2. Persuasive Text And Fallacies of Argument

3. What does it mean to be persuasive? 4 When you are persuasive you talk someone into doing something or into believing a certain way. 4 A persuasive text is a piece of writing that tries to accomplish this.

4. What are some types of persuasive texts? 4 Newspaper articles 4 Speeches 4 Advertisements such as billboards, magazine ads, commercials, etc. –These all try to convince people of something.

5. In order to persuade…. 4 Sometimes authors use something called a FALLACY 4 What is a fallacy? A fallacy is an error in logic – in other words…a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking. 4 Ex. “A cloud is 90% water. A watermelon is 90% water. Therefore, since a plane can fly through a cloud, a plane can fly through a watermelon.”

6. Fallacy

7. Origins of Word 4 The word “fallacy” may derive from the Latin word fallere meaning, “to deceive, to trip, to lead into error or to trick.” The word may also derive from the Greek phelos, meaning “deceitful.”

8. About Fallacies 4 Fallacies tend play tricks with your mind: many people think that they are good arguments. 4 One reason why there are so many fallacies is that many people use arguments to persuade other people, and to win debates, rather than to find the truth.

9. Beware of the Fallacy 4 Of course, lawyers, politicians, car sales people, and others define a good argument as one that is persuasive, whether it is sound or not. They use FALLACIES to try to persuade people or win arguments.

10. Types of Fallacies 4 Ad Hominem 4 Exaggeration 4 Bandwagon 4 Stereotyping 4 Categorical Claim 4 Slippery Slope (aka Camel’s Nose)

11. Ad Hominem (Abusive) 4 Literally means against “the man” 4 Attacking the arguer instead of their argument.

12. Ad Hominem 4 “We must dismiss the conclusion of Ms. Smith’s argument because it is clear to me at this point that Ms. Smith is a liar and a thief!”

13. Ad Hominem 4 “Einstein couldn't have been right about Relativity...just look at the way he combs his hair!”

14. Ad Hominem 4 Billy-Bob says we should make mudding an Olympic sport but he’s a redneck. Therefore, we shouldn't allow it.

15. Exaggeration 4 Represent (something) as being larger, greater, better, or worse than it really is.

17. Bandwagon 4 Bandwagon – the belief that something should be done because the majority of people do it (or wish to do it). 4 Bandwagon advertising is when a company says any variation of the phrase “Everyone else is doing it, you should to”.

18. Bandwagon 4 Have you ever seen a poster in the hallway like this? 4 “You should go to the school dance this Friday. Everyone is going to be there!”

19. Stereotyping 4 Stereotyping is the act of judging a person or group of people because of the actions or behaviors of others that are similar.

20. Stereotyping 4 “All pitbulls should be put to sleep. They are dangerous dogs.”

22. Categorical Claim 4 Perform the task of telling how one type of thing or action relates to another. 4 All flowers are things of beauty. 4 Every flower is a thing of beauty. 4 Only things of beauty can be flowers. 4 It is necessary for a flower to be a thing of beauty.

23. Slippery Slope ( camels nose ) 4 If A is allowed to happen then X, Y and Z will also happen. 4 No proof is given as to why XYZ will happen.

24. Slippery Slope 4 "We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester!" 4 "We've got to stop them from banning Huckleberry Fin. Once they start banning one form of literature, they will never stop. Next thing you know, they will be burning all the books!"