Preview

Critical Thinking - Fallacies

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1249 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critical Thinking - Fallacies
The significance of fallacies in critical thinking is important to understand so that clear and concise arguments can be made on a logical, factual level instead of one that is proliferated with emotions and illogical reasoning. The basis of these fallacies are dependent on critical thinking according to discussions in which the parties may not agree on a situation or one element is attempting to convince another of making a decision. The point of this type of disagreement is to give reasons in support of some conclusion. An argument commits a fallacy when the reasons offered do not logically support the conclusion. In many cases these fallacies are disguised in such a way that a normally rationale person is convinced to side with an opinion or argument. An argument, as defined by American Heritage dictionary "A discussion in which disagreement is expressed; a debate" (www.dictionary.com). In the discussion of fallacies we will cover the effects they have on arguments and the force and persuasion they have on individuals.
In order to understand what a fallacy is, one must understand the influence they have on critical thinking. (Basshmans)
"Critical thinking is the general term given to a wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions needed to efficiently identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments and truth claims, to discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases to formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions, and make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what you believe and what to do." The usage of critical thinking, with respect to arguments, involves two type of logic; deductive and inductive. A deductive argument is an argument such that the premises provide (or appear to provide) complete support for the conclusion. An inductive argument is an argument such that the premises provide (or appear to provide) some degree of support (but less than complete support) for the conclusion. This is where

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    • What are fallacies? How are fallacies used in written, oral, and visual arguments? What might you do to avoid fallacies in your thinking?…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Behind all fallacies there is major critical thinking. Not knowing how to think critical could jeopardize your argument in reasoning. Critical thinking, is analyzing further into a subject to get valid points in an argument. As we all know, fallacies are considered flawed ways into having invalid reasons. There are many reasons why fallacies are not very good to use in an argument. However, since there is a great quantity of fallacies. I will only discuss two fallacies, Faulty Analogy and Bandwagon.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Critical thinking is a complex approach to arriving at an educated decision by implementing a strategy for questioning and reasoning that will lead to a well-informed outcome. The process of thinking critically begins with having an open mind. Critical thinking plays an important role because being able to gather and analyze all available data allows me to make decisions to the best of my ability. In the end I have to take into consideration, not only the impact any decision I make will cause me, but also the impact it will cause others. Making any decision, whether it is minor or major,…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Critical thinking in our book is described as a variety of deliberative processes that assist us in evaluating arguments and analyzing claims.…

    • 591 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Critical thinking is the talent to rationally think. It includes the ability to involve in reflective and liberated thinking. While involved in critical thinking, you are able to understand the reasonable connection with ideas. You will also be able to identify, build, and evaluate opinions. Also, critical thinking helps you identify and find the importance in the ideas of what you are trying to figure out.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    PhI 103Dq 4

    • 894 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One rich source of fallacies is the media: television, radio, magazines, and the Internet. The arguments you experience in your daily life (work, family, shopping) are another source of fallacies. Identify three distinct informal logical fallacies you have experienced in the media or in your life. Explain how the fallacies were used and the context in which they occurred. Then, explain what the person presenting the fallacy should have done to ensure that he or she was not committing a logical error. You must post to this discussion on at least four separate days of the week, and your posts must total at least 500 words as you address this discussion. This means that, in order to receive full credit, your first post must be completed by Friday at the latest (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday would satisfy the four-day requirement). However, we encourage you to get into the discussion early in the week and begin interacting with your classmates and professor. Remember to post on at least four separate days during the week.…

    • 894 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Analytical Summaries

    • 4637 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Analytical Summaries - For this assignment, you will compose two short critical essays explaining and evaluating arguments by other authors. This assignment allows you to analyze an issue from a variety of perspectives and assess arguments for or against the issue. By focusing your attention on how the original authors use evidence and reasoning to construct and support their positions, you can recognize the value of critical thinking in public discourse.…

    • 4637 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Another definition of critical thinking has been defined by Ku, K. (2009) as “judging information, evaluating alternative evidence and arguing with solid reasons." (pg.…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fallicies

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages

    • What are fallacies? How are fallacies used in written, oral, and visual arguments? What might you do to avoid fallacies in your thinking?…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fallacy: A Misconception

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Fallacy is a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning. Even though we pay careful attention to our arguments and supports; we tend sometimes to commit mistakes. However, through critical thinking we could diminish faulty arguments. There are numerous significant topics to critical thinking. One aspect of these particular topics is the ‘fallacy’. In order to be a critical thinker, one should be able to recognize and avoid logical fallacies whenever possible. Discussed throughout this essay are three fallacious statements from the TV Patrol. The fallacies to be cited and explained are Ad Hominem, Red Herring and Hasty Generalization.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Critical thinking provides the skills for a thinker to achieve a conscious level of mind with self-discipline to acknowledge and adhere to practice the art thinking of thinking. Thought drives life through a set of standards that become ingrained in reasoning that are applied to elements that support perspective as we develop intellectual traits to shape the clarity and non-bias viewpoint.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Critical Thinking

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ch. 5 & 6 of Critical Thinking cover fallacies and rhetoric. What are two examples of persuasion that are not valid arguments according to the text? Why are these invalid arguments?…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Critical thinking reading and writing: a brief guide to argument (pp. 129-130). Boston: Bedford St. Martin 's.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A person could conclude that when decisions are made, fallacies should not be the only deciding factor. Fallacies can be formal and informal. The validity of an argument is considered the function of the form of an argument. A deductive argument is a formal fallacy and an informal fallacy is invalid or weak in reasoning. Aristotle categorized fallacies by relevance, fallacies that involved causal reasoning and fallacies that result from ambiguities. (Wikipedia). Eight main fallacies that one should be aware of and learn about are given in the resource section for students of the University of Phoenix. This Master List of Logical Fallacies include the following: ad hominem or attacking the person; ad ignorantium or appeal to ignorance; ad verecuniam or appeal to authority; affirming the consequent; amphiboly; appeal to emotion; argument from analogy or false analogy and begging the question. The three fallacies that will be discussed in this paper are the ad ignorantium-appeal to ignorance; ad verecuniam or appeal to authority and affirming the consequent. Upon a brief discussion of each of these fallacies, an example will be given to explain how the use of the fallacy is used in real…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading this short tale of two men in college, and one not-so-bright college girl, I have learned many things about fallacies. In our powerpoint presentation, it says that each generation is to learn these fallacies. This tale of the college students and the teaching of fallacies was in a much different generation than we are in now. Some fallacies I learned of in this story that were different from the ones stated in my course text were, Dicto Simpliciter, Contradictory Premises, Ad Misericoriam, Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, and Poisoning the Well.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays