SOC 120 Exam 2

Attacking a person and using that as a reason to reject their opinions. -"I don't care what Mason says about investments. That guy is the most money-grubbing creep I've ever run into." -"What Al Gore says about air pollution is a joke! That clown will say anything to get attention!"

Abusive (personal attack) Ad Hominem (Red Herring Fallacy)

When we use characteristics about a person to refute his or her claims -Example: "According to Al Gore, global warming is the most serious threat facing us today. Folks, what a crock. Al Gore spends $20,000 each year on electricity in his Tennessee mansion!"

Ad Hominem (Red Herring Fallacy)

Feel guilty or sad

Appeal to Pity(Fallacy)

statements designed to evoke emotional responses become fallacy when not accompanied by premises -Argument from outrage: Trying to make someone angry -Scare tactics: Scare someone into something -Appeal to Pity: Feel guilty or sad -Apple Polishing: play on someone's pride

Appeals to Emotion(Fallacy)

play on someone's pride

Apple Polishing(Fallacy)

supporting a general claim using a specific story -Example: "According to statistics, smoking causes you to die young. But my Grandmother Sally smoked like a chimney and lived until she was 95, so clearly the statistics are wrong."

Argument by Anecdote

Trying to make someone angry

Argument from outrage (Fallacy)

Occurs when one of the premises is also the conclusion. AKA circular or tautological Ex: Women should not be able be able to join men's clubs because the clubs are for men only.

Begging the Question (Fallacy)

- "After I took Zicam my cold went away fast. Therefore taking Zicam caused my cold to go away fast." - How do you know that?

Cause and Effect Fallacies

attempting to discredit a person's claim by referring to the person's circumstances. -"Of course the Task Force on Crime is going to conclude that crime is on the way up. If they conclude it's on the way down, they'd have to disband the task force, wouldn't they?" -"What Al Gore says about air pollution is pure bull. Al Gore makes a fortune from alternative energy investments. What do you think he'd say?"

Circumstantial Ad Hominem (Red Herring Fallacy)

- Doing X is a tradition. Therefore it should continue being a tradition. - Example: "Traditionally marriage has been restricted to heterosexual couples. Therefore it's right to restrict marriage to heterosexual."

Fallacious Appeal to Tradition

mistake in reasoning/ Always problematic

Fallacy

- A form of generalizing from an exceptional cases in which the an atypical or unusual sample is used to make conclusions about a population. -Example: Large polls were taken in Florida, California, and Maine and it was found that an average of 55% of those polled spent at least fourteen days a year near the ocean. So, it can be safely concluded that 55% of all Americans spend at least fourteen days near the ocean each year.

Fallacy of Biased Sample

"Poisoning the Well" is best seen as a type of "Line-Drawing" fallacy. T/F

False

An argument's logical force can be enhanced by the use of rhetoric. T/F

False

Fallacious reasoning is any part of an argument that we don't understand. T/F

False

One is guilty of the slippery slope fallacy when they attack a weaker version of someone else's argument. T/F

False

We should automatically disagree with any statement that includes rhetorical devices. T/F

False

Occurs when you limit considerations to only 2 alternatives although other alternatives may be available AKA: Black/White, Either/Or, All/Nothing fallacy -Ex: "Either we increase the # of troops in Iraq, or the terrorists will be attacking U.S cities"

False Dilemma Fallacy

Making a general statement by citing an atypical supporting case. - Example: "Judging from what car dealers say, most business people now think the economy is improving.

Generalizing from Exceptional Cases

Version of "Circumstantial Ad Hominem" in which an argument's source is thought to render the argument invalid. -Example: "That idea is absurd. It's just something the Tea Party put out there."

Genetic Fallacy (Red Herring Fallacy)

A form of Ad Hominem in which a claim is dismissed because someone we don't like has that belief -Example: "My opponent was just endorsed by Greenpeace. Is that the type of candidate you want to support?"

Guilt By Association (Red Herring Fallacy)

Being overly confident in a generalization from a small sample. -Examples: -"The food in L.A is lousy, judging from this meal." -Imagine picking 5 students and finding out that they all major in business. Then, you conclude: "I guess most students on campus major in business."

Hasty Generalization

Extravagant overstatements -"I could eat a horse." "I've got like a million things to do." "Declaring war on the middle class." -"The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick." (Rep. Alan Grayson, Florida)

Hyperbole (Rhetoric)

When we critique someone's claims because they are inconsistent with something they have said or done in the past. -"Senator Clinton says we should get out of Iraq. What a bunch of garbage coming from her! She voted for the war, don't forget." -"Governor Romney says that we should get tough on China, but he's always invested a ton of money there!"

Inconsistency Ad Hominem (Tu quoque) (Red Herring Fallacy)

An insinuation about someone or something (getting a point across without committing to it). -"I didn't say that meat was tough. I said I didn't see the horse that is usually outside." -"So, it turns out I'm not the worst driver in Bakersfield."

Innuendo (Rhetoric)

Ex:I don't think I missed too many classes to pass, my attendance has been much better lately

Irrelevant Conclusions (Fallacy)

insisting that a line must be drawn at some point for a stance to be supported -Ex: "There shouldn't be restrictions on violence in the movies. After all, when is a movie too violent?"

Line Drawing Fallacy

A question in which facts are presupposed by unwarranted or unjustified assumptions -"Have you stopped beating your wife?"

