FALLACIES + RELEVANCE

November 4, 2019Chapters 6 + 7

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COURSE BUSINESS

Quiz # 4: Returned End of Class

Quizzes — encouraged to “show your work”

Ethos of this class… THINKING CRITICALLY!

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COURSE BUSINESS

Fallacy Entry Assignment

WORD COUNT: 1000-1200 (EXCLUDING EXAMPLES)

FOUR PARTS

- Definition

- Explanation

- Examples [explained]

- 3-4 Secondary Sources [listed as further reading]

Independent assignments

Some external research required — CITATIONS MANDATORY! [indifferent on citation format]

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TESTIMONY: RELIABILITY

Reliability / Trustworthiness of the speaker

Adequacy and limits of “personal experience”

Reliability NEGATIVELY CORRELATED with passage of time

Permissible to reject testimony and ask for evidence [e.g., court cases and eyewitness testimony]

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TESTIMONY: RESTRICTION

Necessary condition for ACCEPTABLE TESTIMONY… …based on/limited to speaker’s personal experience

Be wary of “testimony” that exceeds experience

EX15: This is the greatest ice cream in the world!

EX16: Johnny told me that Jimmy’s mommy drinks mommy juice at lunch time.

Shifting from “personal experience” to “received wisdom”

EX17: [PGA Golfer] Taylor Made really makes best clubs and golf accessories on the market.

EX18: [NHL veteran] I wouldn’t skate on anything except Bauer skates, and neither should you.

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AUTHORITY

Individual who possesses expert knowledge on a particular subject matter

Inevitable and unavoidable [scientific division of labour]

Can't study every claim/perform every experiment

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AUTHORITY

CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTANCE

Identified

Respectable [e.g., not [not a doctor]

Andrew Wakefield]

Within Field of Expertise

Consensus Among Experts

…anymore

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DICHOTOMY ARGUMENTS

Disjunction = “or” — contrast with — Conjunction = “and”

Disjuncts (or conjuncts) = individual propositions

Disjunction — Implies only one proposition MAY BE true

EX19: The next car that I buy will either be a Subaru, or another Honda.

EX20: You have to decide to be vegetarian, vegan, or you’re basically an omnivore because being a pescatarian is not “like” being a vegetarian.

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DICHOTOMY ARGUMENTS

EX21: It must have been raining, snowing, hailing, or sleeting earlier, because the streets and sidewalks and rooftops were wet. It couldn’t be snow or sleet, because it’s July. It could be hail, because I would have heard it hitting the porch railing. So it must have rained earlier.

Note: Linked premises — used, in unison, to support a conclusion

if successfully linked…used to rule out various possibilities.

P1: streets, sidewalks and rooftops wet [implicitly rules out street sweepers, people washing sidewalks, etc.] P2: it’s July — therefore rules out snow/sleet P3: Didn’t hear hail on porch rail — therefore no hail (P1+P2+P3) = C: Must be rain

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FALSE DICHOTOMY

Disjunctive argument/premise that OMITS at least one proposition/premise

TWO POSSIBILITIES

1) Does NOT rule out ALL the possible disjuncts 2) Omits a PLAUSIBLE alternative disjunct/premise

…Emphasis on PLAUSIBLE…

TIP: Identify “disjunctive premise”… List disjuncts Process of elimination; or search for counter-considerations

ASK YOURSELF: Are there only X plausible possibilities?

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FALSE DICHOTOMY

EX22: It must be meatloaf day, taco day, or fajita day, in the cafeteria. Yesterday was Tuesday, so it was taco day; it’s not Friday, so it can’t be fajita day. That means it must be meatloaf day!

EX23: I thought you were a good person, but you weren’t at church today.

EX24: If you're not with us, you're against us.

EX25: If you want better public schools, you have to raise taxes. If you don't want to raise taxes, you can't have better schools.

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FALSE DICHOTOMY

EX26: You're either part of the solution or part of the problem.

EX27: Either the interest rates will come down or there will be a world disaster. In either case I won’t have to worry about selling my house. If there is a world disaster, the social fibre of life will be destroyed and selling the house will be no problem. And if there is a fall in interest rates it will be easier for people to buy houses, and selling my house won’t be a problem. So, even though the house isn’t selling at the moment, I really have nothing to worry about.

