Chapter 6 Relevance fallacies! What you need to know…

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. What is a fallacy? An argument that doesn’t really support or prove what it is supposed to support or prove. Still, it may seem convincing. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

What’s a relevance fallacy? A ‘red herring,’ a distraction. An argument that is not really relevant to its conclusion. “You tell me it’s dangerous to text when I’m driving, but I have seen you doing it.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Ad hominem fallacies © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. If a speaker or writer attempts to dismiss someone’s position by discussing the person rather than attacking his or her position, a fallacy is committed: Argumentum ad hominem. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Argumentum ad hominem is the most common fallacy on earth. Example: “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!” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

The only crock here is that argument! Why is it a fallacy? Look at it logically: Premise: All Gore spends $20,000 each year on electricity. Conclusion: Therefore global warming is not the most serious threat facing us today. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

In case you still don’t see it: Issue: Is global warming the most serious threat? Which of the following assertions is RELEVANT? © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. GW will cause rising sea levels to swamp all east coast cities by 2100. GW will cause coral reefs to die within 30 years. CO2 levels have risen over 30% in the last 25 years, due to GW. According to a study published in Nature, current rates of warming will lead to extinction for 1 million species by 2050. Al Gore spends $20,000 a year on electricity—NOT RELEVANT! © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Let’s look at some varieties of Argumentum ad hominem © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Abusive ad hominem “What Al Gore says about air pollution is a joke! That clown will say anything to get attention!” The speaker is simply bad-mouthing Mr. Gore. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Circumstantial ad hominem “What Al Gore says about air pollution is pure bull. Al Gore makes a fortune from alternative energy investments. What do you think he’d say?” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Inconsistency ad hominem “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.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Three more kinds of ad hominem Poisoning the well Guilt by association Genetic fallacy © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. POISONING THE WELL Trying to dismiss what someone is going to say, by talking about his/her character or circumstances or consistency. “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.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Guilt by association “You think waterboarding is torture? That sounds like something these left-wing college professors would say.” Listeners are supposed to think calling waterboarding torture is “guilty” by virtue of its alleged association with supposedly left-wing college professors. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. GENETIC FALLACY: Rejecting an idea because it came from a presumed defective source. A fallacy that occurs when someone argues that the origin of a contention in and of itself automatically renders it false. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. GENETIC FALLACY “Does God exist? Of course not. That idea originated with a bunch of ignorant people who knew nothing about science.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Compare: GENETIC FALLACY: “Does God exist? Of course not. That idea originated with a bunch of ignorant people who knew nothing about science.” “John says God exists. What nonsense. He’s just saying that because he works for a church.” Circumstantial ad hominem: © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Another famous fallacy: THE STRAW MAN © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. STRAW MAN We are witnessing a Straw Man fallacy when a speaker or writer attempts to dismiss a contention by distorting or misrepresenting it. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. STRAW MAN Example: “Twenty percent? You want to tip her 20%???? Hey, maybe you want to give her everything we make, but I frankly think that is ridiculous!” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. New fallacy! FALSE DILEMMA Also known as Black/White; Either/Or; All/Nothing; Ignoring Other Alternatives © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The False Dilemma fallacy happens when someone tries to establish a conclusion by offering it as the only alternative to something we will find unacceptable, unattainable, or implausible. “Either we allow the oil companies to drill for oil in the Gulf or we will be at the mercy of OPEC. Therefore we shouldn’t prevent the oil companies from drilling for oil in the Gulf.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. FALSE DILEMMA Example: “Either we increase the number of troops in Iraq or the terrorists will be attacking U.S. cities. Seems like a simple choice to me.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

“PERFECTIONIST” version of false dilemma Example: “It’s impossible to eliminate terrorism entirely. We should stop wasting money on it.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

“LINE-DRAWING” version of false dilemma Example: “ There shouldn’t be restrictions on violence in the movies. After all, when is a movie ‘too violent’? You can’t draw a line.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Two more famous twins: MISPLACING THE BURDEN OF PROOF BEGGING THE QUESTION © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

MISPLACING THE BURDEN OF PROOF This fallacy occurs when an attempt is made to support or prove a point by trying to make us disprove it. “Obviously, the president’s birth certificate is a forgery. Can you prove it isn’t?” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

MISPLACING THE BURDEN OF PROOF: Example: “Can I prove the Biblical flood really happened? Hey, can you prove it didn’t???” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Appeal to Ignorance This is a variation of the fallacy of Misplacing the Burden of Proof. It occurs when it is argued that we should believe a claim because nobody has proved it false. © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. BEGGING THE QUESTION This fallacy occurs when a speaker or writer tries to “support” or “demonstrate” a contention by offering as “evidence” or “proof” what amounts to a repackaging of the very contention in question. “Obviously the president told the truth about Benghazi. He wouldn’t lie to us about it.” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. BEGGING THE QUESTION Another example: “Can I prove the Biblical flood really happened? Of course it happened! Why else would Noah build an ark???” © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

What all these fallacies have in common: They don’t demonstrate their conclusion. They don’t support their conclusion (they don’t make their conclusion more likely). © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Appeal to Emotion & Irrelevant conclusions Next: Appeal to Emotion & Irrelevant conclusions © 2015 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.