Term
| apple polishing/argument from pride |
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Definition
Allows praise of oneself to accept an argument.
“You obviously know a lot about computers. You can obviously see how superior our model is.” |
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| Argument from common practice |
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defending an action or practice on the grounds that it is common.
Ex: Why are you giving me a ticket officer? Everyone does it.
Downloading music on bit Torrent is okay because millions do it.
Note: Pointing out that ‘everyone does it’ may be a request for fair play. (why single out one person if millions are doing it?) |
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Exaggerate a person’s faults.
Wal-mart may make a lot of money, but they destroy small businesses. |
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| using a threat rather than legitimate argument to "support" a "conclusion" |
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Relies on pride in a group rather than reason. (i.e. it’s right if Brentwood College does it, but it’s not right if Shawnigan does it…)
Nationalism: A common type of group think that suggests anything that criticizes the country is ‘treason’ etc.
i.e. Everything that’s wrong with the world is wrong because of the involvement of the US (Incredibly common in Canada)
i.e. Just because something is ‘Canadian’ or ‘American’ or ‘Communist’ or ‘Islamic’ or ‘Christian’ or etc, doesn’t mean it is right or wrong.
Blaming 9/11 terrorism on America because of American foreign policy is becoming a common ‘group think’ (most conspiracy theories become self-reinforcing ‘group think’) |
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You can’t drink/smoke marijuana at Brentwood College. Don’t you know how much your parents have paid for your education?
(You may feel guilty for getting expelled, but it’s not wrong because you feel guilty.)
Commonly used by parents and housemasters. |
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| common type of group think that suggests anything that criticizes the country is "treason" |
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Glen Beck
Uses anger to justify a conclusion. Watch for inflammatory words designed to create ‘righteous anger’.
i.e. Gay Marriage
“Narrow-minded fundy bigots dictating what people do in their bedrooms”
“Gays are demanding special rights!”
Rhetoric |
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Term
| argument from peer pressure |
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Definition
Relies on a desire for acceptance.
The funny thing is that the people you like always seem to have good arguments. And people you don’t like always seem to use fallacies…
“But everyone else doesn’t have a problem with 7:10 sign-in. What’s wrong with you?”
Simply being in a group of friends that does an activity (smoking, doing drugs, studying for exams, support the Canucks, etc.) will often convince people that these things are ‘good’ over time.
“You are your friends” |
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I need 80% in Biology 12 to get into university…(blinks big eyes, a tear goes down cheek…)
(Accept an argument because you feel sorry for them.) |
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Accepting an argument because a large number of people believe it (other than authorities or experts).
i.e. 67% of the Canadians believe they have seen a ghost. Therefore Ghosts exist.
Comfort in numbers.
note:1) Some things are true because most people believe it. (i.e. definitions of words, what’s popular, etc.)
2) If everyone believes something, it doesn’t have to be true in order to have an effect.(i.e. asteroid)
3) Beliefs can be self-fulfilling. If everyone believed the stock market was going to crash tomorrow, it might crash as people start selling their stock.
4) Everyone may believe something because it is actually true |
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Definition
Fake reasoning or after-the-fact reasoning.
Reasoning – examine the evidence and determine which side the evidence supports
Rationalizing – Determine which side you believe, and then select & interpret evidence to support it.
An extremely common mistake in reasoning.
Ex. 1) We hate Micro$oft, therefore everything that goes wrong on the computer is Microsoft’s fault (and dismiss any problems with a Mac).
Ex. 2) You find out your best friend took more money from your desk without asking. Rather than getting mad or accusing them of stealing, you assume they ‘must have needed it’. |
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When a new topic is introduced in order to distract.
ex: I should not pay a fine for reckless driving. There are actually dangerous criminals on the street and the police should be chasing them instead of harassing a decent tax-paying citizen like me. |
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The claim that something can be true in one culture and wrong in another (other than cultural traditions).
i.e. It can be ‘good’ to sacrifice people in one culture and ‘evil’ in ours. (Things can be right or wrong in all cultures.)
Primarily used in moral arguments (see term 1, and pg. 158-159)
One cannot assume a moral standard applies universally and assume that it doesn’t apply in certain cultures.
It’s one or the other. |
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A type of argument from outrage that blames everything on a certain group of people or a certain person, or even certain things/ideas!
The theory of a “Jewish Conspiracy” to control the world was used to justify the Nazi rise to power.
Modern examples:
Blaming the teaching of evolution for Columbine, as quoted in Congress by Tom Delay:
“…It couldn’t have been because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud.”
Blaming ‘the Liberals’ or ‘the conservatives’ is common.
For more examples, watch ‘Fox News’ (or CNN, or CBC, or generally anything else on TV)
(Remember, just because someone is angry doesn’t mean that it’s a fallacy it’s a fallacy.) |
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Getting people to accept an argument based on fear.
Using global warming to scare you into buying an alternative fuel car is ‘scare tactics’. Giving evidence that a certain car contributes less to global warming (which is scary) may not be.
It has been suggested that “terrorism” in general has been used as a scare tactic to reduce citizen rights when arrested in Canada and the US. This may or may not be true. What would make it true or not true?
Argument from Outrage and ‘Scare Tactics’ are Fallacies based on emotion. |
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| When issues are piled on or made extremely complicated so that the original question gets lost. |
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| The idea that everyone’s opinion is just as good as everyone else’s. (ignore the fact that people can be right and wrong) |
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Defending a practice because that’s the why it has always been done. (aka ‘the Brentwood’ argument)
Ex: Just because kids have always believed in Santa Clause doesn’t mean Santa Clause is true (or that they should believe in Santa Clause)
You should have sign-in at 6pm in the Caf and 7:10 in the house because that’s the way we’ve always done it.
When I was growing up I was spanked/beaten/hazed/shot and I turned out okay. So did my father, and my grandfather. Therefore everyone should be treated this way growing up. |
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Wrong behaviour doesn’t become ‘right’ if it is in response to other wrong behaviour.
i.e. A student ‘borrows’ a bag of cookies from your room without asking. So you ‘borrow’ her iPod without asking.
It is a fallacy when it is used to justify retaliatory action against someone.
When is it not a fallacy?
When retaliatory action is legitimate punishment (i.e. through a court of law).
When action is defended is defended as necessary to prevent harm (i.e. self-defence). |
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i.e. I can smoke because there’s no chance I’ll get cancer.
Or those that ‘talk to the dead’ rely on the wishful thinking of those that want to talk to the dead.
Or
Those that believe in God do so because they wish to go to heaven.
Or
Those that don’t believe in God don’t because they don’t want to go to hell.
Most ‘positive thinking’ is wishful thinking. You can’t think cancer away, and a positive outlook doesn’t make a difference in your health. Really. |
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