PHI 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Appeal To Pity, Argument From Ignorance, Begging The Question

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Iva Apostolova

Document Summary

Here we will deal with informal fallacies. The fallaciousness of relevance, adequacy, or acceptability of the premises, the language used, or the technique of persuasion, rather than their structure. Informal fallacies, unlike formal ones, need to be read within a context. Begging the question (petitio principii): suffers from circularity; the speaker assumes what she"s trying to prove. The belief in god is universal because everybody believes in god. It is in every case immoral to lie to someone, even if the lie could save a human life. Even in extreme circumstances a lie is still a lie. All lies are immoral because the very act of prevarication in all circumstances is contrary to ethical principles. When the argument contains implicitly or explicitly a contradiction, usually between two premises. Members of the jury, there are two compelling reasons why you should find my client not guilty.