PHILOS 2CT3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Domino Theory, False Dilemma, Begging

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHILOS 2CT3
• Professor: Yussif Yakubu

Document Summary

Fallacy: an argument form that is both common and defective; a recurring mistake in reasoning. They"re often psychologically persuasive though logically impotent: those that have irrelevant premises. Fallacies can be divided into two broad categories. Irrelevant premises have no bearing on the truth of this conclusion. The premise may pertain to the conclusion but not adequately support it: those that have unacceptable premises. Unacceptable premises are relevant to the conclusion but are nonetheless dubious in some way: the evidence they support is too weak to properly support the conclusion or is otherwise so defective it provides no support at all. A good argument must have premises that are both relevant and acceptable. A fallacious argument is missing one of these requirements. Genetic fallacy: the fallacy of arguing that a claim is true or false solely because of its origin. I. e. russell"s idea about tax hikes came to him in a dream, so it must be junk.