Logical Fallacies

Is the argument made in this article convincing? Why or why not?

Do not do outside research or bring in personal examples and experiences to make your case. Rather, focus on evaluating the

strength of the reasoning and evidence presented in the article. See if you can catch the author in any logical fallacies that

significantly undermine their argument. You may state your personal opinion in the conclusion paragraph of your essay.

3-4 pages in length. No works cited page is required. Use in-text parenthetical citations and integrate your quotations and

paraphrases well with appropriate signal phrases

Logical Fallacies
Inconsistency: A person commits the fallacy of inconsistency when he or she makes contradictory claims.
Examples:
• I’m a strong believer in freedom of speech and think artists should never be censored. However, when musicians like Marilyn

Manson influence the youth, you have to draw a line and say no more.
• I’m all for equal rights for women. I just think a woman’s place is in the home.
• There are few philosophic truths more certain that this: all claims to truth in the realm of morality are subjective and

arbitrary.
Two Wrongs: If you try to justify an act/belief by pointing out in others a similar act/belief, you are committing the fallacy of

“two wrongs make a right.” This fallacy can occur by suggesting “if others are doing it, I can too” (common practice). Another form

of the fallacy occurs when you dismiss a criticism of your action/belief, because your critic is acting/believing in a similar way

(you do it, too).
Examples:
• I’m tailgating her, because she cut me off!
• Why shouldn’t I gossip about Laura Jane? You know she talks about us every chance she gets.
• “There’s nothing more noble to behold than a sober mind in a healthy body,” he would tell me when he caught me drinking.

But it was hard to take him seriously, since half the time he was drunk himself
Is/Ought: The is-ought fallacy occurs when the assumption is made that because things are a certain way, they should be that way.

It can also consist of the assumption that because something is not now occurring, this means it should not occur. In effect, this

fallacy asserts that the status quo should be maintained simply for its own sake. It seeks to make a value of a fact or to derive a

moral imperative from the description of a state of affairs.
Examples:
• We’ve always had a bonfire, so we always should.
• The Electoral College is specified in the Constitution, so we can’t do away with it.
• I didn’t learn how to read on a computer, so I refuse to buy a Kindle. Kids shouldn’t be reading on it either. It’s just

not right.
Red Herring: This fallacy consists in diverting attention from the real issue by focusing instead on an issue having only a surface

relevance to the first. A red herring is a smelly fish that would distract even a bloodhound during English fox hunting. To get the

hounds to stop chasing the fox, the hunters would drag a dead fix across the fox’s trail. The dogs, charging down the path, would

be diverted by the stronger, more interesting scent. The red herring fallacy uses interesting but irrelevant arguments.
Examples:
• Daughter: “I’m so hurt that Todd broke up with me, Mom.” Mother: “Just think of all the starving children in Africa, honey.

Your problems will seem pretty insignificant then.”
• Andy: “Hey, what’s with all this junk food you bought? You’re always railing at me about eating healthy.” Aunt Bea: “Don’t

fuss — it was on sale.”
• Reporter: “It seems to me that if you were elected president, the Congress with which you would have to work would not be

very cooperative at all. How could you, as president, bring about any reform or help enact any beneficial legislation with a

Congress that was almost totally opposed to your programs?” Ross Perot: “Well, if I were elected, about half the members of

Congress would drop dead of heart attacks, and half of my problem would be solved from the outset.”
Unwarranted (or Hasty) Generalization: This fallacy occurs when we make a generalization on the basis of insufficient evidence.

This may occur when we rely on too small of a sample or an unrepresentative sample to support the generalization. This occurs when

we assume that most members of a group share a common characteristic, when this assumption is actually based on only a few

observations. Many of the unfair stereotypes and prejudices we have about other groups of people are based on hasty

generalizations.
Example:
• Children of faculty are brats. I baby-sit for one of my professors and his children are spoiled and demanding.
• Japanese is so easy. Everything was a piece of cake on the first day of the class.
• I was going to buy a new Honda, but my uncle had one back in the ’70’s and it was small and noisy and very uncomfortable. I

don’t think I want an uncomfortable car, so I’ll buy something else.

