Avoiding Logical

Fallacies
Fallacy of Thought/Argument
Fallacy comes from 2 Latin words:
fallax or deceptive
fallere: to deceive

Oxford English Dictionary defines it as:

Deception, guile, trickery
Unreliability
A sophism, that is, a misleading argument
An error founded on false reasoning
Be Aware of Logical Fallacies
Humans are instinctively self-deceptive
and socio-centric

We see what we want to see and hear

what we want to hear

We often go along with the beliefs of our

parents, culture, religion without
questioning
 Unconscious Beliefs
It is true if I It is true if it
believe it serves my
purpose to believe
It is true if we it
believe it
This is ego-centric,
It is true if I want self-deceptive
to believe it. thinking
Role of Mass Media
Designed to support uncritical thinking

Reinforces stereotypes

Discourages questioning

Spin is all important

Authority, power, and celebrity are praised

Its all about social conditioning

Outsmart the Trick
Since we know that humans tend to
unconsciously think in a self-serving, ego-
centric manner, it is important to learn to
recognize the most common tricks of
persuasion/argumentative fallacies, that
can trick and manipulate us.
DEFINING FALLACIES
Critical Terms Needed to Understand Fallacies
 Arguments
Arguments containing
Consist of: bad inferences, can
certainly be called
Premises fallacious

Inferences What is less clear is

Conclusions whether arguments
containing false
premises but which are
otherwise fine should
be called fallacious
 Formal/Deductive Fallacies
Deductive arguments are supposed to be
water-tight

For a deductive argument to be good (valid) it

must:
Be absolutely impossible for both its premises
(both sides) to be true and its conclusion to be
false

the truth of the premises entails the truth of the

conclusion.
Classic Example of Deductive
Argument
Premise:
(1) All men are mortal.
(2) Socrates is a man.
Therefore (Conclusion):
(3) Socrates is mortal.
It is simply not possible
that both (1) and (2) are
true and (3) is false
This argument is
deductively valid
Premise:
(1) All men are mortal.
(2) Socrates is a man.
Therefore (Conclusion):
(3) Socrates is immortal.
Both (1) and (2) are true
but (3) is false
This argument is not
deductively valid
 Informal/Inductive Fallacies
Good inductive arguments lend support to
their conclusions

Even if their premises are true, it doesnt

establish with 100% certainty that their
conclusions are true

A good inductive argument with true

premises might have a false conclusion
Inductive = Fallacious
Premise 1: Most All inductive
American cats are arguments (even
domestic house cats. good ones) are
therefore deductively
invalid and can be
Premise 2: Bill is an
said to be fallacious.
American cat.

Conclusion: Bill is
domestic house cat.
Terminology for Inductive
Fallacies
Because ALL inductive arguments are
considered false, different terminology is
needed to distinguish good and bad
inductive arguments.

Most often used terms:

Strong
Weak
Example of Strong Inductive
Argument

Premise:
(1) Every day to date the law of
gravity has held.

Therefore (Conclusion):
(2) The law of gravity will hold
tomorrow.
Example of Weak Inductive
Argument:
(1)The last ten times I played
poker, I won money.

(2) Im playing poker tonight.

(3)Ill win money tonight.

Informal Arguments
Arguments that fail to meet the standards
required of inductive arguments

Known as informal fallacies

Most often described by guides to good
thinking
Primary concern of most critical thinking
courses
Informal Arguments (contd)
If a fallacy is an error of reasoning, then
such arguments are not fallacious
Their reasoning/logic, is sound

However, many traditional fallacies are like

this, so we
Define fallacy in a way that includes them
Include both formal and informal
THE 10 DEADLY FALLACIES
How to Recognize Them and Avoid Them
 # 1: Faulty or Hasty
Generalizations
Generalization is Examples:
essential to Everybody knows;
communication All people;

Not all generalizations It is obvious that; No

one understands
are faulty
We also generalize
Cow 1 is not cow 2 is when we make
not cow 3 assessments about a
persons character
after 1 encounter
 Being Accurate, Precise, and Less
Biased
Dont say all when you mean most

Dont say most when you mean some

Dont say some when you mean a few

Dont say a few when you mean one

 #2: Ad Hominem
Latin for to the Bill Clinton was a bad
man president because he
had sex with an intern

Attack the person

and not the makes an argument
argument that is not based on his
record but on his
character
Politicians like to
use this one
Uses name calling and
mud-slinging.
 #3: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc/Faulty
Causality

After that, therefore Examples:

caused by that I got a stomach ache
after algebra class.
Therefore, Id better
avoid algebra.
Presumes that if one
thing happens after
The president raised
another one, the first taxes last year, and the
causes the second crime rate went up this
year. Therefore, the
crime rate went up
because of the tax
increase.
 #4: The slippery slope *
Implies that if someone does one thing, it
will inevitably lead to a domino effect that
will result in something terrible

Remember, kissing leads to sex, which

leads to an unwanted baby, and your life
will be ruined!
*that leads to disaster
 #5. Straw man
A false or misleading representation of
someones position in an argument

Example:
Person A wants to reform the prison system.
Person B argues: Well, I guess you want to free all
the criminals and leave us unprotected.

The argument is not against what A said, so it is

not real.
 #6: The Bandwagon
Everybodys doing it, so it must be a good
idea

In truth, just because something is popular, it

is not necessarily a good thing

Example:
But mom, everybody is bungee jumping. Now
Ill be left out, and my friends will make fun of
me if you dont let me.
 #7: Gamblers Fallacy
Assuming that short- Example:
A series of 9 coin tosses
term deviations from have landed heads-up
probability will be
corrected in the it is very tempting to
expect the next coin toss
short-term when to land tails-up
faced with a series of
The past series of
events that are results, though, has no
statistically unlikely effect on the probability
of the various possible
outcomes of the next
coin toss
 #8: Tu Quoque
Asking a question that has a built
in presumption, so that you cant
answer without seeming guilty

Example:
How long have you been beating
your wife?
 #9: Begging the Question
Presenting a circular argument in which the
conclusion is included in the premise

Example:
The word of Goku is flawless. We know
because it says so in the Book of Goku,
which we should not question.
 #10: Appeal to Authority
Similar to #9
Belief that because an authority says
something it must be true

Examples:
But my professor says theres no such thing as
gravity, and he has a Ph.D., so he must be
right.
Global warming isnt real because this
scientist says so.
 So
To avoid logical fallacies always
make sure you are getting your
information from reliable
sources and always ask
questions!
 Be A Critical Thinker!
A critical thinker:

Encourages self-insight

Lacks the desire to manipulate or control others

Envisions a more ethical world

Is acutely aware of the phenomenon of mass persuasion through

media

Questions the means and ends of any given situation

Sees through dirty tricks of manipulative persuasion

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