Philosophy 101- Fallacies

Fallacy of Division

Assuming what is true of the whole is true of of each part Ex: UVA is one of the best universities in this country, so it must have an outstanding department.

Using the Wrong Reasons

Attempting to support a claim with reasons other than the responses appropriate to the claim. Ex: I think we should hire Karen cox as the new third-grade teacher. She lives here in the community, she has children in school here, she loves to work with children, and she has been active in PTA.

Two-Wrongs Fallacy

Avoiding the obligation to honesty evaluate and rebut an arguers criticism of or argument against a certain kind behavior by accusing the arguer of acting in a way similar to the behavior that he is criticizing. Ex: Tonya: Just stop yelling at me! the only way that were ever going to solve any problem is to sit down and talk clay about it. Mark: Well, don't yell at me! you just cry all the time. Do you think thats any better?

Complex Question

Forming a question in a way that a definite answer has already been given to an unasked question about an open issue or gives the same answer to a series of questions. Ex. What fraternity are you going to pledge?

Illicit Contrast

A listener's inferring from another person's claim a related but unwarranted contrasting claim by improperly placing unusual emphasis on a word or phrase in the speaker's or writer's statement. Ex: Isn't that Dianna's dress you have on Cynthia? Its more now, she gave it to me. Oh it looks very nice on you. (Diana:) then you don't think it looked nice on me?

Fallacy of Affirming the Consequent

Affirming the consequent of a conditional premise and then concluding the affirmation of the antecedent Ex: If I eat red meat I get sick. I got sick, so immesh have eaten red meat.

Fallacy of Popular Wisdom

Appealing to insights expressed in clichés, folk wisdoms, etc instead of to relevant evidence. Ex: Before a test: Well if you don't know it now, you never will.

Gambler's Fallacy

Arguing That because a chance event has had a certain run in the past, the probability of its occurrence in the future is significantly altered. Ex: We lost the last 8 games, so we will win out 9th.

Arguing from Ignorance

Arguing from no evidence or proof to the contrary or because the inability or refuel of an opponent to the present convincing evidence to the contrary Ex: the gays in this country must be happy with their situation now and believe that their most important concerns have been met. There haven't been any protest marches or any loud voices of dissent for some time.

Ignoring the Counter Evidence

Arguing in a way that ignores or omits any reference to important available evidence that might be unfavorable to one's position, thus giving the false impression that there is no significant evidence against it. Ex: Motorcycles are loud, dangerous, and only tow people can ride at Ince, you can't ride them in the cold, I can't see why anyone would want to buy one.

Faulty Analogy

Assuming because two things are alike in one or more respects, they are necessarily are alike in some other important respects, while failing to recognize the insignificance of their similarities or dissimilarities. Ex: People who have to have a cup of coffee every morning before they can function have no less problems than alcoholics.

Wishful Thinking

Assuming something is right because you want it to be right Ex: No one can prove the existence of God. You simply have to believe that he exists and accept him into your life, and he will be real to you.

Confusion of a necessary with a. sufficient condition

Assuming that a necessary conclusion of an event is also a sufficient one. Ex: My car should start, I just got gas yesterday.

Fallacy of Novelty

Assuming that a new idea, law, policy, or action is better simply because its new. Ex: We are getting a new coach this year so out record should be better.

Post Hoc Fallacy

Assuming that a particular event B, is caused by another event A, simply because B follows A. Ex: We never had a problem with out furnace until you moved into the apartment.

Is-Ought Fallacy

Assuming that because something is now the practices, it ought to be the practice. Assuming that because is not the rapacity now it ought not to be. Ex: Maxine: Give me some time to think about it. Whether to have sex is a very important decision. I want to try to make a ration decision about this. Gene, look Maxine, having sex is not something people make a ration decision about.

Fallacy of the Continuum

Assuming that small movements or differences on a continuum between extremes have a negligible effect and that to make definite distinctions between points on that line is impossible or at least arbitrary. Ex: Anyone who eats meat tactically condones the killing of animals. We might just as well condone the killing of human beings, for how do we draw the line between one form of animal life to another?

Fallacy of Composition

Assuming that what is true of the parts of a whole is therefore true of the whole. Ex: I don't see why you have criticized this novel as implausible. There isn't a single incident in it that couldn't have happened.

Fallacy of the Mean

Assuming the middle view between two extremes must be the best one because it is in the middle Ex: Jim wants it to be 100 degrees and Ally wants it to be 30 degrees. We will set it at the middle temp 70 to be fair.

Raising Trivial Objections

Attacking an opponent's position by focusing critical attention on a minor point in his or her argument, rather than on its strengths. Ex: Walking is one of the best kinds of exercise you can get. One should walk instead of drive whenever possible. Rather than driving to the cafeteria you should walk. But I don't go to the cafeteria.

