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It’s a Fallacious World!
FALLACY
-Came form a latin word “fallacia”, which means
deceitful
 Hasty Generalization
•occurs when a conclusion is drawn based on too
little evidence
•Example:
• A person in walking through a town and he meets
polite kids. He therefore concludes that all the kids in
that town are polite.
• PAGASA predicted the wrong amount of rain for
August; therefore, PAGASA is unreliable.
Sweeping Generalization (dicto
simpliciter)
• occurs when applies a general statement too
broadly

• Example:
• Cutting people is a crime; Surgeons cut people;
Therefore, surgeons are criminals.
• Exercise is good; therefore, everyone should
exercise.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
• It is a logical fallacy that states "Since event Y
followed event X, event Y must have been
caused by event X.”

• Example:
• A student is crying after talking to a teacher.
Therefore, the student must have been
reprimanded by the teacher.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Argumentum ad populum
• This fallacy occurs any time the sheer numbers of people
who agree to something is used as a reason to get you to
agree to it.

• Example:
• A 2005 Gallup Poll found that an estimated 25% of Americans over
the age of 18 believe in astrology—or that the position of the stars
and planets can affect people's lives. That is roughly 75,000,000
people. Therefore, there must be some truth to astrology!
Argumentum ad verecundiam
• It is a fallacy that occurs when one uses an authority
(popular or highly esteemed person) as an evidence in
an argument when the authority is not really an
authority on the facts relevant to the argument.

• Example:
• My best friend once told me that girls would go crazy for
boys if they learn how to dance. Therefore, if you want to
make the ladies go crazy for you, learn to dance.
Argumentum ad hominem
• It is a fallacy that occurs when one attacks the
character of the person he/she is arguing with instead
of focusing on the actual points of the argument.

• Example:
• Speaker A: Using bicycle as a mode of transportation is
beneficial to the environment.
• Speaker B: You just can’t afford to buy your own car.
False dichotomy
• This fallacy occurs when a writer builds an argument
upon the assumption that there are only two choices
or possible outcomes when actually there are several.

• Examples:
• “Either we must ban X or the American way of life will
collapse.”
• “We go to war with Canada, or else Canada will eventually
grow in population and overwhelm the United States.”
False analogy
• This happens when two unlike concepts or things are
compared as if they were just similar to one another.
• Example:
• Running a country is similar to playing a basketball game.
• Education is like cake; a small amount tastes sweet, but
eat too much and your teeth will rot out. Likewise, more
than two years of education is bad for a student.
• If we can put a man in the moon, why can’t we find a cure
for common colds?
Slippery slope
• The error happens when one contends that an exceptionally
minor movement will unavoidably prompt a great and
frequently ludicrous conclusions.
• Logical form: If we allow A to happen, then Z will eventually
happen too. Therefore, A should not happen.

• Example:
• Colin Closet asserts that if we allow same-sex couples to marry,
then the next thing we know we'll be allowing people to marry
their parents, their cars and even monkeys.
Strawman fallacy
• Substituting a person’s actual position or argument
with a distorted, exaggerated, or misrepresented
version of the position of the argument.

• Example:
• After Will said that we should put more money into health
and education, Warren responded by saying that he was
surprised that Will hates our country so much that he
wants to leave it defenseless by cutting military spending.
Red herring fallacy
• It is a deliberate diversion of attention with the
intention of trying to abandon the original
argument.
• Example:
• Mike: It is morally wrong to cheat on your spouse,
why on earth would you have done that?
• Ken: But what is morality exactly?
• Mike: It’s a code of conduct shared by cultures.
• Ken: But who creates this code?
Argumentum ad baculum
•Also called appeal to force
•This fallacy makes an explicit or implicit
threat of physical or psychological violence
against others if they refuse to accept the
conclusions offered.
Argumentum ad ignorantiam
• It is the assumption of a conclusion or fact based primarily
on lack of evidence to the contrary. Usually best described
by, “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

