CHapter 5 (irrelevant premises) Flashcards
(27 cards)
what is a fallacy
a fallacy iss a faulty pattern of inference because the premises don’t provide adequate (elevant and acceptable) support for the conclusion.
what are the two categories fallacies can be classified in
1) Irrelevant Premises
2) Unacceptable Premises
What are Unacceptable Premises? and what fallacies do they involve?
Unacceptable Premises may be relevant to the truth of the conclusion, but are dubious for other reasons
Example:
“Random drug testing in schools reduces drug use since the regular use of the testing makes drug use less likely.”
- Begging the Question
- False Dilemma
- Slippery Slope
- Hasty Generalization
- Faulty Analogy
what are Irrelevant Premises? and what fallacies do they involve?
Irrelevant Premises have no bearing on the truth of the conclusion.
- Genetic Fallacy
- Appeal to the Person
- Composition
- Division
- Equivocation
- Appeal to Popularity
- Appeal to Common Practice
- Appeal to Tradition
- Appeal to Ignorance
- Appeal to Emotion
- Red Herring
- Straw Man
when is a premise irrelevant
A premise is irrelevant to a conclusion if and only if its truth counts neither for nor against the conclusion;otherwise, it is relevant.
What is The Genetic Fallacy?
Arguing or assuming that a claim is true or false solely because of its origin.
Give an example of The Genetic Fallacy?
(a)The study found that 80% of women who took the drug had no recurrence of breast cancer. But that doesn’t show anything, since the study was funded by the company that makes the drug.”
(b)We should reject that proposal for solving the current welfare mess. It comes straight from the NDP!
(c) Marcus’ solution to global warming is clearly false. After all, it came to him after he had been drinking!
Whats The Fallacy of Composition?
arguing or assuming that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole.
Give an example of The Fallacy of Composition?
“Every player on the Blue Jays is the best in the league. Therefore, it must follow that the Blue Jays are the best team in the league.”
“Each part of this new aircraft is lightweight; therefore the whole aircraft is lightweight.”
“The atoms that make up your body are invisible. Therefore, you must be invisible!”
“The average small investor puts $2000 into the stock market each year. The average large investor puts $100,000 into it each year. Therefore, the group of large investors as a whole invest more in the stock market than the small investor group does.” [There may be many more small investors than large investors]
Whats the Fallacy of Division?
arguing or assuming that what is true of the whole must be equally true of the parts.
Give an example of the Fallacy of Division?
“Jane is a human being. Therefore, every cell in her body is a human being.”
“Ryerson students study many different subjects, including statistics and hotel management. John goes to Ryerson. Therefore, John must study many different subjects, including statistics and hotel management.”
“Jane’s sweater is blue, so it follows that each thread of her sweater must be blue.”
whats The Fallacy of Appeal to the Person/ ad hominem fallacy
arguing that we should reject a claim solely because of the person who made it.
What is The Fallacy of Appeal to the Person also called?
the ad hominem fallacy
give an example of the ad hominem fallacy
“Don’t believe what Jack says about love. He’s been a reckless pot smoker ever since I met him.” (based on speaker’s character)
“Harper says he won’t change the gun laws. But you shouldn’t believe him since this goes against everything his party stands for.” (based on his circumstances)
“Naomi Klein wears expensive name-brand clothes. It follows that her concerns about excessive consumerism are just so much rubbish.” (tu quoque)
“According to supporters of the death penalty, it’s an effective deterrent against murder. But these people are not interested in deterrence at all. They want vengeance, pure and simple. They get turned on by the thought of killing the bad guys.” (based on speaker’s character)
What are the 3 types of Ad Hominem Fallacy, explain
also note that: Sometimes the distinctions here can be quite subtle, and more than one correct answer would be acceptable
1) Character
2) circumstance
3) Tu Quoque
Whats character?
The premise merely attacks the person’s character, instead of providing evidence for the conclusion.
“According to supporters of the death penalty, it’s an effective deterrent against murder. But these people are not interested in deterrence at all. They want vengeance, pure and simple. They get turned on by the thought of killing the bad guys.” (based on speaker’s character)
Whats Circumstance?
Type of Ad Hominem Fallacy,
The premise merely points out something about the person’s circumstances, instead of providing evidence for the conclusion.
“Jose says that the political system in Cuba is perfect. But he has to say so: he’s a card-carrying communist! So you shouldn’t believe what he says about politics.”
The point is that many claims about a speaker’s character or circumstances are entirely irrelevant to whether the conclusion is true.
Whats Tu Quoque? Provide examples
Type of Ad Hominem Fallacy,
the premise merely points out that the some claim is inconsistent with something else the speaker says or does, instead of providing evidence for the conclusion.
“Naomi wears expensive name-brand clothes. So everything she says about excessive consumerism is nonsense!”
“How can you tell me to not drink alcohol? I know you used to drink when you were young! Nothing you say against alcohol can be right!”
“The opposition is in no position to attack the government for increasing the deficit. When they formed the government a few years ago, they created a massive deficit that we are still coping with.”
The point is that while somebody may well be a hypocrite, this is generally irrelevant to whether what the person says is true.
whats The Fallacy of Equivocation?
has Irrelevant Premises
When a word or expression is used in two different senses in an argument. Typically, one premise uses the word in one way, and another premise uses the word in a different way.
give example of The Fallacy of Equivocation?
1.Only men are rational.
2.No woman is a man
.: 3. No woman is rational. (from 1,2)
1.Death is the end of life.
2.The end of life is happiness.
.:3. Happiness is death. (from 1,2)
whats Appeal to Popularity? provide an example
has Irrelevant Premises
Arguing that a claim must be true simply because it is a popular belief.
example:
“Of course the war is unjustified! After all, everybody thinks so.”
whats Appeal to Common Practice? Provide an example
Arguing that something should be done a certain way simply because it is commonly done that way.
example:
“Nobody has pop quizzes at university. So, there shouldn’t be any pop quizzes at university”
whats Appeal to Tradition? give an exampleee
has Irrelevant Premises
Arguing that a claim must be true simply because it is part
of a tradition.
example:
“Obviously, God exists: after all, various religious traditions have said so for thousands of years!”
whats Appeal to Ignorance? Give some examples
has Irrelevant Premises
An argument which states or assumes a claim like this:
We don’t know that P is true, therefore P is false.
or
We don’t know that P is false, therefore P is true.
examples;
“No one has shown that ghosts are real, so they must not exist.”
“God must exist, since science hasn’t proven otherwise.”
“I believe in astrology and always read my horoscope. I can’t actually prove that it is true, but nobody can disprove it!
