Logical Fallacy Research Paper

According to the text, The Power of Critical Thinking, by Louis Vaughn, a fallacy is defined as, “An argument form that is both common and defective; a recurring mistake in reasoning (Vaughn, 561). Fallacies can be found in many places whether it is in the media, the workplace, or around your peers. Some fallacies contain the truth while others at a time can be false or misleading. It is essential to be able to identify fallacies because they can be used in many ways, some good some bad. Fallacies are used every day, whether it is to influence someone's opinion to agree with one side of an argument rather than the other or to draw in others by appealing to their emotions or authority. Today, I will be discussing three important fallacies and give examples of each. These fallacies include Genetic Fallacy, Ad Hominem, and Appeal to Tradition.

A fallacy, by definition, is an argument that uses poor reasoning. Before one uses a fallacy, it’s important to have full understanding or else you risk losing your whole ethos aspect of your argument. Heinrichs gives three important parts to detecting fallacies. “All you have to do is look for a bad proof, the wrong number of choices, or a disconnect between the proof and the conclusion.” (Heinrichs 146)

A fallacy is defined as a kind of error in reasoning. They can be persuasive and be created both unintentionally and intentionally in order to deceive others from the truth. Fallacies often indicate a false belief or cause of a false belief (dowden, 2006). An argument or situation commits a fallacy when the reasons offered do not support the conclusion. This defeats the purpose of the argument since its point is to give reason to support the conclusion. Fallacies affect the outcome of our everyday decision making process. There are three types of logical fallacies discussed in this paper along with the importance of utilizing critical thinking skills.

For my journal entry I choose to read Online Higher Education’s Individualist Fallacy by Johann N. Neem. Johann Neem is a professor of history at Western Washington University and argues that there is a value in “Institutional culture” for the student that attends traditional classes on a college campus. According to Neem, institutional culture is important because learning is a social experience and depends on relationships since under the guidance of a professor a student will prosper, and be inspired by the energy in the classroom setting. Neem also states that professors are able to adapt easily to the needs of the students that are present in the classroom versus those who attend online. Neem, contends that distance learning undercuts institutional learning due to the fact that students are not fully engaged with their professors and can miss out

An argument is an effective strategy used to persuade individuals or public that a general opinion or perception is either right or wrong. Although, as we try to create a reasonable argument, chances are we encounter logical fallacies. A fallacy is a faulty line in reasoning that hinder our ability to make an argument invalid, affecting our ability to argue effectively. Fallacies are more commonly used as a tool to influence opinion or actions of individuals or group of individuals to as to obtain a future goal while obscuring the truth of the matter. These are more commonly referred to as propagandas, which persuades the public to be “for” or “against” certain political ideas, religion, races and opinions as a whole. A propagandist wants invoke

The Purdue Owl article, Logical Fallacies, provides a simple classification, “Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points” (Weber). From my understanding illegitimate argument Logical Fallacies rely on faulty evidence or misrepresented evidence to support

The three logical fallacies I chose to discuss are ad hominem, bandwagon, and stacking the deck. I chose these three based off examples I could think of that have been placed boldly in my face.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many characters use the fallacy of the false alternative to force others into agreeance with their viewpoint. When Reverend Hale confronts Judge Danforth about the fearful effects of his actions, Judge Danforth refuses to entertain the possibility of his wrongness, and responds, “Reproach me not with the fear in the country; there is fear in the country because there is a moving plot to topple Christ in the country!”(98). Miller uses the fallacy to show the corruption of the court and its judges. Fear and a feeling of superiority trap the judges into a strict version of belief, where anyone who opposes their methods must oppose God.

Mudslinging is described as “the use of correct or incorrect insults or accusations against an opponent aiming to destroy their credibility or reputation.” Today, as seen in the election of 2016, mudslinging has become a huge part in the election process in voting for the President of the United States. Many people such as Donald Trump bashed Hillary Clinton into “the Mother of ISIS or a horrible lying United States Secretary of State,” because of her email and her Clinton Foundation. On the contrary, Hillary breaks down on Donald Trump to being “the lying, racist, businessman he really is,” because of his companies issues of fake bankruptcy and tax evasions. This can also go to show that mudslinging is not always have to be harsh, but it can swade someone’s vote which causes them to look at the other candidate as “bad” because of the reputation that the other candidate has “set up in flames.”

Most of us like to imagine our beliefs and opinions are logical and objective; however, the reality is that we tend to pay more attention to the information which supports our original ideas. And at the same time, we are trying to ignore the information which despites us. This process is called confirmation bias, and it exists in our daily lives.

Confirmation bias influences individuals every day even though we might not actually realize it. Unfortunately, our brains unknowingly look at an individual and segregate them into a group. Finally, you associate all types of stereotypes to this individual, all of these steps are done without even knowing him/her. Confirmation bias is mainly negative but can be seen in a positive form. An example of a negative one is that all college kids are bad and that they are up to no good. This cognitive bias is in place, due to the things that are associated with college students, such as, drugs, alcohol, parties. However, by doing this you have a bad impression and are unlikely associate yourself with college students. But, realistically not all college

A false assumption is a type of fallacy where a reputable assumption is made and can be “demonstrated to be false with facts stacked against the assumption” (McInerny 111). A false assumption can also be made when an arguer is assuming that his or her audience has a “knowledge of certain kind when in fact the audience doesn’t” (McInerny 112). An example

The three fallacies that I going to talk are appeal to pity, appeal to force and appeal to ignorance. First appeal to pity is a fallacy that involves an appeal to the emotions of another in an effort to prove the conclusion of an argument. One example is when a student asks to his professor to make up and exam because he was involving in a car accident the day of the test. Another fallacy is appeal to force is when the premise is used to support a particular conclusion is one of violence, force, or harm. For instance, sometimes parents talked very rude with their kids, they always said if you don’t do this you are going to be in your room the whole weekend. The last one is appeal to ignorance is the fallacy involves arguing from the absence

Most people are quick to blame about Americans obesity on fat in the food. But the real problem is the sugar in food. Sugar is found in all sorts of food and drinks like soda and candy also treats. Just recently people have found that the fat in the food is not the real problem but the sugar. For the past 10 years the United States has been the leader of heart disease. The fat and the calories are bad but the real problem is all the sugar.

There are also many diverse kinds of fallacies. Some include, appeal to the popular, meaning to urge the listener to accept a position because a majority of people do it or believe in it. For example, the majority of people like soda. Therefore, soda is good. Or everyone else is doing it, so why can 't I? Another common fallacy is poisoning the well, this occurs when negative information is presented about a person before he/she speaks. In order to redirect the person 's point of view of that person. an example is, Frank is disagreeable, arrogant, and thinks he knows everything. So, let 's hear what Frank has to say about the subject. There are many more kinds of fallacies.