Review: Rhetoric Pseudoreasoning lead us to fallacies. Fallacies: Mistakes in reasoning.
Fooling Yourself #8 - Rationalizing #9 - Wishful Thinking
My wife is going to love this battery charger I bought her for her birthday. She can really use it! She ll be glad I spent the night out drinking. I m giving her some personal space. #8. Rationalizing Lying to ourselves about our real reasons for believing or doing something.
#9. Wishful Thinking Thinking something is true simply because we want it to be true. Of course I believe a bank in Nigeria has millions of dollars that I inherited from a distant relative that I ve never heard of or met. #10 - Special type: Denial Oh, Professor, I didn t miss THAT many questions on my midterm.
Don t confuse wishful thinking with optimism. Wishful thinking = Believing something simply because we want it to be true. (Denying reality.) Optimism= Recognizing positive perspectives, possibilities, and holding positive expectations. (Fully embracing reality.)
Optimism vs. Wishful Thinking
Which one is this?
Social Fallacies #11 - Peer Pressure #12 -Group Think
Of course you should sniff glue bottles. Everyone else is doing it. You should take a drink with us. Don t you want to be part of the in crowd? #11. Peer Pressure Trying to get us to do or believe something by appealing to fear of being excluded from the group.
#12. Group Think Trying to get us to do or believe something by appealing to our pride of membership. The new Steve Jobs movie was very good. How could you hate it? Didn t you go to De Anza? #13. Special type: Nationalism Appealing to our pride of membership in a nation or state. You shouldn t eat French Fries. We re American.
Social Fallacies Peer Pressure vs. Group Think Peer Pressure: About fear of being excluded. Group Think: About pride in belonging. In real life, often both used together.
Group Exercise 6-1: #2, 3, 6, 8, 9 #2 Wishful thinking #3 Argument from Pity #6 Argument from Pity #8 Peer pressure or groupthink #9 Argument from Envy
Cultural Fallacies #14 - Argument from (Appeal to) Popularity Everybody believes it so it must be true. #15 - Argument from Common Practice Everybody does it so it must be right. #16 - Argument from Tradition We ve always done it (thought about it) that way.
Cultural Fallacies If somebody justifies a belief with a cultural fallacy, does it make the belief wrong?
Being a cultural fallacy doesn t make a belief wrong. Just like all fallacies, it means the argument is neither strong nor valid. Argument from Popularity Argument from Common Practice Argument from Tradition
Distraction Fallacies #17 - Red Herring/Smoke Screen Red Herring Bringing a topic into a conversation that distracts from the original point. Smoke Screen Same as red herring, but often used when referring to an argument with complicated or multiple distractions.
Red Herring Bringing a topic into a conversation that distracts from the original point. Wife: I saw you cheating on me with your secretary. Husband: How dare you follow me! Also often used to avoid answering a question. Reporter: How do you plan to fix the economy? Politician: My opponent has no experience balancing a budget.
Smoke Screen Same as red herring, but often used when referring to an argument with complicated or multiple distractions. Tobacco Institute Full-page ad in USA Today: We challenge the American Cancer Society to clean up the air in its smoke free offices. We are willing to bet there isn t much cigarette smoking at American Cancer Society offices. But, according to a recent study from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), cigarette smoke also wasn t the problem in 98 percent of 203 buildings reported to have indoor air problems.... Indoor air inspections resulting from worker complaints typically find viruses, fungal spores, bacteria, gases, closed fresh air ducts, and ventilation systems in need of maintenance.
#18 -Two Wrongs Make a Right Fallacy Thinking wrongful behavior by someone else excuses wrongful behavior by you. One-to-one: Your party was too noisy and kept me up late last night, so I set fire to your car. One-to-another: You took my parking space, so I robbed your mother. Future based justification: The store gave me $10 in change instead of $1. I m not giving it back because they wouldn t give it back to me if I made the mistake.
Group Exercise 6-2: #2, 3, 5, 8, 9, #2 Common practice #3 Rationalizing #5 Red Herring #8 Rationalizing #9 Appeal to popularity
HW Exercise 6-6: #2, 5, 8, 9 Exercise 6-8: #2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 23
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If the commercial was used to argue against a claim made by Newt Gingrich, then we would have the Most Common Fallacy on Earth!! Ad Hominem Fallacy
Ad Hominem Fallacy What s wrong with this argument? According to Al Gore, global warming is the most serious threat facing us today. Folks, what a crock. Al Gore spends $20,000 each year on electricity in his Tennessee mansion! Premise: Al Gore spends $20,000 each year on electricity. Conclusion: Therefore, global warming is not the most serious threat facing us today.
What s wrong with this argument? According to Al Gore, global warming is the most serious threat facing us today. Folks, what a crock. Al Gore spends $20,000 each year on electricity in his Tennessee mansion! What would be relevant premises? Rising sea levels Death of coral reefs Rising CO2 levels Rising global temperatures Al Gore electricity bill?
Just because somebody is a fool, does not necessarily make what they say foolish. Most Common Fallacy on Earth!! Ad Hominem Fallacy
Ad Hominem Fallacy Confusing the quality of a person making a claim with the quality of the claim itself. Several Types They all avoid addressing the argument by attacking the arguer instead.
Ad Hominem Fallacies #1. Special Type: Personal Attack Ad Hominem Based on not liking the person. What Mitt Romney says about air pollution is a joke! That clown will say anything to get attention!
Ad Hominem Fallacies #2. Special Type: Inconsistency Ad Hominem Discredit a person because she changed her mind or has behaviors that conflict with her claim. Senator Clinton says we should get out of Iraq. What a bunch of garbage coming from her! She voted for the war, don t forget. Dad said smoking is bad for me. What s that all about? He smokes a pack a day!
Ad Hominem Fallacies #3. Special Type: Circumstantial Ad Hominem Discredit a person by referring to the person s circumstances. What Al Gore says about air pollution is pure bull. He makes a fortune from alternative energy investments. What do you think he d say?
Typical Structure Person Amakes claim X. Person B discredits Person A. Person Bthen concludes that claim Xis false.
Ad Hominem Fallacies #4. Special Type: Poisoning The Well Ad hominem in advance. Giving bad impression. Questioning the arguer before they even argue. Senator Clinton is going to give a talk tonight on Iraq. Well, it s just gonna be more baloney. That gal will say anything to get a vote. I don t think Dave killed his wife. - Even a denial poisons the well. Dave owns a cat. does not poison the well.
Ad Hominem Fallacy #5. Special Type: Positive Ad Hominem Believing that if a person or group has positive attributes then we have more reason to believe their claims. He saved the children from the burning building. He must be right when he says aliens attacked us. The NRA is awesome. So, their proposals should all be awesome too.
Related to Ad Hominem Fallacy #6. Genetic Fallacy Rejecting an idea as false because it came from a defective source: clubs, political parties, other groups, etc. (not a specific individual) Does God exist? Of course not. That idea originated with a bunch of ignorant people who knew nothing about science. How is this different? John says God exists. What nonsense. He s just saying that because he works for a church. Circumstantial ad hominem.
Ad Hominem Personal Attack Inconsistency Circumstantial Poisoning The Well Positive Genetic