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BEGGING THE QUESTION

Assuming the truth of the conclusion in one of the premises [a.k.a. circular reasoning]

Unproven/assumed to be true premises used to support a conclusion

Not to be confused with “raises the question”

EX28: What-A-Burger is the second best burger joint on the east coast!

Raises the question…what’s the first best?

EX29: “Timmy told me he is going to attend Big State University this fall. This begs the question, how will he do so far away from home?” [should be raises the question]

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BEGGING THE QUESTION

EX30: The soul is immortal since it lives forever. Since it does not die, thus the soul is immortal.

EX31: It would be wrong to keep pressing the rabbit-gratification button if that means causing immense suffering to thousands, because that’s unethical!

EX32: Not feeding starving children is wrong because it’s wrong to let someone die when we are in a position to offer aid.

EX33: Circular reasoning is bad because it is not very good.

EX34: The rights of the minority are every bit as sacred as the rights of the majority, for the majority’s rights have no greater value than those of the minority.

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BEGGING THE QUESTION

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BEGGING THE QUESTION

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BEGGING THE QUESTION

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BEGGING THE QUESTION

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RELEVANCE

Relevance — How premises are related to a conclusion

Positive — prove the conclusion

Negative — disprove the conclusion

IRRELEVANCE — Premises have no bearing on the conclusion; may APPEAR positive/negatively relevant

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STRAW PERSON FALLACY

Weakens or misrepresents the opponent’s position

Making someone’s argument weaker — then attacking /criticizing / objecting to the weaker argument.

Common fallacy among students on papers

Recall — PRINCIPLE OF CHARITY

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STRAW PERSON FALLACY

EX1: You say that pornography should have stricter controls, but you desire to oppress freedom of speech, which goes against fundamental western democratic values.

EX2: Arg — “Wind power is not a practical source of energy. The amount of power it produces is minimal relative to the disruption it causes.

Counter — “You cannot oppose something just because you don’t want it in your own backyard.

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FALLACIES + RELEVANCE

November 6, 2019Chapters 6 + 7

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COURSE BUSINESS

Fallacies Entry:

Instructions Posted Online

List of Prospective Fallacies [pfd online]

Quiz # 5:

No Class Monday [Remembrance Day][Available for office hours Monday / Tuesday]

Quiz Day = Wednesday!

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AD HOMINEM

“Attack on the person”

Attack the opponent/arguer rather than the argument

TWO VERSIONS

1) Abusive Ad Hominem 2) Circumstantial Ad Hominem

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AD HOMINEM

Abusive Ad Hominem

Discredit the speaker/arguer instead of argument

EX3: You can’t trust what Kevin tell you about the labour dispute. He’s a union-buster, and wants to pit us against each other.

EX4: Respondent: General Petraeus’s argument for aggressively pursuing ISIS can’t be trusted because it is likely that he gave classified documents to a reporter with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

Warning/Exceptions

(a) Unreliable speaker [e.g., character; knowledge-base]

(b) Unreliable conditions for making the claim/argument

EX5: An eyewitness is on the stand, testifying to the guilt of the accused. The defence attorney asks the eyewitness: “Isn’t it true that you’ve been convicted of perjury twice before, and, thus, you are a perjurer, a liar?”

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AD HOMINEM

Circumstantial Ad Hominem

Attack the opponent’s circumstances, not argument

EX6: PARENT: There is strong evidence of a link between smoking and chronic obstructive lung disease. Smoking is also associated with many other serious disorders. Smoking is unhealthy. So you should not smoke.

CHILD: But you smoke yourself. So much for your argument against smoking.

Warning/Exceptions

(a) Speaker is being coerced. (b) Speaker has ulterior motives.

EX7: Kristina is in an abusive relationship. It’s no wonder she’s constantly defending that jerk that she’s with.

EX8: Professor Jones has voted against mandatory retirement. Hardly surprising given his age!

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TU QUOQUE

Latin “you also”

Accusing your opponent of hypocrisy

EX9: A public school teacher argues for increased pay for public school teachers and a taxpayer attacks his argument by replying, “Sure! It’s easy to see why you’re in favour of a raise!” To which the teacher replies, “Well, I can say the same of you; it’s easy to see why you’re against it!”