Abusive Ad Hominem

Attacking one's opponent in a personal or abusive way in an effort to ignore or discredit or her criticism or argument. Ex: Mr. Parker: My political opponent, is not telling the truth when he says when he says he not missed a single roll-call house vote during is tenure. According to the record he has missed 8. Mr. Ritchie: is that the only piece of reading they let you read at the mental hospital

Misuse of a Vague expression

Attempting to defend a position by means of a vague expression or drawing an unjustified conclusion as a result of assigning a precise meaning to another person's word or phrase that is imprecise in its meaning or range of application. Ex: I don't know much about Ron Diss except that he's liberal, so I didn't voter him. We don't need another critic of the military in the congress.

Distinction without a difference

Attempting to defend an action or position as different from another one by means of alternative words or phrases, when the action or position defended is no different in substance from the one from which it is linguistically distinguished. Ex: Im not saying anything against feminism; I just happen to sincerely believe that the man should be the head of the household.

Incompatible premise

Attempting to draw a conclusion from inconsistent or incompatible premises. Ex: I believe that the truth about human knowledge lies in the position of skepticism, which is the view that there is no way that we can know anything to be true, so we might as well give up the search.

Red Herring

Attempting to hide the weakness of a position by drawing attention away from the real issue to a side issue. Ex: I lost my job. Things could be worse, you could have lost your house too.

Appeal to tradition

Attempting to persuade others of a point of view by appeal to their feelings of reverence or respect for a tradition instead of evidence. Ex: Rachel, I just can't vote for him, even though I agree with you that the democrat is not any better. Its just that we have always been democrats. Im not sure that I could live with myself if I voted Republican . Im not sure that my family could live with me either.

Appeal to force or threat

Attempting to persuade others of a position by threatening them with an undesirable state of affairs instead of presenting evidence for one's view. Ex: Whats wrong with you taking my name when we get married? It would really be embarrassing to me if we got married and you refused to take my name. In fact, I don't think I would want to be a part of marriage in which you would show me that kind of disrespect.

Manipulation of emotions

Attempting to persuade others to accept a position by exploiting their emotions instead of presenting evidence of the position. Ex: "you mean that after we flew you down here to Florida at not cost to you, put you in a Gold Crown resort for three days with all meals provided, and took you to Disney World, You're not going to buy one of our time-shares?

Confusion of cause and effect

Confusing the cause with the effect of the event Ex: No one would invite me into their conversation so I just sat in the corner by myself.

Omission of Key Evidence

Constructing of an argument that fails to include key evidence that is critical to the support of the conclusion. Ex: Lets get married, we have the same interest, we both love dogs, we go to the same church, and we could save so much on living expenses.

Fallacy of Denying the Antecedent

Denying the antecedent of a conditional premise and then concluding the denial of the consequent. Ex: If I were a heavy smoker, smoking would would shorten my life. Thats why I down smoke. and I expect to live a long and healthy life.

Equivocation

Directing another person toward an unwarranted conclusion by making a word or phrase employed into two different senses in an argument appear to have the same meaning. Ex: Gambling should be legalized because we it is something we can't avoid it. It is an integral part of human experience; people gamble every time they get in their cars or get married.

Misleading accent

Directing another person toward an unwarranted conclusion by placing improper or unusual emphasis on a word, phrase, or particular aspect of an issue or claim. Taking portions out of other statements out of their original contact and using them in a way that conveys an unintended meaning. Ex: Monica: Are They still a couple? PAm: Well according to James, they are. Monica: Really? Is she dating anyone I know?

Unrepresentative Data

Drawing a conclusion based on data from an unrepresentative or biased sample. Ex: Ina study of more than one hundred thousand people in Florida, 43% of the American people now spend at least 2 hours aa day working out.

Contradiction between premise and conclusion

Drawing a conclusion between premise and conclusion Ex: Who's to say that Im wrong and you're right about smoking marijuana? Each individual needs to determine whats right, and I down see anything unethical about using marijuana. So you're just wrong.

Fallacy of Illicit distribution of an end term

Drawing a conclusion in a syllogism in which a distributed end term in the conclusion is not distributed in the premise. Ex: Newly constructed homes are very expensive. Nevertheless, new homes are very energy efficient. So, energy efficient homes are going to be expensive.

Fallacy of Undistributed Middle Term

Drawing a conclusion in a syllogism in which the middle term in the premise is not distributed at least once Ex: Democrats care about helping the least advantaged in society. Jesus always cared about helping the least advantaged too. Jesus, no doubt, was a democrat.

insufficient Sample

Drawing a conclusion or generalization from too small of a sample. Ex: Vitamin C really works. Every member of my family used have at least one winter cold every year and since we started taking vitamin C, there hasn't been one sniffle.

Drawing the wrong conclusion

Drawing a conclusion other than one supported by the evidence presented in the argument. Ex: Many people without PhDs. are much better teachers than people with PhD.s Getting a PhD doesn't make someone a better teacher. Therefore, I don't think we should hire a person with a PhD to fit, this position in out chemistry department.

Fallacy of the Elusive Normative Premise

Drawing a moral, legal, or aesthetic judgement without using a discernible normative premise that provides a warrant for it. Ex:nThe TSA officers at the airport have no legal right to touch the private parts of my body, because I am responsible citizen of this country and I am certainly not going to be blowing up anything. I have my rights just as much as criminals.

