Chapter 5: Fallacies in Legal Reasoning

1. What is Fallacy?
2. Formal and Informal Fallacies
3. Fallacies Ambiguities
3.1 Equivocation
3.2 Amphiboly
Reported by

Avelardo C. Obligado
 1. What is Fallacy?

A. In the ordinary conversation, it refers to a false

yet commonly accepted belief.

For example: sleeping while your hair is wet will

lead to blindness is considered by others as a
fallacy because there is no scientific basis for its
truth.

B. In logic, a fallacy is not a false belief but a

mistake or error in thinking and reasoning. A
 1. What is Fallacy?
Examples:
1. This courts finds that the undisputed evidence
established that Hinman is married to an Asian-
American Woman who was described as being
strong willed. The court finds that this fact
evidences the fallacy of the Plaintiff's theory that
Hinman was biased against Asian-American
Women and expected them to be meek and
subservient.

2: Respondent argues this interpretation permits

deduction from the obligor parent's gross income
 2. Formal and Informal Fallacies

Formal fallacies are a matter of invalid form while

Informal fallacies are a matter of unclear
expression. Formal fallacies deal with the logic of
the technical structure, while informal fallacies
deal with the logic of the meaning of language.

The word informal does not here mean it is

inferior, casual, or improper. It only means that our
focus is not on the form of the argument, but on
the meaning of the argument.
A. Formal Fallacies
(Invalid Form)
For example:
1. All men are green.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore Socrates is green.

2. Some men are green.

Socrates is a man.
Therefore Socrates is green.
B. Informal Fallacies
(Unclear expressions)
Examples
1. It's just right to give this student a passing
mark. You see, she is troubled by serious family
problems at present.

2. Her family can't afford her education; it's her

aunt who pays her tuition fee. If she fails in
Algebra, she might not be supported anymore by
her aunt.
 3. Fallacies Ambiguities
This involves the imprecise use of language.

A. Equivocation ambiguity comes from changing

the meanings of the word.
B. Amphiboly ambiguity comes from the way the
sentence is constructed.

1. Equivocation
- A word may have more than one distinguishable
meaning. An argument may be constructed
around the ambiguity of the meaning of that word.
If you use one meaning of the word in a premise;
 3. Fallacies Ambiguities
For example:
1. Gambling should be legalized because it is
something we can't avoid. It is an integral part of
human experience; people gamble every time
they get in their cars or decide to get married.

2. Congress can create or abolish laws.

The law of supply and demand is law.
Therefore, congressmen can abolish the low of
supply and demand.

3. Logic teaches you how to argue.

 B. Amphiboly

This fallacy consists in p resenting a claim or

argument whose meaning can be interpreted in
two or more ways due to is grammatical
construction.

For example:
1. I give and bequeath the sum of Php 500,000 to
my nieces Angeline Ramos and Rose Perez. The
loot and the car were listed as stolen by the
Manila Police District.
 B. Amphiboly
Some of the most typical grammatical errors that render a
claim ambiguous are the following:

1. Unclear pronoun reference

- The defendant never argues with his father when he is
drunk.
2. Elliptical construction
-John likes logic more than his wife...
 B. Amphiboly

3. Unclear modifier
- Going up the stage, the crowd applauded the newly elected
president.
4. Careless use of 'only'
- The company will accept male applicants only from Monday
to Wednesday.
5. Careless use of 'all'
- All of the bonuses given to the employees amount to five
hundred thousand pesos.
 B. Amphiboly
Some interesting ones might appear as
newspaper headlines:

1. CHR lawyers give poor free legal advice.

2. Mayors can't stop gambling
3. Police help dog bit victim.