EX10: “I know you like Heidegger, Jon, but his philosophy can’t be taken seriously, given what we now know about his active involvement in the Nazi party. He was clearly not a good man.” “What?! That’s ridiculous, especially coming from you. I heard you talking about your dedication to the Tea Party.”

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TU QUOQUE

EX11: Bono goes on about writing off Third World debt, but with the wealth he and his celeb chums have, they could clear that debt themselves. I don’t see them doing that, so why should anyone else shell out?

WARNING/EXCEPTIONS

(a) Someone’s action may be relevant

EX12: You said you’re going to withhold half my cleaning deposit because I didn’t clean the carpet, but you consistently failed to make necessary repairs.

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FALLACIOUS APPEAL TO AUTHORITY

Citing an authority that doesn’t satisfy criteria for acceptable authority

1) Not identified 2) Not respectable 3) Not within field of expertise 4) No consensus among experts

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APPEAL TO TRADITION

Claim is true because something has always been done that way, or people always thought some way

Focus on tradition, not the reasons behind the tradition

EX13: I cannot help but wonder whether, by continuing and expanding the school lunch program, we aren’t witnessing, if not encouraging, the slow demise of yet another American tradition, the brown bag.

EX14: Getting exploited by your teaching supervisor is just part and parcel of what it means to be a graduate student. None of us really only expect to work 120 hours per term for Prof. KGS!

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APPEAL TO THE MAJORITY

Something is true because most people believe it

Popularity alone is not evidence of truth

EX15: I see chefs in the kitchen wearing crocs all the time, so they must be really good shoes with non-slip soles

EX16: Few people would disagree that torture is always wrong, so we should abolish practices that include “Torture Lite”

WARNING/EXCEPTIONS

(a) Instances where democratic input appropriate (b) Instances where consensus matters

EX17: Most Canadians, if asked, are in favour of universal healthcare, so it’s unlikely that universal healthcare will disappear.

EX18: We need to decide that movie we’re going to go see, and most of us agree that we should go see RAMBO: LAST BLOOD.

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APPEAL TO THE SELECT FEW

Something true / valuable because only a few, select, individuals like it

Appeal to elite status not evidence of truth

EX19: Are you going to be a mindless conformist drone drinking milk and water like everyone else, or will you wake up and drink MTN DEW product?

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APPEAL TO EMOTION

Group of fallacies that appeal to negative emotions for persuasive force — not persuasive on basis of reasons

[e.g., Pity; Fear; Guilt; Hatred; Pride; Shame; Envy, etc.]

Emotional appeal more important than content

EX20: We should hire Smith. He’s been looking for a permanent job for years, his wife has left him, and his bank’s about to foreclose on the mortgage.

EX21: If workers of this company do not agree to a 25% cut in salary, then the company may have to shut its doors. Therefore, the workers of this company must agree to a 25% cut in salary.

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APPEAL TO IGNORANCE

Using a lack of evidence against a claim to prove a claim — No evidence against P, therefore P

Using a lack of evidence for a claim to disprove a claim — Lack of evidence for P, reason not to believe P

EX22: Those weird crop circles in Farmer Joe’s yard could not have been created by human beings. It must have been aliens sending us a signal.

EX23: [Senator Joe McCarthy] “I do not have much information on this except the general statement of the agency that there is nothing in the files to disprove his Communist connections”

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SHIFTING THE BURDEN OF PROOF

Burden of proof belong to the person making the argument.

Saying your view is true because your opponent cannot prove that it is false.

EX24: The FBI has never actually proven how Lee Harvey Oswald could have fired in such little time. There must have been a second shooter in the grassy knoll.

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GAMBLER’S FALLACY

Future RANDOM / CHANCE events are predicable on the basis of past occurrences

EX: Observer: That guy just flipped a coin 10 times and it came up “heads” every time.

Gambler: Let’s go bet on “tails” for the next flip!

WARNING/EXCEPTIONS

(a) Not all events are random (b) We can predict certain events

EX: Christmas time again. I bet we’ll end up watching MIRACLE ON 34TH ST for the millionth time!

EX: Hmmm… fifteen heads in a row. I bet the next coin toss will have 50:50 odds, without a doubt!

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NEXT LECTURE

Quiz # 5: Accepting Premises + Relevance

Chapter 8: Argument From Analogy

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