IN ARGUMENTS

Flaws

Two wrongs don’t make a right

An attempt to justify one harmful thing on the basis of another harmful thing.

Who cares if I dump a freezer in the lake? It’s already polluted from the leak in the nuclear power plant.

Tu quoque

An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that you do it. (You too)

You can’t criticise me for hitting Jonathan, you do it all the time!

Generalisation

Draws a general conclusion from insufficient evidence, this can mean jumping from one example to many or from a small survey to everyone.

Daily mail article- Part of the way down this article there is a piece of evidence saying that a drug dealer was breaking in to one prison, to support its conclusion that all British prisons are too soft.

(It also ignores that the dealer went in to sell goods to the inmates not get a free meal)

Begging the question

Basing the argument on a claim which needs verification itself.

I have dementia because my dad says so.

This begs the question, is my dad a doctor?

Circular argument

A conclusion that has already been assumed in the premise.

You can trust me because I wouldn’t lie to you.

Reducing the options

Presenting a false and limited version of the choices available.

You must vote conservative, or face the same debt dilemma as Greece.

Post hoc

The idea that one event happened because of an other when it just happened before the event rather than causing it.

When I was head of the Nuneaton Gardening Society there was no global recession, now that he is, look at the state of the global economy.

Conflation

Bringing together two or more concepts and treating them the same.

Some people in the UK are deprived of vital government assistance, they are living in poverty.

Straw person

Setting up a distorted version of an opposing argument with the intention of dismissing it.

Labour wants to introduce a new death tax, they really are taking taxing to the extreme if they are trying to tax helpless dead people.

This argument ignores the fact that dead people are the only section of society which don’t mind being taxed.

Ad hominem

Attacking the person putting forward the argument rather than the argument.

Don’t vote for Nick Clegg, he’s part Dutch, he’ll bring compulsory Dutch into our schools and he’ll replace Queen Elizabeth with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands!

Confusing necessary and sufficient causes

Necessary conditions are conditions which must be fulfilled in order for an event to come about. Sufficient conditions are conditions which, if fulfilled, guarantee that an event will come to pass.

People who don’t revise for history exams always fail, I’ve revised, so I’ll pass.

Not having revised may be a sufficient condition for failing a history exam, but it isn’t necessary. People who have revised may fail anyway, due to nerves, perhaps, or simply a lack of talent.

Slippery Slope

The idea that one minor event will cause a chain of events that are not properly or logically linked, to an extreme consequence.

If one uses sound judgement, then it can occasionally be safe to exceed the speed limit. However, we must clamp down on speeding, because when people break the law it becomes a habit, and escalates out of control. The more one breaks the law, the less respect one has for it. If one day you break the speed limit, then the next you’ll go a little faster again, and pretty soon you’ll be driving recklessly, endangering the lives of other road-users. For this reason, we should take a zero-tolerance approach to speeding, and stop people before they reach dangerous levels.

Arguing from one thing to another

Uses a reason to support a conclusion about something different.

I revised for my maths exam well yesterday, therefore you should revise for your maths exam today.

Miscredited or irrelevant appeals

Appeal to authority

An attempt to support a conclusion on the basis that a well-known figure believes it. The claim is weakened if the celebrity is not an expert in the field, the claim could also be weak if the expert is unnamed.

You should vote for the conservatives because Simon Cowell supports them.

Appeal to tradition

An attempt to oppose a suggested change on the basis that it is something that has served us well in the past.

We should fly to Toronto with Zoom Airlines because I’ve always flown to North America with them and the planes never been bombed.

Appeal to history

Similar to appeal to tradition which is a form of an appeal to history. The second form of the appeal to history is an attempt to predict the future based on a similar event in past. Although the past is a guide to what may happen it the future, it is not certain.

Our prisons are full, we should transport our convicts to Australia as was proven effective in the 17th century.

Appeal to Emotion

This is an attempt to gain support through engaging the audience’s emotions rather than giving good reasons.

DEMOCRACY? GEORGE BUSH DOESN’T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORDHow dare he talk about democracy when the US-backed leaders he is meeting in the Middle East include the dictator King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the tyrant Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the butcher Ehud Olmert of Isreal and the stooge Nouri al Maliki in Iraq?

Appeal to popularity

This is an attempt to certify that something is true because lots of people believe in it.

If you want to lose weight, you should try the detox diet, everyone says it works and it’s in all the magazines!

http://www.criticalthinking.org.uk/