Loaded Question (Rhetoric)

Occurs when the burden of proof is placed on the wrong side of an issue 1. Less plausibility a claim has, the greater the burden of proof we place on someone who asserts that claim 2. Other things being equal, the burden of proof falls automatically on those making a claim rather than those rejecting it. .3 Special circumstances like courts or contracts will specify where the burden of proof lies so there are no doubts or confusion about who needs to prove that -Ex:"Preferential treatment in hiring is something we must support; after all, can you think of a reason why we shouldn't? -Ex: "Can I prove the biblical stuff really happened? Hey, can you prove it didn't?"

Misplacing the burden of proof (Fallacy)

A false dilemma where we argue that something should be rejected if it is not perfect -Ex: "We should reject the death penalty b/c even if we have it, some crimes are still going to happen

Perfectionist Fallacy

An Ad Hominem in advance, designed to discredit whatever someone says. -"The next speaker is going to speak in favor of the idea. But she works for the gun lobby, don't even bother listening to what she says." -"The President is going to give a talk tonight on Iraq. Well, it's just gonna be more baloney. He will say anything to get a vote."

Poisoning the well (Red Herring Fallacy)

- Assuming that because one event comes before it, it causes it. - Example: "I had Subway last night and then I was sick in the morning. Therefore, Subway made me sick."

Post Hoc Fallacy

An expression used to suggest that there is evidence or authority for a claim without citing such evidence. -"Everyone knows that you should avoid the movie theater on Friday night." -"Experts agree that the best way to avoid nuclear war is to prepare for it." -"The obvious truth is that she's not serious about school." -Even this: Studies show that people with iPhones are more smarter than people with Droids.

Proof Surrogate (Rhetoric)

Bringing something into a conversation that distracts from the original point

Red Herring/Smoke Screen

A broad category of linguistic techniques people use when their primary objective is to persuade.

Rhetoric

A comparison of two things or a likening of one thing to another in order to make one of them appear better or worse. -"Making a former corporate CEO the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is like putting a fox in charge of the henhouse." -"The average concert musician makes less than a plumber." -"This was a great season. Attendance was up 25 percent over last year."

Rhetorical Analogies

a definition intended to persuade

Rhetorical Definition

The use of humor and mocking to persuade -"John McCain made a great speech last night. Everyone awakened feeling refreshed." -Laughing in response to comments also counts as ridicule.

Ridicule/Sarcasm (Rhetoric)

Scare someone into something

Scare tactics(Fallacy)

A form of fallacious reasoning in which it is assumed that some event must inevitably follow from some other, but in which no argument is made for the inevitability. - Example: Gays in the military? If we allow that, then next thing you know, women, men, gays, everyone----they'll all be showering together and sleeping in the same bunks.

Slippery Slope

A generalization or assumption about all of the members of a group based on an image of those in the group -"Lesbians hate men." "Southerners are bigots."

Stereotypes

Happens when you refute a position or claim by distorting or oversimplifying or misrepresenting it, all the while ignoring the person's actual position. -"Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that."

Straw Man Fallacy (Red Herring Fallacy)

A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning T/F

True

The false dilemma fallacy assumes that only two alternatives exist in a given situation, so that anyone who does not agree with the first alternative has to accept the second. T/F

True

The simplest form of the ad hominem fallacy is the personal attack ad hominem, which attacks a person's character in order to dismiss that person's beliefs.T/F

True

To be a critical thinker, our aim is to avoid being swayed by rhetoric. T/F

True

To be a critical thinker, we should always evaluate arguments based only on logical consistency T/F and not on rhetoric.

True

- Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc: the "Post Hoc" fallacy - Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc: the Correlation Fallacy

Two Types of Cause and Effect Fallacies

arguments based on debatable or unimportant similarities between things. -Ex: "Hey, the ice caps on Mars are melting, and it isn't due to fossil fuel emissions!! So melting ice caps here aren't due to fossil fuel emissions either!"

Weak analogies

Linguistic methods of hedging. Intended to make a claim harder to disprove -Ex: "This may cure your problem." "Lose up to 10 Ibs. per week."

Weaseling (aka hedging) (Rhetoric)

- Treating an issue that cannot be settled by public opinion as if it can. - Example: "Hondas get great gas mileage. Everyone knows that."

Fallacious Appeal to Popularity

- Trying to justify a practice on the grounds that it is traditional or is commonly practiced. - Example: "This is the right way. This is the way it has always been done."

Fallacious Appeal to Common Practice

- Assuming that a correlation implies causation. - Example: "Since the 1950's both the atmospheric CO2 level and obesity levels have increased sharply. Therefore, atmospheric CO2 causes obesity."

Correlation Fallacy

Words or phrases that make someone or something seem less important or significant. -Don't pay attention to what Barry says, he's just another liberal -She got her "degree" from a correspondence school.

Downplaying (Rhetoric)

The opposite of a euphemism. Intended to make something sound worse than it is. -Ex: Egghead vs. genius; proposal vs. scheme; snail mail vs. postal mail

Dysphemism (Rhetoric)

Words that attempt to make something sound better than it is (or than it is perceived). -Ex: Pre-owned vs. used; detainee vs. prisoner; sanitation engineer vs. janitor

Euphemism (Rhetoric)