ENGL 1101 Lecture 1: Fallacies Notes
Document Summary
Fallacies: flawed forms of argument, rely on manipulation, bad faith, misunderstanding, sometimes just lies, unethical hacks of discourse and argument, used intentionally and unintentionally all the time. Scare tactics: preys on audience fear to confuse them, common in media, especially with politics. Either/or choices: sets up a choice that is unnecessary between things that aren"t exclusive, used to hide legitimate alternatives, excessively simplify a situation. Slippery slope: today"s mistake is tomorrow"s disaster, exaggerates potential consequences, also form of scare tactic. Overly sentimental appeals: evokes emotion to the point that it blocks the rest of the argument, reverse fallacy of scare tactics, using positive feelings to overwhelm and confuse, tend to overly simplify matters. Bandwagon appeals: everyone is doing it, can be used for things that seem positive, tries to bypass reasoning through allegiance. If others accept the argument, so should you.
