Critical Thinking

Informal Logical Fallacy

Ambiguity
 • These fallacies arise from the
Fallacies of occurrence of some form of
Ambiguity ambiguity in either the premises
or the conclusion (or both).

1. Equivocation
2. Amphiboly;
3. Composition;
4. Division; and
5. Accent
 1. The sign said "fine for parking
here", and since it was fine, I
parked there.
2. Andy said he is a football fan, and
he loves Chelsea. Now, I believe
Andy and Chelsea (a classmate)
will date very soon.
3. Sarah was put in classes for the
exceptional student. But I
discovered that despite her age she
could hardly read. Surely she was
put in these classes by error.
Equivocation
 • The law of this country is
something that can be altered
depending on the context.
Therefore, the law of gravity
that governs our nature, can
also be altered depending on
the context.

Equivocation
 • Itoccurs when the conclusion of
an argument depends on the fact
Equivocation that a word or phrase is used,
either explicitly or implicitly, in
two different senses in the
argument.
• Thisinformal fallacy can result
when an ambiguous word or
phrase is used in different senses
within a single argument.
 • John told Henry that he had
made a mistake. It follows
Amphiboly that John has at least the
courage to admit his own
mistakes.
• Save soap and waste paper.
• Don't let worry kill you off -
let the Church help
 • It
occurs when the arguer
misinterprets a statement that is
Amphiboly syntactically ambiguous and
proceeds to draw a conclusion
based on this faulty
interpretation
• This fallacy can result when a
sentence is ambiguous because of
its grammatical structure, even if
all of its terms are clear.
 •A
shirt made of best material
must be best shirt.”
Composition
• Eachplayer on this basketball
team is an excellent athlete.
Therefore, the team as a whole is
excellent.
• Your
brain is made of molecules.
Molecules do not have
consciousness. Therefore, your
brain cannot be the source of
consciousness.
 • Itoccurs when one contends that
what is true of the parts is true of
Composition the whole, or what is true of the
members of a collection
(distributive) is true of the entire
membership (collective).
• This is a fallacy of attributing
some feature of the members of a
collection to the collection itself,
or reasoning from part to whole.
 • Saltis a nonpoisonous compound.
Therefore, its component elements,
Division sodium and chlorine, are nonpoisonous.
• Becausethe brain is capable of
consciousness, each neural cell in the
brain must be capable of consciousness.
•I heard that the Catholic Church was
involved in a sex scandal cover-up.
Therefore, my 102-year-old Catholic
neighbor, who frequently attends Church,
is guilty as well!
 • The reverse of composition.

Division • What is true of the whole is true

of the parts or what is true of the
collection is true of the members
of that collection.
• This is the informal fallacy of
attributing some feature of a
collection to the members of that
collection individually, or
reasoning from whole to part.
 • Theaccent fallacy is a
fallacy of ambiguity due to
Accent
the different ways a word
is emphasized or accented.
• Dina:Why are you asking me
about Mary's message? I resent
her question.
Marry: Oh since you are angry at
her question, it’s better for you to
be away from her, otherwise you
two will fight each other.
 • Inthe movie, My Cousin Vinny, Ralph
Maccio's character, Bill, was interrogated
Accent for suspected murder. When the police
officer asks him, "when did you shoot the
clerk?" Bill replies in shock, "I shot the
clerk? I shot the clerk?" Later in the film,
the police officer reads Bill's statement as
a confession in court, "Then he said, 'I
shot the clerk. I shot the clerk.’”

(logicallyfallacious.com)