Argumentative Writing Fallacies



Argumentative Writing Fallacies

Hasty Generalization

Definition: Making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on a sample that is inadequate.

Example: Student 1: Melvin from 1st block said Hasty’s test is impossible.

Student 2: Yeah, Katy made like a 30 on it.

Student 1: Hasty is the hardest teacher at this school. He obviously wants us all to fail.

Student 2: Obviously.

Non Sequitur

Definition: When the conclusion does not follow from the premises.  In more informal reasoning, it can be when what is presented as evidence or reason is irrelevant or adds very little support to the conclusion.

Example: Buddy Burger has the greatest food in town.  Buddy Burger was voted #1 by the local paper.  Therefore, Phil, the owner of Buddy Burger, should run for President of the United States.

Post hoc (also called false cause)

Definition: Assuming that because B comes after A, A caused B (i.e. correlation equals causation).

Examples: "One month after President Luthor took office, gas prices skyrocketed. It’s clearly Luthor’s fault.”

Slippery Slope

Definition: The arguer claims that a sort of chain reaction, usually ending in some dire consequence, will take place, but there's really not enough evidence for that assumption. The arguer asserts that if we take even one step onto the "slippery slope," we will end up sliding all the way to the bottom; he or she assumes we can't stop halfway down the hill.

Example: "Scientists in Bulgaria successfully cloned a sheep. Next, we’ll be cloning humans. We should probably stock up for the inevitable clone wars."

Argument from Analogy

Definition: Many arguments rely on an analogy between two or more objects, ideas, or situations. If the two things that are being compared aren't really alike in the relevant respects, the analogy is a weak one, and the argument that relies on it commits the fallacy of weak analogy.

Example: "The killers tried to rig explosives out of propane tanks. That would have caused many violent deaths, yet no one is demanding a ban on propane tanks. It is equally absurd to ban automatic weapons."

Appeal to Doubtful Authority

Definition: Often we add strength to our arguments by referring to respected sources or authorities and explaining their positions on the issues we're discussing. If, however, we try to get readers to agree with us simply by impressing them with a famous name or by appealing to a supposed authority who really isn't much of an expert, we commit the fallacy of appeal to doubtful authority.

Example: "We should abolish the death penalty. Many respected people such as Kanye West have publicly stated their opposition to it."

Ad populum

Definition: The Latin name of this fallacy means "to the people." There are several versions of the ad populum fallacy, but what they all have in common is that in them, the arguer takes advantage of the desire most people have to be liked and to fit in with others and uses that desire to try to get the audience to accept his or her argument. One of the most common versions is the bandwagon fallacy, in which the arguer tries to convince the audience to do or believe something because everyone else (supposedly) does.

Example: "60 percent of the U.S. population believes the world is flat. The science textbooks are all wrong."

Ad hominem and tu quoque

Definitions: Like the appeal to authority and ad populum fallacies, the ad hominem ("against the person") and tu quoque ("you, too!") fallacies focus our attention on people rather than on arguments or evidence. In both of these arguments, the conclusion is usually "You shouldn't believe So-and-So's argument." The reason for not believing So-and-So is that So-and-So is either a bad person (ad hominem) or a hypocrite (tu quoque). In an ad hominem argument, the arguer attacks his or her opponent instead of the opponent's argument.

Examples: "Leading economist Stanley Moneybags argues that changing the tax rates will improve economic growth. However, Stanley Moneybags defaulted on a college loan payment in 1994. How can we believe anything he says about the economy?"

Appeal to Pity

Definition: The appeal to pity takes place when an arguer tries to get people to accept a conclusion by making them feel sorry for someone.

Examples: “Claire McMom lost her only son to the war in Nova Scotia. It’s wrong to continue a war in which mothers lose their only sons or daughters."

Appeal to Ignorance

Definition: In the appeal to ignorance, the arguer basically says, "Look, there's no conclusive evidence on the issue at hand. Therefore, you should accept my conclusion on this issue."

Example: “You can’t prove that gremlins did not destroy my tractor. Therefore, gremlins must have destroyed my tractor.”

Straw Man

Definition: In the straw man fallacy, the arguer sets up a wimpy version of the opponent's position and tries to score points by knocking it down. But just as being able to knock down a straw man, or a scarecrow, isn't very impressive, defeating a watered-down version of your opponents' argument isn't very impressive either.

Example: "Our first guest today is Smelly Corporate Guy from Corporate Corporation Incorporated. He made 4 billion dollars last month and has a golden toilet. He has never given a single dime to charity and puts all his money in offshore accounts so that he doesn’t have to pay taxes. My other guest is Johnny Littleguy who just got laid off from the company and now draws unemployment. My first question to Smelly Corporate Guy is, ‘Why are corporations so greedy and heartless?’”

Red Herring

Definition: Partway through an argument, the arguer goes off on a tangent, raising a side issue that distracts the audience from what's really at stake. Often, the arguer never returns to the original issue.

Example:

Mike: It is morally wrong to cheat on your spouse; why on earth would you have done that?

Ken: But what is morality exactly?

Mike: It’s a code of conduct shared by cultures.

Ken: But who creates this code?...

False Dilemma

Definition: In false dilemma, the arguer sets up the situation so it looks like there are only two choices. The arguer then eliminates one of the choices, so it seems that we are left with only one option: the one the arguer wanted us to pick in the first place. But often there are really many different options, not just two--and if we thought about them all, we might not be so quick to pick the one the arguer recommends.

Example: "The choice is clear: we either support President Luthor’s tax plan or we watch our economy spiral out of control."

Begging the Question

Definition: Basically, an argument that begs the question asks the reader to simply accept the conclusion without providing real evidence; the argument either relies on a premise that says the same thing as the conclusion (which you might hear referred to as "being circular" or "circular reasoning"), or simply ignores an important (but questionable) assumption that the argument rests on. Sometimes people use the phrase "beg the question" as a sort of general criticism of arguments, to mean that an arguer hasn't given very good reasons for a conclusion.

Examples: "Active euthanasia is morally acceptable. It is a decent, ethical thing to help another human being escape suffering through death."

Misleading Vividness

Definition: A small number of dramatic and vivid events are taken to outweigh a significant amount of statistical evidence.

Example: It was freezing today as it was yesterday.  My plants are now dead, and my birdbath turned to solid ice...and it is only October!  This global warming thing is a load of garbage.

Moving the Goalposts

Definition: When the “win” condition of an argument is revised after your opponent has soundly refuted your argument.

Example: “President Luthor isn’t a U.S. citizen. He hasn’t produced a birth certificate.” He then produces a birth certificate. “I meant the long-form birth certificate.” He produces a long-form birth certificate. “That birth certificate could be fraudulent. You weren’t there yourself to see the birth certificate at the Nebraska hospital where he was supposedly born.” (Conspiracy theorists often use this tactic—e.g. “The moon landing was staged;” “9/11 was an inside job”; “The Newtown shooting was a government conspiracy to take away firearms.”)

Sources:

The UNC Writing Center. UNC Chapel Hill.



Developing and Refuting Your Own Fallacies

In the chart below, develop five different examples of your own using the definitions listed above, and use the right hand column to explain and refute the fallacy.

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