a statistical claim about an entire population. Ex. Evidence shows that approximately 80% of all Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong. Recently, a sample of Catholics revealed that 80% believe that abortion is morally wrong. The sample surveyed only Catholics, but the conclusion generalizes to all Americans.E. Hasty Generalization - A generalization created on the basis of a few instances.Ex. I saw a fraternity guy act rudely to a fast food employee in the food court at lunch today. Probably most fraternity and sorority members are rude and arrogant. The premise reports a single instance, while the conclusion generalizes the behavior to most fraternity and sorority membersF. Misleading Precision - A claim that appears to be statistically significant, but is not Ex. Our cookies contain 20% less fat, so you should start eating them if you want to lose weight.It is fair to ask, “20% less fat than what?” we need to know before we can judgethe significance of this claim. G. False Dichotomy - A fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that only two choices are possible, when in fact others exist.Ex. Either you agree with me or you are an idiot H. False Dilemma- Occurs when two choices are asserted, each leading to an unwanted result, with failure to acknowledge that other possibilities exist. Ex. Either we give up some traditional basic freedoms, or we lose the war on terror What are other possible choices? Can we win the war on terror without giving up some traditional basic freedoms?I. False cause fallacies - Occur when a causal connection is assumed to exist between two events when none actually exists. - Coincidence: Results from the accidental or chance connection Ex. I can prove that some dreams let us see into the future. Last week, I dreamed that my cousin was in a car wreck. Just now. I got a phone call from my cousin’s wife saying that he is in the hospital because he was in a car accident.We have thousands of dreams a year; a few are likely to resemble real events. We forget that most dreams do not connect to real events. - Post Hoc Fallacy: Involves a short-term pattern noticed after the fact.Ex. Researchers have found a pattern showing that while a Democrat was president, Morphiacola topped all soft-drink sales. While a Republican was president, Opiacola topped all sales. You should invest in the soft-drink company based on who is in the white house.This post hoc argument falls prey the mistake of confusing a correlation with a cause. - Common Cause Fallacy: Occurs when one event is assumed to cause another when both events are the result of a common cause.Ex. A falling barometer is the cause of a storm. In fact, both events are caused by change in atmospheric pressure. - Slippery Slope: Attempts to make a final event the inevitable out of an initial act. Ex. If you start smoking marijuana for pleasure, you will need more and more to achieve expected high. You will begin to rely on it whenever you feel depressed. Eventually you will experiment with more powerful drugs. The amount of drug intake will have to increase to achieve the desired results. At this point an addiction will take hold. Therefore, you should not start smoking marijuana. Relies on a casual network with each step in the chain causing next step. The alleged inevitability of the final act need is not supported by objective evidence. IV. Fallacies of Ambiguity or Diversion A. A fallacy that occurs when the meaning of terms or phrases are changed (intentionally or unintentionally) within the argument, or when our attention, or when our attention is purposely (or accidentally) diverted from the issue at hand. B. Equivocation- The intentional or unintentional use of different meaning s or phrases in an argument Ex. My older brother tries hard to be cool. I told him he has the personality of a cucumber. Since a refrigerator is a good place to keep thing cool, he should spend some time thereEquivocation on “cool”: different meanings require the context of particular sentence for clarity. C. Amphiboly- Amphiboly that arises when a poorly constructed statement muddles the intended meaning. Ex. He was shot in the train in the back in the sleeping car.(Was he shot in the back or in the back of the train?)She watched the monkey eating a banana.(who was eating the banana?) D. Composition - The mistaken transfer of an attribution of the individual parts of an object to the object as a whole. All the cells in his body are tiny. Thus, he is tiny.The bricks in this building are sturdy, so the building must be sturdy. - Compare:The thread in the material that his shirt is made from are blue, therefore the shirt is blue. (NOT A FALLACY!!!!)E. Division - The mistaken transfer of attribution of an object as a whole to its individual parts.He is huge, so he must have huge cell.The cake tastes burnt, so you must have used burnt ingredients- CompareEx. That is a wooden chair, so the legs are made of wood (NOT A FALLACY!!!!)F. Straw Man Fallacy- Occurs when someone’s written or spoken words are taken out of context, purposely distorting the original argument to create a new, weak argument thatcan be easily refuted (a straw man that is easily knocked down).Ex. Opponent’s