Apologetics logic review
Example of a logical fallacy
1. Some mammals are cats. 2. All dogs are mammals 3. Therefore, some dogs are cats
What is a statement?
A particular kind of statement that makes a declaration that is either true false or nonsense
What is an argument?
A set of statements where one of them (the conclusion) is implied or supported by the others (premises).
It is raining outside
A statement supported by experience or observation. You see or hear it raining outside.
What is a self supporting statement?
A statement that has immediately apparent truth values
What is a supported statement?
A supportive statement cannot stand on their own. They must have outside information in order to determine the truth value.
What fallacy is this? I was assigned to a personal trainer at the gym, And he gave me a new workout program. But I don't have any confidence in his expertise, since he has obvious trouble controlling his own appetite.
Ad hominem
What fallacy is this? My opponent in tonight's debate has been divorced three times. Given his lack of character, I don't think we can really trust anything he has to say.
Ad hominem
What fallacy is this? Socrates' arguments about human excellence are rubbish. What could a man as ugly as he know about human excellence?
Ad hominem
What fallacy is this? Why should we trust Freud? He did enough cocaine to kill a small horse.
Ad hominem
What fallacy is this? You can't trust anything a Muslim says because they are responsible for the 9/11 attacks
Ad hominem
True by definition
All squares have four sides
Example of a statement that is true or false by definition
All triangles are three sided figures
What are the three TYPES of fallacies?
Ambiguity Presumption Relevance
When is an argument valid?
An argument is valid if and only if the conclusion is necessarily true given that the premises are true
Fallacies of Relevance
An argument whose conclusion is simply not relevant to its premise. This is a question of degree. Genetic fallacy, appeal to pity, ad hominem, appeal to fear, appeal to authority, appeal to ignorance, and Straw man.
logical fallacy
An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid
What fallacy is this? Evolution must be true because Richard Dawkins, a highly accomplished physicist, said it was true
Appeal to authority
What fallacy is this? Well, my teacher said that drinking soda after six is a bad thing, so you're wrong and should not drink soda after six
Appeal to authority
What fallacy is this? Brad Pitt was seen wearing designer bobs sunglasses, so that must be the best sunglasses to wear.
Appeal to authority fallacy
What fallacy is this? Nobody is a better judge than public opinion.
Appeal to authority fallacy
What fallacy is this? Just write three words, God is dead or else you will have to defend the opposite and it is worth a third of your grade.
Appeal to fear
What fallacy is this? You must convict the defendant. If you do not, you might be her next victim.
Appeal to fear
What Chelsea is this? If we don't bail out the big auto maker, the US economy will collapse. Therefore, we need to bail out the auto makers.
Appeal to fear fallacy
What fallacy is this? You know, Professor Smith, I really need to get an a in this class. I'd like to stop by during your office hours later to discuss my grade. I'll be in your building anyways, visiting my father. He's your boss, by the way. And trust me, from experience, you sure don't want to make him mad. I'll see you later.
Appeal to fear fallacy
What fallacy is this? Obviously there must be life in outer space because no one has proved that there isn't
Appeal to ignorance
What fallacy is this? I guess I didn't get the job. They never called me back.
Appeal to ignorance fallacy
What fallacy is this? Since you haven't been able to prove your innocence, I just assume you're guilty.
Appeal to ignorance fallacy
What fallacy is this? Please give me the job. If you don't my parents will be mad at me and will make me do the dishes for six weeks
Appeal to pity
What fallacy is this? You must find my client innocent because their life has been so hard already, don't make it worse
Appeal to pity
What fallacy is this? Please don't fire Bob. I know that his presentation was late, unorganized, failed to communicate anything, and cost the company millions, but if you fire him, he won't make enough money to take me to the Super Bowl like he promised.
Appeal to pity fallacy
What fallacy is this? We must redistribute wealth. It just isn't fair that the 99% doesn't have all the benefits that the one percent has.
Appeal to pity fallacy
Fallacy of Ambiguity
Arguments that are faulty because they use words or phrases that are unclear or have more than one meeting. Equivocation and reification
What fallacy is this? Flowers are beautiful because they are pretty
Begging the question fallacy
What fallacy is this? Do you still have a shopping addiction?
Complex question Fallacy
What fallacy is this? Do you still cheat on tests?
Complex question fallacy
What fallacy is this? Why do you girls hate guys so much?
Complex question fallacy
What are the parts of an argument?
