FALLACIES OF ARGUMENTEnglish Composition

FALLACY DEFINED

Arguments that fail to meet the standard of “sound logic and good sense” (Seyler, 2008)

How do arguments become fallacious? Lack of knowledge

Not researching the topic enough to full y understand it before attempting to write about it.

Egos Lack of self-esteem regarding the issue, which then

results in greater reliance on pathos and irrationality (and often defensiveness).

HOW DO ARGUMENTS BECOME FALLACIOUS?

Prejudices We may not even know that we carry these around.

(stereotypes, political views) This often leads to the inability to logically weigh the facts in an issue.

A Need for Answers This desire to “solve” all problems can lead to an

oversimplification of the issues .

SOME COMMON FALLACIES Hasty Generalization: Drawing your inference

from insufficient data. Stereotypes are based on this. You can often avoid this by qualifying your

statements with words such as some, many, etc. Example: Lawyers are only interested in making

money (Seyler, 2008). Example: Political life must lead to excessive

drinking. In the last six months the paper has written about five members of Congress who have either confessed to alcoholism or have been arrested on DUI charges (Seyler, 2008).

This sample is not large enough to infer this about political life in general.

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Non Sequitur: It does not follow (no connection is made for the reader between the claim and the reason).

Example: Donna will surely get a good grade in physics; she earned an A in her biology class (Seyler, 2008).

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Slippery Slope: Claiming without support that an action or choice today will be adverse in the future

Example: If we allow the government to register handguns, next it will register hunting rifles; then it will prohibit all citizen ownership of guns (Seyler, 2008).

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

False Dilemma (Either-Or Choice): A complicated issue is reduced to two courses of action with one course being preferable. This becomes a fallacy when the issue is oversimplified.

Example: The Federal Reserve System must lower interest rates, or we will never pull out of the recession (Seyler, 2008).

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Post Hoc (False Cause): Because one event follows another, the first event causes the second. There may be other possible causes.

Example: After English class, all of the students got sick. That class must make students ill!

LET’S PRACTICE SPOTTING FALLACIES

Coming to the aid of any country engaged in civil war is a bad idea. Next we’ll be sending American troops, and soon we’ll be involved in another Vietnam (Seyler, 2008).

Either we improve the city’s street lighting, or we will fail to reduce crime (Seyler, 2008).

Mr. Romero supports the new increased sales tax. I’ll bet he’s a socialist.

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Red herring: Introducing a side issue to distract from the actual argument.

Example: The senator is an honest woman; she loves her children and gives to charities (Seyler, 2008).

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Ad hominem: To attack “the man” ….irrelevant attacks on the opposition’s character.

Bandwagon: Writer defends a course of action because everyone is doing it or it is common practice.

Example: There’s nothing wrong with fudging a bit on your income taxes. After all, the superrich don’t pay any taxes, and the government expects everyone to cheat a little.

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Straw Man: Attributing false and usually ridiculous views to your opponents simply to discredit their claims

Example: Those who favor gun control just want to take all guns away form responsible citizens and put them in the hands of criminals (Seyler, 2008).

SOME COMMON FALLACIES

Ad Populum: Appealing to emotions and ignoring the core issues by addressing shared values and beliefs (i.e. “traditional family values”)

Example: Good, law-abiding Americans must be sick of the violent crimes occurring in our once godly society. But we won’t tolerate it anymore; put the criminals in jail and throw away the key (Seyler, 2008).

LET’S PRACTICE SPOTTING FALLACIES

That book doesn’t deserve a Pulitzer Prize. The author has been married four times.

Professors should “chill out”; everybody cheats on exams from time to time.

Real Americans understand that free trade agreements are evil. Let your representatives know that we want American goods protected.

(Seyler, 2008)

REFERENCES

Seyler, D. (2008). Read, reason, write. (8 ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.