Common Logical Fallacies #3: Misjudging or Misusing People Arguments

Appeal to Popularity Because everyone does it, it must be right Also known as BANDWAGON: Because everyone believes it, it must be so. Because everyone does/has it, it must be desirable. Related: COMMON PRACTICE Because something is done customarily or traditionally, it must be right.

Example You have to let me go to that party. Everyone else is going. We’ve never had a woman president. We shouldn’t have one now. That policy shouldn’t be changed. We’ve always done it that way.

Reasoning Based on Poll Results: Our schools aren’t safe. 80% of Americans polled say that schools are unsafe.

False Authority Citing authority, “expert” opinion, to support arguments, (legitimate authority), strengthens an argument. However, the authority cited should be REAL. Using False Authority is citing an “authority” who may be: Uninformed in the topic under consideration Biased about the topic of persuasion Unlikely to be telling the truth about the topic

Would you buy a car because Britney Spears recommended that particular brand and model?

Ad Hominem/Poisoning the Well: Attacking the person who proposes or opposes an argument or position rather than attacking the argument or position

Don’t support that environmental law! Robert Redford supports it, and you know he’s not very moral!

It’s OK to attack the person’s character if the issue is a character issue. The opponent’s character BECOMES part of the issue. Example: Don’t vote for Senator Snorth. He cheats on his wife and is an alcoholic who has been convicted of drunk driving.

You, Also (Tu Quoque) Arguing that an argument has no value because the proponent of the argument doesn’t follow his own advice. (He/she’s a hypocrite.)

Example: How can that judge order stringent penalties for convicted drug dealers? He used his influence to reduce the sentence to probation when his son was caught selling marijuana.

Two Wrongs Make a Right Trying to justify something wrong that one is doing by arguing that either: Someone else did the same thing to the arguer OR Someone did some other bad thing to the arguer that justifies his/her bad action

It’s OK for me to cheat on my income tax because the government spends too much money, anyway. Example:

Another Way of Cheating: Lie without really Lying

Appeal to Force/Threatening Arousing people’s fears to threaten them into supporting your thesis Example: If you vote for X initiative, you’ll lose your job because the company hurt by the initiative will go out of business, hurting Utah’s economy.

Red Herring Dragging a “red herring” across the trail to divert the hunting dog from the path of the game BECOMES Changing the focus of the argument to something not directly connected to the thesis to divert the audience away from the thesis

Example: The mayor proposed building a new baseball stadium. How can he consider allocating millions to this stadium when so many baseball players have drug problems?

Half Truths Deceiving by telling only the PART of the truth that supports the thesis, hiding that part of the truth that supports opposing points of view

“The teacher is unfair. She failed me because my term project was late.” Hidden: The teacher warned students of the deadline for over a month.

Use of Misleading Statistics (Half Truth with Statistics) Using true statistics, but not giving contexts or not revealing the whole truth about the statistics Example: Women will never be competent firfighters; after all, only 50% of the women in the city’s training program passed the exam. Hidden: only two women were enrolled in the program.

Card Stacking: Half Truth in Comparisons Stack the cards in the thesis’s favor (a kind of half-truth) In a comparison, only present the points in which that idea is superior Or only present those facts that back up one side of the argument

Example: Legalize marijuana because it has medicinal benefits: it can help chemotherapy patients and glaucoma sufferers. Hidden truth: there are other drugs that help these two groups. Marijuana, unlike the other drugs, is often abused.