PHIL 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Eating Animals, Reductio Ad Hitlerum, Dont
Document Summary
Formal fallacy - a defect in the form of an argument. Informal fallacy - defect arises out of the content, not the form (although may impact the form) What is w (instead of y) cannot be z. If you look at argument without looking at content, it would seem valid, but has a defect in its content. All stars are exploding balls of gas. Therefore miley cyrus is an exploding ball of gas. Star has different meanings, different definitions which are equivocate. Fallacy - when the same word is used to represent different meanings. Look for a common word, and multiple definitions of that word. To check: replace the definitions of the term for each time it is used. P1: a ham sandwich is better than nothing. P2: nothing is better than true love. C: a ham sandwich is better than true love. Cats stay indoors and use the litter box.