Conclusion and premise
True by logical structure
Either the rays will win the World Series or they will not
What fallacy is this? I know magic is real because I see magic all the time
Fallacy of Equivocation
What fallacy is this? Either I will get first place or I will finish an embarrassing last place
Fallacy of bifurcation
What fallacy is this? Either you love brownie sundaes or you are not a human
Fallacy of bifurcation
What Chelsea is this? God exist because the Bible says so in the Bible is true because God says so
Fallacy of equivocation
What fallacy is this? Evolution is fact because we can observe evolution
Fallacy of equivocation
fallacy is this? The Bible is false because evolution is true
Fallacy of equivocation
What fallacy is this? All humans have arms. So, all humans can write with their hands
Fallacy of presumption
What fallacy is this? All my friends love dogs. Therefore, they should not get a cat.
Fallacy of presumption
What fallacy is this? My iPhone broke when I dropped it. Iphones must be very poorly made
Fallacy of presumption
What Chelsea is this? Even when Erica was singing, soccer was still calling her, making her want to go play
Fallacy of reification
What fallacy is this? Faith is like Wi-Fi, it's invisible, but it has the power to connect you to what you need. Just have faith and you will be a millionaire
False analogy fallacy
What fallacy is this? Why are you complaining about working 15 hour days, my computer works 24/7?
False analogy fallacy
What fallacy is this? Why do math when calculators can do it for you?
False analogy fallacy
What fallacy is this? An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
False cause fallacy
What fallacy is this? If you spill salt, then you have to throw it over your shoulder or you will have bad luck
False cause fallacy
What fallacy is this? On cold winter days, Ponce freeze. More people die in the winter so, clearly, frozen ponds are very dangerous.
False cause fallacy
What fallacy is this? When I get to go fishing, my parents are much less stressful.
False cause fallacy
What fallacy is this? When it gets cold, people get hurt from slipping and falling. Therefore, the cold makes people slip
False cause fallacy
Is it true that you need to have another person present to have a logical argument?
False, an argument is not a debate or yelling match it is a set of supported system
What fallacy is this? " you are only against gun control because your own guns"
Genetic fallacy
What fallacy is this? But that article is from Wikipedia, that means you can't believe it
Genetic fallacy
What fallacy is this? The Bible was written thousands of years ago by people who did not know everything we know today. Therefore we should ignore its teachings.
Genetic fallacy
What fallacy is this? The current chancellor of Germany was in the Hitler youth at age 3. With that sort of background, his so-called 'reform' plan must be a fascist program.
Genetic fallacy
How are hasty and sweeping different?
Hasty starts with specific applied to all Sweeping starts with general applied to specific; forgets exception
Why is begging the question difficult to spot?
It can be subtle Technically valid but doesn't prove anything
Example of a supported statement
It is snowing outside
Conclusion
Main point of an argument
What fallacy is this? Aaron: all Americans love burgers! Sara: I don't love burgers, I am a vegan. Aaron: Well, clearly you are not a real American
No true Scotsman fallacy
What fallacy is this? If you agree with socialism, then there is no way you were actually an American.
No true Scotsman fallacy
What fallacy is this? No reputable intellectual believes the Bible is trustworthy
No true Scotsman fallacy
begging the question
Often called circular reasoning, __ occurs when the believability of the evidence depends on the believability of the claim. Or the conclusion is incorporated into one of its premises
Reification
Personification; when someone attributes a concrete and often personal characteristic to a conceptual abstraction
Argument are made of...
Premises and conclusions
An argument may be considered bad and therefore ignored if.....
Premises are false and the conclusion doesn't follow logically from premises(error in reasoning)
Validity
Premises are true and conclusion follows rationally from them
What fallacy is this? That monster should not be set free because of his horrible, evil, and hateful acts.
Question begging epithet
What fallacy is this? The ruthless cannibalistic fish was charged for eating the very young and helpless baitfish child
Question begging epithet
What fallacy is this? The savage animal of a child climbed onto the desk and inflicted damage for two horrifying periods.
Question begging epithet
What fallacy is this? This rude man has viciously assaulted that sweet helpless woman.
Question begging epithet
Supported statement
Require research to be confirmed
What are three types of self supporting statements?
Self reports, statements which are true or false biological structure, and statements that are true or false by definition
What are two types of statements?
