Non sequitur, either- or, faulty analogy, and circular reasoning fallacies
-
Upload
drlynnmeade -
Category
Education
-
view
460 -
download
1
description
Transcript of Non sequitur, either- or, faulty analogy, and circular reasoning fallacies
Fallacies Non Sequitur, Either-Or, Circular Reasoning/Begging the Question
Dr. Lynn Meade
Let’s get started. First up is the faulty analogy. Analogies are good and they can
help us better understand the situation but a faulty analogy seeks to mislead by
comparing things that are dissimilar in an important way.
Consider the following faulty analogy
from quia.com
We have pure food and drug laws;
why can't we have laws to keep
movie-makers from giving us filth ?
The Texas State Philosophy Department's webpage elaborates
by saying: “This (faulty analogy) fallacy consists in assuming
that because two things are alike in one or more respects,
they are necessarily alike in some other respect.”
Because human bodies become less active as they grow older, and because they eventually die, it is reasonable to expect that political bodies will become less and less active the longer they are in existence, and that they too will eventually die.
Yet another faulty analogy…
“Bill Clinton has no experience of serving in the military. To have Bill Clinton
become president, and thus commander in chief of the armed forces of the
United States, is like electing some passer-by on the street to fly the space
shuttle. ” Steve Davis
From I love india fallacy website
Consider This Faulty Analogy
Up next is circular reasoning. It is the faulty
assumption that A is true because B is true
and B is true because A is true.
A proves B
B Proves A
Consider this example…
Barrack Obama is a good communicator
because he speaks effectively.
Harry Potter’s circular logic…
“Voldemort cannot die because no he cannot be killed.”
Here’s another example
of circular reasoning.
It is also called begging the question
The whole abortion debate about
when human life begins is ridiculous.
We should be talking about the rights of the baby.
From Texas State University Philosophy Department webpage
One more begging the question/
circular reasoning example
The best argument against Atheism is a simple one.
According to a recent Gallup poll, over 98 percent of people
believe in God. You can’t get that many people to say that
the earth is round. God must exist
Do you see the circle?
We know God exists because people believe in him.
People believe in him because he exists.
I love to paint. One of the things that I really love to do is to
mix paint to make new colors. I like to mix red and white to
make pink and blue and yellow to make green.
If I mix red paint and green paint I get a color I call—yucky
brownish color. I can never mix red and green to get yellow.
And so it is with arguments. Sometimes speakers try to mix
two ideas together and tell you that this is the outcome and
it simply is not true. It’s a form of fuzzy logic. It’s a fallacy
called a non-sequitur
Non Sequitur means “It does not follow” It is
when the conclusion does not follow the premise.
Consider this, “Save the world, buy a Ford.”
Me Buying
A Ford
Does not equal
The world saved+ ≠
Newt Gingrich said the following about why women should not go into combat. "If combat means living
in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get
infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare.
On the other hand, men are basically little piglets, you drop them in the ditch, they roll around
in it, doesn't matter, you know. These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means
being on an Aegis-class cruiser managing the computer controls for twelve ships and their
rockets, a female may be again dramatically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated
sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes.“
Men
Biologically
Driven
To hunt
giraffes
Does not equal
Why women should
Not go into combat+ ≠
Here are a few more non sequiturs
If you do not buy your dog Alpo, you do not love your dog.
"Tens of thousands of Americans have seen lights in the night sky which they
could not identify.The existence of life on other planets is fast becoming
certainty !“
All the students like Mrs. Smith. That makes Mrs. Smith a great math teacher.
Last example:
Hitler was a vegetarian
therefore
vegetarianism is wrong
I hope you are scratching your head saying, “What!?
This makes no sense at all.” And you are right. It is
certainly not a logical outcome—this is fuzzy logic
and definitely a non-sequitur.
Image from cripplegate.com
Read the sign on your left. At this
point you should be thinking,
This is a non-sequitur, it is not a
logical outcome. Me plus not loving
bacon does not equal wrong.
I want you to notice one other thing
happening here. It makes it look like
there are only 2 choices. Choice one
is you love bacon and choice two is
your wrong. This is creating a false
dilemma. It is making it look like
either you agree with us or your are
wrong.
Either-Or / False Dilemma Fallacy….
Image from cripplegate.com
By making it seem like there
are only two choices when
there are clearly more, this
sign is demonstrating the
false dilemma fallacy. Also
called the either-or fallacy.
Michelle Obama illustrates the false
dilemma fallacy:
"I get confused when people say there are a lot of choices in this race," she said. "There
are so many more experienced candidates. My response is, no, that’s not true. You’ve
got two choices in this race. You’ve got the same old thing over and over again that
hasn’t worked for regular folks in my lifetime. And then we have Barack Obama.”
One more example of the either-or
fallacy
Anybody who loves this country should be supporting the Attorney
General’s actions. Those who criticize the Attorney General are
really on the side of terror.
So there you have it—four new fallacies.
Either-or / False dilemma
Non-sequitur
Faulty analogy
Circular reasoning / Begging the question.
If you picked
non-sequitur,
your right!
By now you’ve
probably seen this
photo which had
gone viral…
Which fallacy do
you see here?
If you picked
non-sequitur,
your right!