PHL 214 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Straw Man, Acupuncture, Tu Quoque
20 Aug 2018
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Fallacy: flawed argument form that is both common and defective; a misleading belief. They may seem convincing but is not logically sound. Irrelevant premises have no bearing on the truth of the conclusion: an argument may seem to offer reasons for accepting the conclusion but the reasons have nothing to do with the conclusion. Genetic fallacy: consists of arguing that a claim is true or false solely because of its origin: these arguments fail because they reject a claim solely on the basis of where it comes from, not on its merits. In most cases, the source of an idea is irrelevant to its truth: however, there are times when origins of a claim can be a relevant factor. Such as in court cases, when an eyewitness account comes from someone known to be a pathological liar, the jury is entitled to doubt the account. We should reject kris"s argument on life on other planets.