Self supporting and supported
What fallacy is this? If I fail this math test then I won't get an A in this class. That means that I won't get into any good colleges, engineering programs will reject me and my dreams of becoming an engineer will never come true
Slippery slope fallacy
What fallacy is this? If we let just anyone referee a soccer game, then we will have crazy people making terrible calls, players Will be angry and will break all the rules, most of the players will end up with broken bones, and the whole field will break out into fist fights ending the sport of soccer as we know it
Slippery slope fallacy
What fallacy is this? If you don't go to college, you won't get a good job, and if you don't get a good job you will end up homeless. Therefore, if you don't want to be homeless you should go to college.
Slippery slope fallacy
What fallacy is this? I can't believe you watch Fox News and believe it's true. You can't trust biased reporters. You should watch CNN, like me. You can trust them.
Special pleading Fallacy
What fallacy is this? Stop judging other people, you judge mental lunatic
Special pleading fallacy
What fallacy is this? YOU SHOULDN'T YELL AT PEOPLE!!!
Special pleading fallacy
What is a self report?
Statements Made by a person concerning his desire, beliefs, or feelings. We usually assume that these statements are true.
Premises
Statements offered as reasons to support a conclusion, can be true or false
What is a self report?
Statements that declare values, desires, beliefs, and feelings
What is a premise?
Statements that support or implied the conclusion
What fallacy is this? Creationists claim you must believe in a six day creation to be saved, but the Bible teaches nothing of the kind. Therefore they are wrong.
Strawman fallacy
What fallacy is this? How can you believe in creation? The fact that you reject all science, and believe that some old magical man randomly picked earth to have his "kingdom" is just absurd. Especially considering that you believe that your special book, the Bible, appeared fully completed, from the magical old man. It is obvious that the Bible was written by men and that science proves that there are laws that govern the universe, not the random whims of an old magical man.
Strawman fallacy
What is a conclusion?
The main point of the argument
Example of a statement that is true or false logical structure
The raise will win the World Series or they will not.
When you encounter an argument what is the first thing to check?
The validity of the argument
What is a statement that is true or false by definition?
These are statements that must be true or false because of the definitions of the words in the sentence
What do the laws of logic describe?
They describe the "correct chain of reasoning" from premises to conclusion
What do the laws of logic tell us
They tell us what conclusions we may legitimately draw from any given premises
What is a statement that is true or false by logical structure?
This is a statement that can be either true or false simply by the way the sentence is put together
Initially we assume premises are....
True to check the validity of the argument
A statement can have what kind of truth value?
True, false, or nonsense
False analogy
When a comparison is made between two things that are alike in only trivial ways that are not relevant to the conclusion
Slippery Slope
When a person claims that a particular course of action will start a chain reaction, inevitably leading to an undesirable result, while overlooking other factors that would prevent such a result.
Strawman Fallacy
When a person miss represents the position of his opponent and then argues against this counterfeit position
Appeal to Ignorance
When a position is claimed to be true simply because it's not been proven false
Complex Question
When a question contains an unproven assumption. This is the interrogative form of begging the question
Fallacies of presumption
When an argument contains one or more unproven or unfounded assumptions. Hasty generalization, sweeping generalization, bifurcation, begging the question, question begging epithet, complex question, no true Scotsman, special pleading, false analogy, false cause, and slippery slope.
ad hominem
When an argument is directed against a person rather than his or her position
Genetic Fallacy
When an idea is argue to be false based on its origin rather than for logical reasons
Sweeping generalization
When someone applies a generalization to a situation where it does not apply
appeal to pity fallacy
When someone argues for a position on the basis of feeling sorry for the person rather than logical reasons
Appeal to Fear
When someone argues for a position on the basis that harm will come to you if you are not convinced
appeal to authority fallacy
When someone argues that a claim must be true simply because someone or some group says so
No True Scotsman
When someone attempts to protect his claim from a counter argument by defining a term in a biased way.
False cause
When someone concludes an incorrect cause-and-effect relationship between two events
Hasty Generalization
When someone draws a general inference from too few specific instsn
Question-Begging Epithet
When someone imports biased or emotional language to support a conclusion that is logically unproven
Equivocation Fallacy
When the meaning of a word is shifted in the course of an argument
Special Pleading
When the speaker applies a double standard to his opponent that he does not apply to himself
Bifurcation
When two propositions are presented as if they were mutually exclusive and the only two possibilities when in fact they're not
Truth
Whether it is true or false
Do not confuse truth with validity
You need to see if the argument is valid