• Example:
• One argues that God or telepathy, ghosts, or UFO's do not exist
because their existence has not been proven beyond a shadow of
doubt.
• One argues that God, telepathy, and so on do exist because their
non-existence has not been proven.
exercises
choices
• argumentum ad populum
• argumentum ad ignorantiam
• false dichotomy
• argumentum ad baculum
• slippery slope
• false analogy
• argumentum ad verecundiam
• post hoc, ergo propter hoc
• red herring
• strawman fallacy
Identify what type of fallacy is being described in
each situation.
1. P: All students should watch the movie; P: Regine is a blind student;
Q: Therefore, Regine should watch the movie.
2. The mother of a young child tells him to go to bed, and he begins to
ask questions, say that he is hungry, or say that he needs to go to
the bathroom-all to avoid bed and distract mom.
3. I want to buy that bag. It must have a good quality. Many people
say so.
4. A parent said that the teacher doesn’t know how to teach because
she did not study in a state university.
5. A girl is crying after meeting up with her boyfriend. Therefore, her
boyfriend must have broken up with her.
6. Using hairspray every day is like launching a nuclear weapon.
7. People have been praying to God for years. No one has proven
that God does not exist. Therefore, He exists.
8. Joanna should stop watching too much movies late at night, or
else her academics will suffer.
9. Caroline says that she thinks her friends should not be so rude to
the new girl. Jenna says that she cannot believe that Caroline is
choosing to be better friends with the new girl than the girls who
have always known her.
10. Senator Smith says, "I'm no scientist, but it's been downright cold
this winter. Obviously, climate change doesn't exist."
11. All animals are either mammals or fish.
12. Four out of five dentists recommend Happy Glossy Smiley toothpaste
brand. Therefore, it must be great.
13. "Divorce is rampant in America, Mary. I heard that 50% of marriages end in
divorce within three years. So I've decided not to marry you because the
odds are against us."
14. When your mom gets your phone bill and you have gone over the limit,
you begin talking to her about how hard your math class is and how well
you did on a test today.
15. “The only reason you could possibly be in favor of this is because you are
not being honest about your own sexuality.”
MOTION 1

THS THE IMMEDIATE INCREASE

OF SALARY FOR TEACHERS
MOTION 2

THBT MONEY IS MORE

IMPORTANT THAN LOVE
MOTION 3

THBT ZEUS SHOULD NOT BE THE LEADER

OF THE GREEK GODS
MOTION 4
THR THE RICE
 1. Zebedee: What is your view on the Christian God?
Mike: I don’t believe in any gods, including the Christian one.
Zebedee: So you think that we are here by accident, and all this
design in nature is pure chance, and the universe just created
itself?
Mike: You got all that from me stating that I just don’t believe in
any gods?
0
2. We cannot unlock our child from the closet because if we do, she will
want to roam the house. If we let her roam the house, she will want to
roam the neighborhood. If she roams the neighborhood, she will get
picked up by a stranger in a van, who will sell her in a sex slavery ring in
some other country. Therefore, we should keep her locked up in the
closet.
• “The only reason you could possibly be in favor of this is because you are
not being honest about your own sexuality.”
• Most divorced couples go to see a therapist before they separate.
Therefore going to see a therapist will increase the chances that you will
get a divorce.
• It is well recognized by most persons that the present technological
revolution has affected the ethical basis of the nation's institution of
education. Since this belief is so widely held, there can be little doubt of its
accuracy.
• People who cannot go without their coffee every morning are no better
than alcoholics.
• The feminist argument that pornography is harmful has no
merit and should not be discussed in college courses. I read
“Playboy” magazine, and I don’t see how it could be harmful.
Feminists might criticize me for looking at porn, but they
shouldn’t talk; they obviously look at it, too, or they couldn’t
criticize it. ( 1-2 ) Many important people, including the
Presidents, writers, and entertainers who have been
interviewed by the magazine and the women who pose in it,
apparently agree. ( 3 ) Scientific studies so far have not
proven that pornography is harmful, so it must not be
harmful.
• ( 4 ) Besides, to be harmful, pornography would either have
to harm the men who read it or the women who pose in it,
and since they both choose these activities, they must not be
harmful. ( 5 ) Feminists should take a lesson from my
parents—they don’t like loud music and won’t have it in
their house, but they don’t go around saying it’s harmful to
everyone or trying to prevent others from listening to it. ( 6 )
Ever since feminists began attacking our popular culture, the
moral foundation of our society has been weakened; ( 7 )the
divorce rate, for example, continues to rise.
• ( 8 ) If feminists would just cease their hysterical opposition
to sex, perhaps relationships in our society would improve. (
9 ) If feminists insist, instead, on banning porn, men will have
no freedom and no pleasure left, and large numbers of
women will be jobless and will have to work as prostitutes to
support themselves. ( 10 ) In light of these consequences,
feminists shouldn’t be surprised if their protests are met
with violence. Truly, the feminist argument is baseless.