Questionable Cause (or Post Hoc): This fallacy occurs when a causal connection is assumed without proof. All too often claims to a

causal connection are based on a mere correlation. The occurrence of one event after the other or the occurrence of events

simultaneously is not proof of a causal connection. Also known as post hoc.
Examples:
• We never had a problem with this elevator until you moved into the building.
• Please read this message then forward it. Three people who received and forwarded this message received thousands of

dollars each, but Ms. Elma Smith failed to forward this message and she suffered a lengthy problem with an ingrown toenail. Forward

this to five people right away, if you know what is good for you.
• I’m sure that Marilyn Manson’s music had something to do with those murders. They found Manson CD’s in one of the

murderer’s private collection.
• Six months after Hoover took office in 1929, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. He is therefore

responsible for this tragic episode in our history.

Slippery Slope: In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because, with little or no evidence, one insists that

it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. The slippery slope involves an acceptance of a succession

of events without direct evidence that this course of events will happen.
Example:
• Today late for ten minutes, tomorrow late for an hour, and then someday you will simply cease to show up.
• If Texas adopts a personal income tax, I’m moving away. An income tax at the state level is just a first step to communism.
• If we legalize pot, then that will lead to every drug in the world becoming legal. I’ll vote no on Proposition 34.
• I don’t think it’s a good idea to lower the drinking age. Next thing we know kids will get to drive at age ten, and vote at

fifteen. Let kids be kids and adults be adults.

Equivocation: The fallacy of equivocation occurs when a key term or phrase in an argument is used in an ambiguous way, with one

meaning in one portion of the argument and then another meaning in another portion of the argument.
Examples:
• Noisy children are a real headache. Two aspirin will make a headache go away. Therefore, two aspirin will make noisy

children go away.
• A warm beer is better than a cold beer. After all, nothing is better than a cold beer, and a warm beer is better than

nothing.
• Sure philosophy helps you argue better, but do we really need to encourage people to argue? There’s enough hostility in

this world.
• I don’t see how you can say you’re an ethical person. It’s so hard to get you to do anything; your work ethic is so bad.
• From Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass: “You couldn’t have it if you didn’t want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is

jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today.” “It must come to jam today,” Alice objected. “No, it can’t,” said the Queen.

“It’s jam every other day: today isn’t any other day, you know.”

False Appeal to Authority: This fallacy occurs when you incorrectly rely on untrustworthy authority figures to back up your

argument. The authorities should be real experts and have some special insight into the issue being discussed.
Examples:
• Brad Pitt was seen wearing Designer Bob’s sunglasses, so they must be the best sunglasses to wear.
• There is nothing to be learned from the East, for Gilbert Ryle, the great British philosopher once said, nothing but the

sun rises in the East.

Ad Hominem: (Attacking the person): This fallacy occurs when, instead of addressing someone’s argument or position, you

irrelevantly attack the person or some aspect of the person who is making the argument. The fallacious attack can also be direct to

membership in a group or institution.
Examples:
• Student: Hey, Professor, we shouldn’t have to read this book by Freud. Everyone knows he used cocaine.
• Socrates’ arguments about human excellence are rubbish. What could a man as ugly as he know about human excellence?
• Of course Marx’ theories about the ideal society are bunk. The guy spent all his time in the library.

Bandwagon: This also known as the Appeal to Popularity. If you suggest that someone’s claim is correct simply because it’s what

most everyone is coming to believe, then you’re using the bandwagon fallacy. Get up here with us on the wagon where the band is

playing, and go where we go, and don’t think too much about the reasons.

Example:
• [Advertisement] More and more people are buying sports utility vehicles. Isn’t it time you bought one, too? [You use the

fallacy if you buy the vehicle solely because of this advertisement.]
• Mom, why can’t I get my tongue pierced? Everyone else is doing it.