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Logical Fallacies
Premise:
A cloud is 90% water.
A watermelon is 90% water.
A plane can fly through a cloud.
Conclusion:
Therefore, a plane can fly through
a watermelon
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Week 12 Logical Fallacies
Situations
Found in newspapers,
magazines, reports,
advertisements
Why Study
Fallacies ?
Able to spot poor
Supplements your
knowledge on logic
Why Study
Fallacies ?
Know when your
reasoning in an essay is
flawed or questionable
3 categories of fallacies
(1) Fallacies that appeal to emotions
(total 4)
- Claims are made that appeal to emotions
rather than reason
(2) Fallacies that distract (total 3)
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(1)
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WHY FALLACIOUS?
- No proof that not eating veges can
cause cancer + Not all cancers are
caused by not eating veges
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(1)
TYPE 1
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WHY FALLACIOUS?
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TYPE 1
(b) Appeal to numbers/ bandwagon
(1)
/peer pressure
Use to solicit group identity
Put pressure on individuals to follow the
crowd.
Often used in adverts - to buy software or
hardware or other products & services
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Week 12 Logical Fallacies
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WHY FALLACIOUS?
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(1)
TYPE 1
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Why Fallacious?
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Example: Ad-Hominem
government should
increase on military spending because
your father works in a munitions factory.
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Why Fallacious?
The character or circumstance of the
person has no claim on the truth of the
claim.
Encik Latif divorcing his wife has got nothing
to do with his working ability
Salmah may have the makings of a good
prefect even though she is related to the
head mistress.
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Week 12 Logical Fallacies
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TYPE 2
(b) Red Herring
An issue brought into the picture to divert the
listeners or readers attention from the real
issue
This happens a lot in meetings and group
discussions.
Be aware of this!
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Why Fallacious?
One issue is not related to the other.
Therefore the first claim cannot justify the
second claim.
The extinction of pandas and the homeless
are two separate issues
The contribution to Iraq war and the plight of
the poor are two separate issues.
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TYPE 2
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SUMMARY OF FALLACIES
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3 categories of fallacies
(2) Fallacies that distract (total 3)
- Claims made divert attention from the
main issue
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3 categories of fallacies
(3) Other common types (total 5)
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THE END
THE END
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WARMING UP
Identify & explain the logical
fallacy in the following
statements.
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Hasty generalization
Faulty logic unqualified
Generalization. Making a
judgment based on a small
Sample.
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Week 12 Logical Fallacies
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Ad hominem
Attacking the person rather than the issue. Ad Hominem"
means "against the man" or "against the person.
Ad Hominem is a fallacy because the character,
circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most
cases) have a bearing on the truth of the claim being made
(or the quality of the argument being made).
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Week 12 Logical Fallacies
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Burden of proof
Shifts
the
burden
of
proof
to
the
other
Causal fallacy
party in order to make a claim.
However, no evidence is given to
proof that UFO do exist.
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Appeal to vanity/flattery
Here the appeal is to beautiful people.
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious
because the fact that flattery does not,
in general, serve as evidence that the
claim is true.
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1. Redherring/smokescreen
2. Slippery slope/ domino theory
3. False dilemma (black or white/either-or)
4. Ad hominem
5. Begging the question/circular argument
6. Appeal to vanity/flattery
7. Burden of proof/Appeal to ignorance
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Strawman (oversimplification)
misrepresent an opponent's position to
make it easier to attack, usually by
distorting his or her views to ridiculous
extremes
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Week 12 Logical Fallacies
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