Introduction to Critical thinking Introduction

CHAPTER 5

LOGICAL FALLCIES 1

Abdirahman Yusuf Osman

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Define Logical Fallacy

— A logical fallacy is an argument that may — Logical fallacy example;
sound convincing or true but is actually flawed. — A student group suggests that “useless
— Logical fallacies are leaps of logic that lead us courses like English should be dropped
to an unsupported conclusion. from the curriculum.”
— An argument is fallacious when it contains
one or more logical fallacies.
— Without explaining why English is useless
in their view, the members of the group
— People may commit a logical fallacy then immediately move on, arguing that
unintentionally, due to poor reasoning, or spending money on a useless course is
intentionally, in order to manipulate others. something that nobody wants.
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 Types of Fallacies

— A logical fallacy is an argument that — Fallacies of relevance are mistakes in

contains a mistake in reasoning. reasoning that occur because the premises
— There are many common logical fallacies,
are logically irrelevant to the conclusion.
and they can be classified in various ways. — Fallacies of insufficient evidence are
mistakes in reasoning that occur because the
premises, (though logically relevant to the
conclusion), fail to provide sufficient evidence to
support the conclusion.

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THE CONCEPT OF RELEVANCE

— Before we consider the fallacies of relevance, — A statement is positively relevant to another
we must first clarify the concept of relevance statement if it counts in favor of that
itself. statement.
— A statement is relevant to another
statement if it provides at least some reason — Here are several examples of positive relevance:
for thinking that the second statement is — First argument: Dogs are cats. Cats are felines.
true or false. So dogs are felines.
— There are three ways in which a statement can — Second argument: All dogs have five legs.
be relevant or irrelevant to another. Rover is a dog. So Rover has five legs.
— A statement can be positively relevant, negatively — Third argument: Most Wexford College
relevant, or logically irrelevant to another students live off-campus. Annie is a Wexford
statement. College student. So, probably, Annie lives off-
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campus. 8
— Fourth argument: Chris is a woman.
Therefore, Chris enjoys knitting. — In the fourth argument, the premise (Chris is
a woman) provides neither probable nor
conclusive reasons for accepting the
— Each of these premises is positively relevant to its
conclusion. each provides at least some reason
conclusion (Chris enjoys knitting).
for thinking that the conclusion is true.
— In the first and second arguments, the premises — Statements that count against other statements
provide logically conclusive reasons for accepting are said to be negatively relevant to those
the conclusion. statements.
— In the third argument, the premises provide
probable reasons for accepting the conclusion.
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— Here are two examples of negative relevance: — Finally, statements can be logically
irrelevant to other statements.
1. Maria is a high-school senior. So, Maria likely has
— A statement is logically irrelevant to
a Ph.D.
another statement if it counts neither for nor
2. Batulo is two years old. So, Batulo probably against that statement.
goes to college. — Here are two examples of logical irrelevance:
1. The earth revolves around the sun.
▪ In both of these examples, the premises are Therefore, marijuana should be legalized.
negatively relevant to the conclusion. Each 2. Last night I dreamed that the Yankees will
premise, if true, provides at least some reason for win the pennant. Therefore, the Yankees will
thinking that the conclusion is false. win the pennant.
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 FALLACIES OF RELEVANCE

— Neither of these two premises provides the — Fallacies of relevance are a group of fallacies
slightest reason for thinking that its that occur in arguments when the
conclusion is either true or false. premises are logically irrelevant to the
— Thus, they are logically irrelevant to those conclusion.
conclusions. — A fallacy of relevance occurs when an arguer
offers reasons that are logically irrelevant to his
or her conclusion.
— Fallacies of relevance often seem to be good
arguments but aren’t.

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Personal Attack
— We commit the fallacy of personal attack — It is important to bear in mind that not every
when we reject someone’s argument or personal attack is a fallacy.
claim by attacking the person rather than — The fallacy of personal attack occurs only if
the person’s argument or claim.
— (1) an arguer rejects another person’s
— Here is an example: argument or claim and
— Hugh Hefner has argued against censorship of
pornography. But Hefner is an immature, self- — (2) the arguer attacks the person who offers
indulgent millionaire who never outgrew the the argument or claim, rather than
adolescent fantasies of his youth. His argument, considering the merits of that argument or
therefore, is worthless. claim.
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 Attacking the Motive
— Closely related to the fallacy of personal
— Consider some examples of personal attack is the fallacy of attacking the motive.
attacks that aren’t fallacies but might easily
be mistaken as fallacies. — Attacking the motive is the error of
criticizing a person’s motivation for offering
a particular argument or claim, rather than
— Here is one example: examining the worth of the argument or
— Millions of innocent people died in Stalin’s claim itself.
ruthless ideological purges. Clearly, Stalin was — The attacking the motive occurs when one
one of the most brutal dictators of the person argues that another person's position is
twentieth century. invalid due to motives that could affect the
claim.
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Look Who’s Talking Two Wrongs Make a Right

— The fallacy of two wrongs make a right,
— The fallacy of look who’s talking is which occurs when an arguer attempts to
committed when an arguer rejects another justify a wrongful act by claiming that some
person’s argument or claim because that person other act is just as bad or worse.
fails to practice what he preaches.
— Here are some examples:
— Everyone's cheating on this week's exam, so if I
— Here are several examples:
do it too, it's not really wrong.
— A (the arguer) is a hypocrite. — This corporation has treated its employees
— Therefore, A's argument should be rejected. terribly, so if I steal something from it, that's okay.
—

