APPEAL TO IGNORANCE Definition: - PowerPoint Presentation

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APPEAL TO IGNORANCE

Definition:

fallacy occurs when a conclusion is argued that it must be true or false because there is no evidence against it

Examples:

Current~ During the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton said "If we invest in infrastructure now, we'll not only create jobs today, but lay the foundations for the jobs of the future." Hillary has no true evidence that this statement is true because it is impossible to see the future.Literary~ In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien references a story he heard from Mitchell Sanders about a patrol of six men who go up the mountains for several days. When the patrol “starts hearing voices" as well as music, “they lose it” (page 70). As a result, they "call in airstrikes" and firepower in hopes of destroying the noises they hear. This story can neither be proven true nor false because no one was there to witness the events except for those six men.Historical~ Evolution is a theory because there is no concrete evidence to back up the idea that humans evolved from apes.~ Many suggest that if Adolf Hitler had been accepted into art school in 1908, then he would have never pursued politics, become dictator, and there would have never been a holocaust. This idea can't be proved because it is impossible to go back in time and change events in order to see a different outcome.

Jessica StephensonSlide3

Logical Fallacy: Appeal to Pity

The desire to win an argument through manipulating one’s feelings into feeling guilty or pity for an individual.

Examples:

The common “Think of the Children!” tactic in which one’s instinct of protecting children is ignited and is set to believe that anyone who disregards the sanctity of the youth is inhumane.

In the film “12 Angry Men”, one of the jurors, Henry Fonda, uses appeal to pity to support as to why the defendant is NOT guilty.-"Look, this kid's been kicked around all of his life. You know, born in a slum. Mother dead since he was nine. He lived for a year and a half in an orphanage when his father was serving a jail term for forgery.“

“I worked really hard on this essay for an A, I missed my grandma’s funeral and even my last chance to tell my brother bye before he went off to war just to work on this assignment.”Thurston Liptrot 4th PeriodLogical Fallacy AssignmentSlide4

Bandwagon

Definition:

the belief that an argument is valid because a majority of people accept it

Examples:

The "Rachel" haircut was popular in the nineties. Women who watched Friends all of the sudden had to have the same exact haircut. Since Jennifer Aniston had this style on Friends, tons of women have tried the cut. Everybody believed that that was the best haircut ever, resulting in it becoming very popular.

You wanted the Falcons to win the Super Bowl, but everyone was talking about “how awesome the Patriots are”. Based on their positions, you change yours and root for the Patriots.You believe that people who receive welfare should submit a drug test, but your friends tell you that your idea is crazy and they don’t accept it. So, you decide to change your position based on their beliefs. Brielle Caldwell 4thSlide5

Begging the Question

Definition: A statement supported only by the statement you are arguing – X is true, the evidence for this is X.

Example 1: “You have to clean your room because I said so.”

Example 2: “It’s not a new number, it’s just a changed number.” Elaine on Seinfeld

Example 3: “They can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true.”

“Where’d you hear that?” “The internet.” – State Farm French model commercialCiara HardingSlide6

Equivocation

What is Equivocation???

“None of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (The Weird Sisters, Shakespeare’s

Macbeth

)Star Wars, A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke that Darth Vader “betrayed and murdered your father.”

The use of an ambiguous word or phrase in more than one sense, making your argument misleadingSlide7

False Alternative (Either-or)

Definition :

Offers the audience two choices when more actually exist.

Usually between two extremes.

"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.“ –George W. Bush

"There are some things money can't buy--for everything else, there's MasterCard.“You must be a Republican or Democrat. You are not a Democrat. Therefore, you must be a Republican.Kamryn AlwardSlide8

Faulty Causal Generalization

Definition

: the assumption that if one thing precedes another, the first event must be the cause of the second; usually applied with very little evidence

Examples:

I wore my lucky socks, and the football team won their game. Therefore, the team won the game because I wore my lucky socks.Many children have been diagnosed with autism after receiving measles vaccines. Therefore, the vaccines

cause autism.Lieutenant Jimmy Cross chose to set up camp in the muck field, and Kiowa died in the muck that night. Therefore, the lieutenant was responsible for Kiowa’s death.Katie KroftSlide9

Hasty Generalization

-a type of fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified due to insufficient evidence

-it is “jumping to conclusions”

Ex. Ex. Ex.

Madelyn Castaldo

Fourth PeriodSlide10

L0aded Question

Fallacies of a Logical Argument

Definition: a question which contains a controversial or unjustified assumption

Morgan Ward

Fourth PeriodSlide11

Red Herring Fallacy

Definition:

A deliberate diversion of attention by introducing irrelevant topics with the intention of trying to abandon the original argument.

Examples:

Current Event:

Back in this past presidential campaigns, Trump said, “I’m Presbyterian. Boy, that’s down the middle of the road, folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don’t know about. I just don’t know about,” to bring attention to Ben Carson’s denomination and faith. This placed Carson’s religious beliefs into the spotlight and diverged attention from more pressing issues of the candidacy.Literature: In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the plot is initially centered on the character Sirius Black and the threat he poses. His name, his reputation, everything, leads the audience to believe he’s an escaped criminal coming to murder Harry, but in reality he’s just trying to protect Harry.History: In the 1920’s, there was a big movement against theories of evolution and a push for religious revivals. Famous speakers such as Billy Sunday would bring in monkeys in order to diverge the attention from the facts associated with the theories and emphasize the outlandish idea that the undomesticated primate could in no way be one of their ancestors. Liana Taylor 4th periodSlide12

Weak Analogy Fallacy

Weak analogy

: An analogy used within an argument, but it is too irrelevant to prove a point or be effective. The analogy compares two things that seem similar but they are actually different in the area being compared.

