PHI 1101 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Slippery Slope, Life Insurance, Syntactic Ambiguity
5 Jun 2018
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Test Review 2
Chapter 6
Fallacy - a mistake in reasoning, an argument that doesn’t really support or prove the
contention it is supposed to support or prove !
Ex. “You tell me it’s dangerous to text when I’m driving, but I have seen you doing it”!
Relevance fallacies - arguments that may seem relevant to their conclusion but logically are not !
Argumentum Ad Hominem!
-Attempting to dismiss a source’s position by discussing the source rather than the position !
-An argument directed to the person instead of what was being said !
Ex. !
“Not only have I seen you drive and text, but just last week you were saying it isn’t dangerous
to do that”!
The speaker (the person committing fallacy) is talking about the other person !
“What do I think about the president’s proposal for immigration reform? It’s ridiculous. He just
wants Latino votes.”!
The speaker is just bad-mouthing the president, which doesn’t tell us anything at all about the
strengths or weaknesses of the president’s proposal !
“You can forget what Father Hennessy said about the dangers of abortion, because Father
Hennessy is a priest and priests are required to hold such views”!
The speaker in this example isn’t exactly bad-mouthing Father Hennessy, but he or she still
isn’t talking about what Father Hennessy said !
Relevance fallacies = Red herring = Argumentum Ad Hominem!
Poisoning the Well - speakers and writers sometimes try to get us to dismiss what someone is
going to say by talking about the person’s consistency or character or circumstances !
Ex. !
“You can forget what Father Hennessy will say this evening about abortion, because Father
Hennessy is a priest and priests are required to think that abortion is a mortal sin”!
Guilt by Association - occurs when a speaker or writer tries to persuade us to dismiss a belief
by telling us that someone we don’t like has that belief !
Ex. !
“You think waterboarding is torture? That sounds like something these left-wing college
professors would say”!
The speakers wants listeners to dismiss the idea that waterboarding is torture. He/she tries to
taint that idea by associating it with “left-wing college professors” !
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Genetic Fallacy - a speaker/writer commits fallacy when he/she argues that the origin of a
contention in and of itself automatically renders it false !
Ex.!
“That idea is absurd. It’s just something the Tea Party put out there”!
“Where on earth did you hear that? On talk radio? !
Both examples imply that a view should be rejected simply because of its origin !
Straw man - occurs when a speaker/writer attempts to dismiss a contention by distorting or
misrepresenting it !
Ex. !
“What do I think about outlawing large ammunition clips? I think the idea of disarming everyone
is ridiculous and dangerous”!
The speaker has turned the proposal to outlaw large ammunition clips into something far
different !
“You: I think we should legalize medical marijuana.!
Friend: Maybe you should think everyone should go around stoned, but I think that’s absurd.”!
Your friend has transformed your position into one that nobody would accept !
“Conservative: It would be bad for the economy to tighten emission standards for sulfur
dioxide.!
Progressive: How can you say that? Having more sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is the last
thing we need!”!
Conservative never said she wanted more sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere.!
False dilemma - Happens when someone tries to establish a conclusion by offering it as the
only alternative to something we will find unacceptable, unattainable, or implausible !
Ex. !
“We either eliminate Social Security or the country will go bankrupt. Therefore we must
eliminate Social Security”!
The speaker doesn’t present all the options!
“Look, either we clean out the garbage, or this junk will run us out of house and home”!
The man I pretending the only alternative to cleaning out the garbage is being run out of house
and home, an unacceptable alternative !
Perfectionist Fallacy - when a speaker or writer ignores options between “perfection” and
“nothing”!
Ex. !
“a single English course won’t make anyone a great writer, so I don’t see why we have to take
one”!
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The speaker has restricted our options. He is arguing that unless a single English course can
make us great writers (perfection), we shouldn’t have to take one at all. !
“drilling for oil in the Gulf won’t give us independence from OPEC; therefore we shouldn’t drill”!
This speaker tries to establish that we shouldn’t drill in the Gulf. She ignores the less-than-
perfect possibility that drilling for oil in the Gulf could make us less dependent on OPEC!
Line-Drawing Fallacy - occurs when a speaker or writer assumes that either a crystal-clear line
can be drawn between two things, or there is no difference between them.!
Ex. !
“you can’t say exactly when a video game is too violent; therefore no video game is too violent”!
The speaker restricted the option to either being able to draw a clear line between violent and
nonviolent videos or not making a distinction between them !
“poverty isn’t a problem in this country; after all, when a person really poor? You can’t say
exactly”!
The speaker would have us believe that, since there isn’t a precise line between being really
poor and not being really poor, there is no such thing as being really poor.!
Misplacing the burden of proof - attempting to place the burden of proof on the wrong side of
an issue !
Ex. !
“obviously, the president’s birth certificate is a forgery. Can you prove it isn’t?”!
The speaker tried to transfer the burden to the listener because forging a birth certificate is the
exception rather than the rule. !
Begging the question - attempting to “support” a contention by offering as “evidence” what
amounts to a repackaging of the very contention in question !
Ex.!
“obviously the president told the truth about Benghazi. He shouldn’t lie to us about it”!
The reason given here for believing the president is that he wouldn’t lie. This isn’t exactly the
same thing, but it is so close that it could not really counted as evidence !
“that God exists is proved by scripture, because scripture is the word of God and thus cannot
be false”!
If someone wants proof that god exists, she wouldn’t find it in the assertion that scripture is the
word of God.!
Appeal to emotion - attempting to “support” a contention by playing on our emotions rather
than by producing a real argument !
Argument from outrage - attempts to convince us by making us angry rather than by giving us
a relevant argument !
Ex. !
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PHI 1101 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Fallacy - a mistake in reasoning, an argument that doesn"t really support or prove the contention it is supposed to support or prove. You tell me it"s dangerous to text when i"m driving, but i have seen you doing it . Relevance fallacies - arguments that may seem relevant to their conclusion but logically are not. Attempting to dismiss a source"s position by discussing the source rather than the position. An argument directed to the person instead of what was being said. Not only have i seen you drive and text, but just last week you were saying it isn"t dangerous to do that . The speaker (the person committing fallacy) is talking about the other person. The speaker is just bad-mouthing the president, which doesn"t tell us anything at all about the strengths or weaknesses of the president"s proposal. You can forget what father hennessy said about the dangers of abortion, because father.
