Fallacy - seem plausible, psychologically

persuasive though logically weak.

False

Etymology - fallere - to deceive

2 types:

1. Irrelevant premises - An argument may seem to offer

reasons for accepting the conclusion. But the "reasons"
have nothing to do with the conclusion.
2. Unacceptable premises - Premises are relevant to the
conclusion, but are dubious and don't actually support
the conclusion. Weak or defective evidence.
Genetic fallacy:

Claims an argument is true or false solely based on

the origin of the claim.

Genetic
Generate
Genus
Genitor
Genesis
Generator

See slide 3.
Appeal to tradition:
An argument is claimed to be true (or false) because it has long
been practised and believed in, by some tradition.
Appeal to authority:
Although experts’ view on certain matters will constitute an important
premise for an argument, it must not be confused with an appeal to
authority. Appeal to authority refers to the fact that a claim is
presumed to be true just because a person in authority issued it.
This is very common in every day life, from parents who tell their
children to listen to what they say just because they are parents, to
various situations in work places and in the field of politics. Just
because a statement comes from a person of authority does not
make it true. Such statements too, need to be submitted to a critical
evaluation.
Appeal to ignorance:
An argument is claimed to be true because there is a lack of
evidence to show it is false.

Eg: No one has thus far proved that ghosts aren’t real. Therefore,
they must exist.

Burden of proof [I say that X is true, and you have to prove me

wrong]
Science and falsifiability (Popper)
Ad-hominem / Appeal to the person:

Premises target the character of a person. Irrelevant to the

concluding claim.

Covid is not a natural disease but a Chinese terror weapon.

The WHO team is lead by Dr. X and he is long known to have
Chinese leanings.
Dr. X's wife, Dr. Y, is from China.
Clearly he doesn't want to reveal China's threat to the world. So
he covered it up by calling it a global pandemic that came from a
bat.
Appeal to Emotion
Emotions are used instead of premises to substantiate the claim
of an argument. That is instead of giving reasons, emotions are
roused.

Don’t complain about standing in the queue. Our armed forces

face deadly cold to defend our nation. So do it for the nation.

Please pass me in the exam. I have to complete my degree and

support my family. Mother has weak heart. If I fail she will fall sick.
Red Herring
Deliberately raise an irrelevant issue during an argument.

Students who don’t pass must be asked to discontinue from the

program. Everyday after noon, they make so much noise and run
around the corridors. They have no discipline. They are bad for our
country.
Straw man
Over-simplifying or distorting someone’s position to attack it easily.

Protestors claim that civil rights of imprisoned Indians are being

violated because they are being jailed without a lawsuit being
registered. But the protestors are anti-nationals. They want to
pander to minorities. They will sell our nation to western liberals. As
Indians, we can’t let them win.
Two wrongs make a right
Doing something wrong to others is justified because others did
something wrong also.
2.Fallacies of unacceptable premises
Begging the question

The conclusion of an argument is used as a premise for the

argument. A kind of circular reasoning.

God exists. We know that God exists because the Bible says so,
and we should believe what the Bible says because God wrote it.
False dilemma/false binary

Claiming that only one of 2 possibilities exist when there are

actually more than 2 possibilities.

Look, either you support the war or you are a traitor to your
country. You don’t support the war. So you’re a traitor.

News channels:
Is the administration incompetent or is it just evil?
Are liberals immoral or are they dangerous to India?
The Kashmir Question - Will pro-azadi gang unite with the
terrorist? Will the tukde gang speak out again?
False dilemma/false binary

Claiming that only one of 2 possibilities exist when there are

actually more than 2 possibilities.

Look, either you support the war or you are a traitor to your
country. You don’t support the war. So you’re a traitor.
Slippery slope

Claiming that doing action A will lead to action B (without good

reason) and action C and so on.

Freedom of speech is important. But we have too much freedom of

speech. If everyone says whatever they want, what will happen to
our morals? Our nation will completely collapse.
Hasty generalization / False analogy

Draw a conclusion about a group based on insufficient evidence.

Drawing conclusions based on similarity of dissimilar things.

I asked my neighbours. They are blacks and they feel Trump is a

good president. Clearly the black community supports trump.

Dogs are warm-blooded, nurse their young, and give birth to

puppies. Humans are warm-blooded and nurse their young.
Therefore, humans give birth to puppies too
Persuaders

Techniques to influence hearts and minds

emotionally, without proving anything with reasons.

These are very common in advertising (both for

products/services and in political campaigning)
Innuendo

To indirectly convey a false claim that someone is a bad person.

“Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if you
knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?”
- Used in a telephone survey in the 2000 US election
Euphemisms

To use harmless-sounding or positive words as substitutes for

something negative.

What they say: “Using enhanced interrogation methods on a

captured suspect, we obtained the location of our target. Our strike
unit conducted armed reconnaissance at 0600hrs and the target
was neutralized. There was minimal collateral damage.”

What they mean: “We tortured our prisoner to obtain the location of
a person we considered to be dangerous. We sent in helicopter
bombers to kill this person. Some civilians were killed in the
attack.”
Stereotyping

A generalized conclusion reached without reasoning, about a large

group of people based on assumptions.

In the Class-10 CBSE exam conducted last December, the

question paper carried a comprehension passage with sentences
such as "emancipation of women destroyed the parents' authority
over the children" and "it was only by accepting her husband's way
that a mother could gain obedience over the younger ones",
among others.
Ridicule

To mock a person or an idea rather than engage with reasons.

“They are not protestors. They are urban naxals. If we listen to

them, we enable them. Their parents haven’t taught them well. We
will teach them a lesson.”

Expressions like “sanghi”, “commie” etc.