Genetic Fallacy

Evaluating a thing in terms of its earlier context while ignoring relevant changes that may have altered its character in the interim, and then using that evaluation to support a conclusion in the present. Ex: You're not going to wear a wedding ring, are you? You know the ring originally represented the ankle chains women wore to prevent them from running away from their husband.

Neglect of a common cause

Failing to recognize that two seemingly related events may not be casually related at all, but rather are effects of a common cause. Ex: Since most elementary school teachers have children, it must be the case either that teaching stimulates an interest in parenthood or that being a parent stimulates interest in working with children.

Resort to Humor or Ridicule

Injecting humor or ridicule into an argument in an effort to cover up an inability or unwillingness to respond appropriately to an opponent'c criticism or counterargument. Ex: Well, Socrates must have slipped into our class while we weren't look. Now what did you say I did?

Misuse of a Principle

Misapplying a principle or rule in a particular instance by assuming that it has no exceptions. Ex: If a state trooper is justified in using an unmarked car ignorer to catch a speeder, and there is nothing wrong with deceiving a friend for their surprise birthday, how can you say deception is morally wrong?

Attacking a Strawman

Misrepresenting an opponent's position or credible argument, usually for the purpose of making it easier to attack. Ex: Unless we build a power plant here in the next ten years, we won't be able to meet the growing demand for energy. So what you're saying is you couldn't care less what happens to the plant or wildlife around here that would be harmed.

Causal Oversimplification

Oversimplifying the causal antecednet of an event by specifying causal factors that are insufficient to account for the event in question or by overemphasizing the role of one more of those factors. Ex: Corporal punishment is no longer allowed in public schools. This why children have no self-discipline and are losing respect for authority.

Special Pleading

Receiving special treatment to oneself because of personal interest. Ex: Neel claims he is too tired to share chores of cooking, cleaning, or caring for his children after he has worked all day.

Denying the Counter Evidence

Refusing to consider seriously or unfairly minimizing the evidence that is brought against one's argument or position. Ex: I don't care what the doctors say, I have a cold because I am coughing and my nose is runny.

Poisoning The Well

Rejecting a criticism or argument presented by another person because of his or her personal circumstances or improper motives Ex: You've never been married, so why should I listen to your advice concerning my marital problems? (speaking to a priest)

False Alternatives

Restricting too severely the number of proposed alternatives responsible to a problem or situation and assuming that one of the suggested alternatives must be the true one. Ex: The way I see it, we must either spend enough money on our football program to make us competitive with some of the better teams in this region or simply drop the program altogether.

Contrary-to-fact Hypothesis

Treating a hypothetical claim, as if I were a statement of fact by making a claim, without sufficient evidence, about what would have happened in the past if other conditions had been present or about an event that will occur int he future. Ex: If I just hadn't dropped out of college, id be working now rather than standing in this unemployment line.

Appeal to self interest

Urging an opponent to accept or reject a particular position by appealing solely to his or her personal circumstances or self-interest when more important issues are at stake. Ex: I just don't understand why you're opposing federal aid to parochial schools. You know how badly our schools are in need of financial resources. If this bill for financial assistance to parochial schools doesn't pass congress, it will probably mean that many of our catholic school will have to close their door.s

Appeal to common opinion

Urging the acceptance of a position simply on the grounds that a large number of people accept it or urging the rejection on the grounds few accept it. Ex: I don't see why you are not taking your husband's name. According to a recent study, 85% of marriages in this country, the woman has taken her husband's name. Its hard to believe that many people could be wrong.

Question-begging Definition

Using a questionable definition, disguised as en empirical premise, to support an empirical conclusion, which makes the claim true by definition. Ex. Sean: The criminal mind simply can not be rehabilitated. The prisons are wasting time and resources. Jeannie: That is not true. I know several criminals who have been rehabilitated. Sean: Well, then, those people must never have had a truly criminal mind.

Rationalization

Using plausible-sounding but usually fake reasons to justify a particular position that is held on other, less respectable grounds Ex: After losing a boyfriend to a younger woman: "Well, I was going to dump him anyway. it was getting boring having him round, I should have left him long ago."

Begging the Question

Using the premise of an argument as the same claim that is in the conclusion. Ex. Dylan: This college is very paternalistic in its student policies. Roman: Why do you say that? Dylan: because they treat students like children

Domino Fallacy

assuming without appropiate evidence that are a particular action or event is the first in series of steps that will lead inevitability to a specific, usually undesirable, consequence. Ex: If we allow gay marriage next there will be some who want group marriages, and soon no one will even bother to get married.

Appeal to irrelevant authority

attempting to support a claim by appealing to the judgment of one who is not an authority in the field, the judgment of an unidentified authority, or the judgment of an authority who is likely to be biased. Ex: Your honor, Dr. Chamberlin is a respected psychiasrist and has been a friend of the defendant's family for years. She is in a unique position to be Able to testify as to the state of the defendant's mental health at the time of the crime.

Ambiguity

directing a person toward an unwarranted conclusion by presenting a claim or argument that uses a word, phrase, or grammatical construction that can be interpreted in two or more different ways without making clear which is intended. Ex: "Turn right here. Hey I didn't mean for you to turn right, couldn't you see me pointing left!"