CAS PH 160 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Meese Report, Fallacy, Genetic Fallacy
Document Summary
Meese commission report admitted that the data connecting pornography to violence was unreliable. Conclusion (c): a cause-and-effect relationship between viewing pornography and attacking women does not exist. Relying on evidence because it"s memorable or striking (meaning psychologically available), not because it"s trustworthy. Appeal to person: rejecting a claim by criticizing the person who makes it rather than the claim itself. This type of argument is fallacious because they attempt to discredit a claim by appealing to something that"s irrelevant to it: a person"s character, motives, or personal circumstances. Claims must be judged on their own merits. Even if a person"s character is dubious, we are left with no reason to think the claim is either true or false. The use of a word in two different senses in an argument. It occurs whenever a word has one meaning in premise and another meaning in another premise.