Examples:

"That's why, under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance -- just as most states require you to carry auto insurance

." -President Obama on Universal Health Coverage  ”Arizona's unemployment rate is higher than that of Midland, Texas due to the presence of a solar power plant and lack of natural gas or petroleum exploration.” –FOX NewsCoke is being compared to fruits but it is obvious that coke is nothing like Fruits. The ad tries to convince consumers to believe that coke is as healthy as fruits.John BednarskiSlide13

Slippery Slope

The Slippery Slope is a fallacy in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question. In most cases, there are a series of steps or gradations between one event and the one in question and no reason is given as to why the intervening steps or gradations will simply be bypassed.

Ex.

Someone assuming that legalizing same-sex marriage will eventually legalize same-family marriage, such as cousins marrying.

Assuming anyone that owns a gun is dangerous- it's not the gun that kills, it's the person.

If you see A B C you automatically assume Z will comeKinga GrackaSlide14

The appeal to force fallacy is when coercion or a threat of force instead of a logical reason in order to justify a conclusion.

Donald Trump has warned the city of Chicago that he will send in the Feds if its crime rate doesn’t lower.

In the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort warns the students that if they do not hand Harry Potter over, he will destroy them.

Commodore Matthew Perry went to Japan with a well armed fleet in order to open up trade with them

Appeal to Force (Scare Tactics)

Erick CarrilloSlide15

Inappropriate Appeal to Authority

When an authority who is not actually an authority on a topic is used as reference in an argument

Ex: “I predict we can say ‘goodbye’ to the common cold in 2009 or 2010.” - Sylvia Browne, Psychic Detective

Ex: Bill Cosby wearing a graduation cap and gown appeared in an advertisement for a Texas Instruments Calculator. He was meant to appear as an authority in order to make customers want the same calculator he “used.”

Ex: “Around my kitchen this is raisin time of year…because raisins are good, and good for you.” – Vincent Price, horror film star, in an ad for Sun Giant Raisins

Julianna DevaneySlide16

Attacking the Motive

This fallacy takes place when an arguer criticizes someone’s motivation behind proposing a specific argument or claim instead of examining the worth of the argument itself.

Since the speaker has questionable motives, the argument is invalid.

Examples:

An ad criticizing President George W. Bush’s motives behind the Iraqi War commits this fallacy when they suggest his true purpose is to ensure the profits of U.S. oil companies and not

to liberate the Iraqi people.”Donald Trump has argued that we need to build a new campus. But Trump is the owner of Trump’s Construction Company. He’ll make a fortune if his company is picked to build the new campus. Obviously, Trump’s argument is a lot of self-serving nonsense.”In an ad, “Grim Reapers,” the writers attempt to attack tobacco companies, but instead of exposing the detrimental effects of tobacco, they attack the company’s motive to give free samples, stating they intend to get people hooked on the product.Benjamin DavisSlide17

Two Wrongs Make A right

What Is It?

It is a logical fallacy when a debater points out, or a person commits a wrong or corrupt action in order to justify their own wrong doing that was pointed out.

Why???

The arguer will do this to change the subject from one wrong action to another In attempt to distract their audience from his/her own flaws.

Noteworthy Examples:“I will release my Tax returns When she Releases her Thirty- three thousand emails that have been deleted” – Donald Trump to Secretary Clinton in the presidential debateMary got in trouble for wearing a short dress in school. she pointed out to her principle that the three girls in the hallway were wearing shorter dresses and were not dress coded.In the Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio (a close friend to the ) is killed by Tybalt, because Tybalt (capulet) killed Mercutio, Romeo kills Tybalt. Katelyn AtchisonPeriod 62/10/17Slide18

InCoNsIsTeNcY

Occurs when:

Two or more propositions are asserted that cannot both possibly be true (the propositions may be contradictions or contraries)

One holds two or more views/beliefs that cannot be all be true together

Examples:

"Nobody goes there anymore.  It's too crowded." -

Yogi Berra

All general claims have exceptions.

“Almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true.” Tim O’Brien

The Things They Carried

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Mykaela Watt 1

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Card Stacking

Definition: propaganda technique that seeks to manipulate audience perception of an issue by emphasizing one side and repressing another; usually highlights the positive and neglects the negative

Examples:

Fox News-Conservative Bias

Diet Soft Drinks

Cigarette Ads- Taste Better!Kayleigh AcreSlide20

Straw Man

Substituting a person’s actual position or argument with a distorted, exaggerated, or misrepresented version of the position of the

argument to make it easier to attack.

Obama:

“No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.”

Trump: “Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment,” Donald Trump said during a rally. “Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away, and she wants to abolish the Second Amendment!“Trump and the Anti-Semitic ad about Clinton. Owen Spencer2nd Period