Logical Fallacies Act III

Ad Hominem

Attacks the person, not the issue. Ignore the issues by attacking character

Ad Hominem Examples in Act III

1) Parris tries to bring Proctor's religion into question, to try to discredit what he's saying

2) Abigail just cried to the "Lord" to save her from Mary's spirit, and Proctor reveals the affair between him and Abigail "Who-re, Who-re!", which had nothing to do with the subject

3) Danforth attacks John Proctor by questioning his knowledge of the Gospel even though it has nothing to do with the trials

Circular Reasoning

Happens when the writer presents are arguable point as a fact that supports, error leads to argument that goes around and around

Circular Reasoning Examples in Act III

1) Judge Hawthorne questions Martha's (Gile's wife) conviction that she is not a witch when she claims she has no idea what a witch is

Hasty Generalizations

Basing an argument on insufficient evidence. Writers may draw conclusions too quickly not considering the whole issue. They may look only at small group as representative of the whole or may look only at a small piece of the issue

Hasty Generalizations Examples in Act III

1) If someone were to confess to Danforth on Abigail then may God have mercy

2) Danforth threatens Mary with hanging if she doesn't confess

Red Herring

An irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert attention of listeners or reader from the original issue

Straw Man

A person ignores their opponents actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position, which then diverts attention from the real issue

Straw Man Examples in Act III

1) Proctor and Cheever are arguing over Proctor's

credibility and innocence in court. Cheever brings up plowing on Sundays to make the issue larger

involving religion. By bringing up religion, it makes

the issue a bigger deal than it is.

Slippery Slope

An argument that implies the "snowball effect," that one misstep will inevitably lead t more missteps and an eventual crisis, and this descents is inevitable and unalterable.

False Cause

Assumes a faulty relationship. One vent following another in time does not mean that the first event caused the later event. Writers must be able to prove that one event caused another event and did not simply follow in time.

Either- Or Arguments (False Dilemma)

- Reduce complex issues to black and white choices. Most often issues will have a number of choices for resolution.

- Giving two choices when in actuality there could be more choices possible.

Either- Or Arguments (False Dilemma) Examples in Act III

1) Judge Danforth is accusing Mary Warren of lying . When she said she is not lying, he automatically assumed that she lied while in court. According to Danforth, it's not a possibility that she was telling the truth both times, or that she was lying both times. The punishment would be the same if she was lying or not.