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 Scare Tactics
— Scare tactics use fear without evidence to
influence someone’s conclusion. — For example, If you don’t buy this product,
— Scare tactics are a logical fallacy. A fallacy is you risk injury and death.
an error of some kind.
— A logical fallacy is used like a logical reason, but
it is actually flawed and illogical. — Diplomat to diplomat: I’m sure you’ll agree
that we are the rightful rulers of the San
Marcos Islands. It would be regrettable if we had
— The fallacy of scare tactics is committed
to send armed forces to demonstrate the
when an arguer threatens harm to a reader or
listener if he or she does not accept the arguer’s validity of our claim.
conclusion and this threat is irrelevant to the
truth of the arguer’s conclusion.
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Appeal to Pity 1 Example

— The appeal to pity fallacy occurs — Student to professor:
when someone attempts to persuade others by — I know I missed half your classes and failed
provoking feelings of guilt or pity.
all my exams, but I had a really tough
semester. First my pet boa constrictor(a
— The fallacy of appeal to pity occurs when an large snake) died. Then my girlfriend told me
arguer inappropriately attempts to evoke feelings she wants a sex-change operation. With all I
of pity or compassion from his listeners or went through this semester, I don’t think I
readers.
really deserved an F. Any chance you might
cut me some slack and change my grade to
a C or a D?
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2 Example Bandwagon Argument
— Parent to high school football coach:
— A band wagon argument is one that plays on
— I admit my son Billy can’t run, pass, kick, a person’s desire to be popular, accepted, or
catch, block, or tackle, but he deserves to valued.
make the football team. If he doesn’t make — The bandwagon fallacy is also sometimes
the team, he’s going to be an emotional called the appeal to common belief or appeal to
wreck, and he may even drop out of school. the masses because it's all about getting people
to do or think something because “everyone else
— The arguments are clearly fallacious because is doing it” or “everything else thinks this.
the premises provide no relevant reasons to
accept the conclusions.
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— Not all appeals to popular beliefs or practices are

— Here are examples: fallacious, as these examples illustrate:
— All the really cool kids at East Jefferson 1. All the villagers I’ve talked to say that the water
High School smoke cigarettes. Therefore, is safe to drink. Therefore, the water probably is
you should, too. safe to drink.
2. Lots of my friends recommend the Back Street
— I can’t believe you’re going to the library
Deli, so it’s probably a good place to eat.
on a Friday night! You don’t want people
to think you’re a nerd, do you?
— These bandwagon appeals are not fallacious
because the premises are relevant to the
conclusions.
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 Straw Man
— The straw man fallacy is committed when — For example, when one person says “I like
an arguer distorts (misleading) an Chinese more than Pizza”, and the
opponent’s argument or claim to make it respondent says “Well, you must hate Pizza”,
easier to attack. they have created a straw-man. The first
person never said they hated pizza. They
— A straw man fallacy is the informal fallacy of have been misrepresented.
refuting (prove that is wrong) an argument
different from the one actually under discussion. — Straw man fallacies are extremely common
in politics.

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Red Herring

— A red herring fallacy is an attempt to redirect

a conversation away from its original topic. — Red herring fallacy example
— A police officer pulls a car over for speeding.
— A red herring is used by introducing an The driver complains, saying that they
irrelevant piece of information that distracts the shouldn’t pay a fine since there are so many
reader or listener. This can be intentional or dangerous criminals out there and the police
unintentional. should be chasing them instead.
— One can divert others’ attention away from the
original discussion topic or avoid answering a
difficult question.

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Equivocation
— The fallacy of equivocation is committed — Equivocation fallacy example
when a key word is used in two or more
senses in the same argument and the apparent — Premise 1: Annoying co-workers are a
success of the argument depends on the shift headache.
in meaning.
— Premise 2: Painkillers can help you get rid
— The fallacy of equivocation occurs when a key
of a headache.
term or phrase in an argument is used in an
ambiguous way, with one meaning in one portion — Conclusion: Painkillers can help you get rid
of the argument and then another meaning in of annoying co-workers.
another portion of the argument.
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Begging the Question

— Second Example; — Begging the question fallacy is an
— It is a crime to smoke grass(marijuana). argument where the conclusion is assumed
Kentucky bluegrass is a grass. Therefore, it in one of the premises.
is a crime to smoke Kentucky bluegrass. — It is an attempt to prove something is true
while simultaneously taking that same thing for
granted.
— The fallacy of begging the question is
committed when an arguer states or assumes as
a premise the very thing he or she is trying to
prove as a conclusion.
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— Begging the question fallacy example
— Here, we assume in the premise what we
supposedly prove in the conclusion. This is a
— The belief in God is universal. After all,
faulty line of reasoning, because you cannot
everyone believes in God.
assume what you are trying to prove.

— In the example above, the conclusion

(the belief in God is universal) validly
follows from the premise (everyone
believes in God), but only the conclusion is
simply a rewording of the premise.
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— There are two common ways to commit — In the first example, the premise
this fallacy. basically repeats the conclusion:
— The most obvious way is to simply restate — saying that bungee-jumping is “unsafe” is
the conclusion in slightly different words. another way of saying that it is “dangerous.”
Here are two examples:
1. Bungee-jumping is dangerous because it’s — the second example, the conclusion is
unsafe. begged because saying that it is “ ethically
2. Capital punishment is morally wrong impermissible” to inflict death as
because it is ethically impermissible to infl punishment for a crime is equivalent to
ict death as punishment for a crime. saying that capital punishment is “morally
wrong.”
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— The second common form of begging the A. Allah wrote the Holly Book.
question involves “circular reasoning” or B. How do you know?
“arguing in a circle.”
A. Because it says so in the Holly Book, and
— This occurs when an arguer offers a chain of
what the Holly Book says is true.
reasons for a conclusion, where the
conclusion of the argument is stated or B. How do you know what the Holly Book
assumed as one of the premises. says is true?
A. Because Allah wrote the Holly Book.

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THE END!

THANK YOU!!

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