Logic: informal fallacies

What is an informal fallacy?

Fallacy - any flaw in reasoning Informal fallacy - a flaw in reasoning because of content rather than form Note 1: The notion of an informal fallacy is more inclusive than invalidity and weakness. It can occur in both deductive & inductive arguments.
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Logic: informal fallacies

Note 2: The number of informal fallacies is in principle indefinite. We will examine twelve.

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Logic: informal fallacies

(1) Case for analysis: If we dont increase our military spending dramatically, our military power will be greatly diminished. Even small countries with little more than small arms and mines will be a threat to our sovereignty. Identification: False dilemma (6)
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Logic: informal fallacies

(2) Cases for analysis: (a) I asked my doctor why my mouth is so dry and he said because my salivary glands are not producing enough saliva. (b) Have you given up that annoying habit of answering every question with a question?
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Logic: informal fallacies

(c) Jamie: We ought to have national health insurance? Brendt: But that is socialism. Identification: Begging the question (petitio principii) (a) circular form (8) The conclusion says approximately the same thing as the premises.
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Logic: informal fallacies

(b) Begging the question - loaded or leading question (8) Framing a question in such a way that it requires a specific answer. (c) Begging the question - use of question begging words or phrases Arguing by labeling, as if this is a sufficient reason. Packing tacit assumptions into a label.
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Logic: informal fallacies (3) Case for analysis: Defendants attorney at a sentencing hearing. My client caused serious bodily harm to another innocent person. But his mother died last year and his father is seriously ill. [Assume no other reasons are given for a light sentence.] Identification: Appeal to emotion or pity (1)
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Logic: informal fallacies

(4) Case for analysis:

News conference with Mayor Guliani: Shouldnt you resign because you no longer enjoy the support of the people of New York? Response: We have made tremendous progress toward our goal of lower taxes and a balanced budget. Just last week the City Council passed a bill cutting spending for welfare by $500 million dollars. No longer will these millions of dollars go down a rapacious endless sinkhole.
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Logic: informal fallacies

Identification: Red herring (12) Distracting attention from the main issue under debate by dwelling on another issue.

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Logic: informal fallacies

(5) Case for analysis: Whenever I feel a cold coming on, I drink Mrs. Wizners herbal tea. My colds are always mild and do not last long. Identification: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, or false cause (9)

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Logic: informal fallacies

(6) Case for analysis: John P. Roche, in his political column (Oct. 1970): Every society is, of course, repressive to some extent--as Sigmund Freud pointed out, repression is the price we pay for civilization. Identification: Equivocation (10)

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Logic: informal fallacies

(7) Case for analysis: How can I take your campaign against drunk driving seriously? You yourself were convicted of drunk driving (DWI) in 1980. Identification: Ad hominem (4)

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Logic: informal fallacies

(8) Case for analysis: The construction of the new F-18s has run way over projected costs. But the Navy argues that there are good reasons for this--the radar is a completely new system, the missals are experimental, . . . We ought to listen to the experts from the Navy. The understand these problems.
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Logic: informal fallacies

Einstein said that God is the geometer of the universe, but not a personal God. We ought to accept this because Einstein was a brilliant scientist.

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Logic: informal fallacies

Identification: Improper appeal to authority (2) Two versions: (a) Exaggerated authority (1st case above) (b) Misplaced authority (2nd case above)

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Logic: informal fallacies

(9) Case for analysis: Haly Barbour (former Chair of Republican National Committee): The Democratic position on taxes has consistently been that the more the better. The Democrats have never seen a social program which they do not like. Identification: Straw man (11)
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Logic: informal fallacies

(10) Case for analysis: The Social Security Advisory Council has backed away from a proposal to increase the maximum pay subject to Soc-Sec taxation from $14,000 to $24,000 to keep the plan on a payas-you-go basis. Instead, it has recommended shifting the cost of Medicare to the general fund. (more)
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Logic: informal fallacies

(contd) The proposal, if adopted, would begin the process of transforming Soc. Sec. into an outand-out welfare program. Once we start in that direction, were do we stop? (N.Y. Daily News, Jan. 21, 1975) Identification: Slippery slope (7)
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Logic: informal fallacies

Comments: Not all slopes are slippery. Guidelines for determining Is there empirical support for the slipperiness of the slope? Is there an alternative of sharpening civil or moral norms in order to avoid going down the slope?
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Logic: informal fallacies

(11) Case for analysis: Tom Wolfes new novel, A Man in Full, must be a great work of literature since it has been on the best-seller list for several months. Identification: Appeal to popular belief (3)

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Logic: informal fallacies

(12) Case for analysis:

In 1950, Joseph McCarthy responded to a doubting question about the 40th name on a list of 81 case histories he claimed were of communists working for the United States State Dept. by saying: I do not have much information on this except the general statement of the agency that there is nothing in the files to disprove his Communist connections.
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Logic: informal fallacies

Darwins theory should be rejected because no missing links have been found and the dating techniques used to determine the age of the earth are suspect. Identification: Appeal to ignorance (5)

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Logic: informal fallacies

Two versions: (a) Arguing that a position is true because it has not been proven false. The most common version. (1st case above) (b) Arguing that a position is false because it has not been proven true. Less common version. (2nd case above)
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