Let me borrow some of Mr. Max Shulman's lines in his ever humorous campus romance story "Love Is A Fallacy". Let me help you then recognize the usual fallacies of logic.
Dicto Simpliciter - an argument based on an unqualified generalization.
Example: Exercise is good. Therefore, everybody should exercise.
Why the argument is a fallacy? What if you have a failure? So, it should be: Exercise is good for most people.
Hasty Generalization
Example: "We have now spent 3 months of chatting. Now, we're getting intimate. I can say that we both are well matched."
The generalization is reached too hastily.
Post Hoc
Example: Don't sing while cooking or you'll have a granny wife or grandpa hubby.
The song has no connection of your future wife or hubby.
Contradictory Premises
Example: "If I am an expert guitarist, can I pick an emotionl song that I won't be able to play it?" Actually. there is no argument because they contradict each other.
Ad Misericordiam
Example: A friend just had an eyeball with her textmate.
"O, Pogi ba?" I asked her
And a reply of "Treat niya ko, galante nga eh!"
Oh, it's no argument because a friend never gave the suited answer.
False Analogy
Example: Students should be allowed to look at their notes during exam. After all, surgeons have x-ray to guide them during operation, lawyers have briefs tp guide them during trial, carpenters have blueprints to guide them whnen building a house. Why, then, shouldn't students look at their notes during exam?
The argument is all wrong. Doctors, lawyers, carpenters aren't taking a test, but students are.
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
Example: If Madame Curie had not happened to leave a photographic plate in a drawer with a chunk of pitchblende, the world today would not know about radium!
The statement is a fallacy. You can't start with a hypothesis that is not true and then draw any supportable conclusions from it.
Poisoning the Well
Example: Two men are having a debate.
First man: "My opponent is a notorious liar. He's a cheat!"
Well, obviously the first man has poisoned the well before anybody could drink from it. It's not fair!
Hey guys can you cite some examples? I need your reaction to this. Thanks.
1 comment:
i like that one one about exams. many students are just complaining and complaining. But there's just two things there: they didn't study or they just want to make noise.
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