Fallacy UNC Comm 113 Quiz

Deduction - Syllogism

-Major Premise: Public speaking instructors are awesome

-Minor Premise: I am a public speaking instructor

-Conclusion: I am awesome

-In evaluating this statement, you need to distinguish between Validity and Soundness: V = met all formal conditions for proper syllogism; S=relevant

Induction

-Moves from particular cases to make Inductive Generalizations

-Starts with the individual and then concludes the same about the group

-The measure of an inductive generalization is the question of the size and quality of the sample set

-EXAMPLE: UNC public speaking students are smart; You're smart...you're smart...you're smart...you're smart...you're smart...;Therefore we can reliably say that UNC public speaking students are smart.

Deduction

-Moves from general or universal through a specific case.

-Often definitional

-Classic form is the syllogism (this has a MAJOR PREMISE, a MINOR PREMISE, and a CONCLUSION that inevitably follows as a result of a DEDUCTIVE INFERENCE which puts major and minor premise together

Hasty generalization

jumping to conclusions (making generalized claims of too few examples)

Slothful Induction

occurs when a person fails to make a inductive generalization despite overwhelming evidence that calls for it; at a certain point, the evidence in an inductive case should force you to make some general conclusion; person doesn't make conclusion; aka drugged driving (Lindsey Lohan)

Ad Hominem

argument to or about the person; claims that there is something about the character of the person their abilities or circumstances that should make us doubt their credibility of their arguments

Argumentatum Ad Populum

appeal to popularity; argument to popular opinion; bandwagon fallacy; claims that something is true because it is widely believed to be true; ex = we only use 10% of your brain; ex = the sun revolves around the earth

Argumentatum Ad Consequentiam

appeal to consequences; distraction fallacy; an argument is wrong because of the consequences of us holding that argument; we should accept something because believing it would have good consequences; ex = of course the earth is flat! If it wasn't the queen and pope would be wrong; cant undermine the authority of the queen; social effects of saying the argument

Ad Baculum

an argument in where force, threat of force, or coercion, is used

Argument from Authority

-The authority must be appropriate to the area that they are speaking about

-The person must be sincere, and should not inappropriately represent the consensus

-Even when these conditions are met, what makes an argument from authority fallacious?

-Answer: the invocation of authority should not close off further consideration of the evidence

Complex Question

a single question that deceptively contains two distinct questioning; goal is to force the person to provide a single answer to questions; ex = are you still wetting the bed in your dorm room?; have you stopped kicking puppies yet; since you aren't hiding any contraband, do you mind if I search your car

False Dilemma

either or fallacy' poses two alternatives as the only options for answering a question or presumes that there are only two black and white positions that you can take on a question; 'if you don't like America you can go live in Russia'; either against us or with us

Post Hoc

after the fact therefore because of the fact; a fallacy of causation: it argues that because one event happened after another that the first event was the cause of the second;

Begging the Question

logical fallacy that assumes in the premise what the arguer should try to prove in the conclusion

Straw Man

committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misinterpreted version of that position.