Fallacies of Argument- Everything's an Argument

Scare tactics (emotional)

• Politicians, advertisers, and public figures use this

• It’s easier to imagine something terrible happening than to appreciate its rarity

• Can be used to turn legitimate fears into panic or prejudice

• The tactics causing thnking that those who are scared will a

Either/Or choices (emotional)

• Labeled false dilemmas

• Become fallacious arguments when:

  • Reduce a complicated issue to simplistic terms

  • Designed to obscure legitimate alternatives

• Tend to make it hard to make reasonable compromises

Slippery Slope (emotional)

• A misstep today can lead to a disaster

• When a write exaggerates the likely consequences of an action, usually to scare readers

Overly Sentimental Appeals (emotional)

• Using tender emotions to distract readers from facts 

Bandwagon Appeals (emotional)

• pushes people to take an easier path rather than thinking independently about what choices to make

• Advertising claims for products preffered by more people than any other use this more than other brands

Appeals to False Authority (ethical)

• When writers offer themselves or other authorities as sufficient warrant for believing a claim

Dogmatism (ethical)

• A particular position is the only “right” one

• Undermines the trust between those who make and listen to the arguements

• When writing in this way people imply: no arguments are needed the truth is self-evident therefore not needing support

Ad Hominem Arguments (ethical)

• attack the character of a person rather than the claims they make

  • can distract from successful arguments they may be offering

Stacking the Deck (ethical)

• Presenting only one side of a story — the one in their favor

• Can cause people to raise questions about your motives

Hasty Generalization (logical)

• inference drawn from insufficient evidence

• In order to draw valid inferences, you must always have ample evidence and qualify your claims appropriately

Faulty Causality (logical)

• “After this, therefore because of this”

• Assuming because one event or action follows another, the first causes the second

Begging the Question (logical) 

• An argument that begins with the argument that it is trying to prove

• Is a circular argument that goes nowhere

Equivocation (logical)

• Half truths or arguments that give lies an honest appearance

• Based on tricks of language

• Sometime use contradictory qualifiers

  • tends to be in political aspects

Non Sequitur (logical)

• an argument whose claims, reasons, or warrents don’t connect logically

• Often occur when writers omit steps in an otherwise logical chain of reasoning

Straw Man (logical)

• An argument that is easy to knock down, yet the writer/speaker still claims victory over an opponent (that may not even exist)

• Politicians tend use this because they want to characterize the positions of their opponents as more extreme than they are

Red Herring (logical)

• Changes the subject abruptly or introduces an irrelevant claim or fact to throw the readers/listeners off the trail 

• Used to undermine other peoples arguments

• Has become a way of saying:

  • “I disagree with your argument”

  • “Your point is irrelevant”

Faulty Analogy (logical)

• Inaccurate or inconsequential comparisons betwen objects or concepts

Paralipsis (logical)

• occurs when speakers or writers say they will not talk about something, therefore doing what they said they weren’t going to 

• It’s a way of getting a point to an argument, through sneaking it in