Fallacies For Research Paper
Types of Fallacies: * “Argument” from pity: when feeling sorry for someone drives us to a position on an unrelated matter * We have a job that needs doing; Helen can barely support her starving children and needs work desperately. But does Helen have the skills we need? We may not care if she does; and if we don’t, nobody can fault us for hiring her out of compassion. But feeling sorry for Helen may lead us to misjudge her skills or overestimate her abilities, and that is a mistake in reasoning. * “Argument” from envy: When we find fault with a person because of envy * “Well, he may have a lot of money but he certainly has bad manners” would be an example of this if it is envy that prompts us to criticize him. * Apple
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A smoker may refuse to acknowledge the health hazards of smoking. We’ve had students who are in denial about the consequences of cutting classes. * Peer pressure “argument”: A desire for acceptance can motivate us to accept a claim not because of its merits, but because we will gain someone’s approval (or will avoid having approval withdrawn). * Group think: when one substitutes pride of membership in a group for reason and deliberation in arriving at a position on an issue; and let’s include the fallacy in our list of the top ten fallacies of all time, because it is exceedingly common. * involves one’s sense of group identification, which people experience when they are part of a group—a team, a club, a school, a gang, a state, a nation, the Elks, Wal-Mart, the U.S.A., Mauritius, you name it.
* Nationalism (a form of “GROUP THINK”): a powerful and fierce emotion that can lead to blind endorsement of a country’s policies and practices. (“My country right or wrong” explicitly discourages critical thinking and encourages blind patriotism.) Nationalism is also invoked to reject, condemn, or silence criticism of one’s country as unpatriotic or treasonable (and may or may not involve an element of peer
A smoker may refuse to acknowledge the health hazards of smoking. We’ve had students who are in denial about the consequences of cutting classes. * Peer pressure “argument”: A desire for acceptance can motivate us to accept a claim not because of its merits, but because we will gain someone’s approval (or will avoid having approval withdrawn). * Group think: when one substitutes pride of membership in a group for reason and deliberation in arriving at a position on an issue; and let’s include the fallacy in our list of the top ten fallacies of all time, because it is exceedingly common. * involves one’s sense of group identification, which people experience when they are part of a group—a team, a club, a school, a gang, a state, a nation, the Elks, Wal-Mart, the U.S.A., Mauritius, you name it.
* Nationalism (a form of “GROUP THINK”): a powerful and fierce emotion that can lead to blind endorsement of a country’s policies and practices. (“My country right or wrong” explicitly discourages critical thinking and encourages blind patriotism.) Nationalism is also invoked to reject, condemn, or silence criticism of one’s country as unpatriotic or treasonable (and may or may not involve an element of peer