LOGICAL FALLACY

What is a logical fallacy?

A logical fallacy is an argument that can be disproven through reasoning. This is different from a
subjective argument or one that can be disproven with facts; for a position to be a logical fallacy,
it must be logically flawed or deceptive in some way.

Compare the following two disprovable arguments. Only one of them contains a logical fallacy:
- If you go outside without a coat, you’ll catch a cold.
- If you go outside without a coat, you’ll catch a cold and infect the rest of the family. Then
your sister will have to miss class and she’ll get a bad grade and fail her course.

1. Ad populum fallacy
ad Populum (an appeal to popularity, public opinion or to the majority) is an argument,
often emotively laden, for the acceptance of an unproved conclusion by adducing
irrelevant evidence based on the feelings, prejudices, or beliefs of a large group of
people.
Example:
- You have to do it that way because everybody does it that way”.
- “This law is no good because no other country in the world has anything like it”.
- “The majority of voters are in favor of this law, so it’s a good law”.
- “It must be a really good car because so many people have bought one”.
- “Brand X is the leader in Europe, therefore their products should be bought”.
- “Most people believe in life after death, therefore it must exist”.
- “If the majority says that COVID-19 is a government strategy, then it must be so”.
- “Most people consider the death penalty to have a significant deterrent effect. To
suggest otherwise is totally ridiculous”.

2. Hasty generalization
The hasty generalization fallacy is sometimes called the over-generalization fallacy. It is
basically making a claim based on evidence that it is just too small and too quickly.
Essentially, you can't make a claim and say that something is true if you have only an
example or two as evidence.
Example:
- My friend from Bali is very nice and polite, so let's have a vacation to Bali because the
people there are very nice and polite. (ini bisa jadi sebaliknya)

3. Slippery slope
a course of action is rejected because, with little or no evidence, one insists that it will
lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. Series of events lead to
another until the final step, but the final outcome is unlikely to become a first step.
Example:
- An arguer might claim that building new cell phone towers will disorient birds, which will
lead to insect infestations due to a lack of predators for them.
- If you skip lessons on friday, you might miss important information from religious study, if
you do not join religious lessons, you will feel loss in life. So if you don't want to feel lost
in your life, don't skip friday.

4. Appeal to emotion
an effort to win an argument without facts, logic, or reason, but instead by manipulating
the emotions of the audience. (pathos)
Example:
- I got stuck in a traffic jam for 40 hours this morning, when I went to school.
- My son is ill and my poor mother does not have enough food to eat. Can I have a salary
price please?

5. False analogy
Comparing 2 things that are actually not the same as debates.
Example:
- Doctors can open the medical books when they are greeting patients, in the same way /
therefore medical type students can open a text book in the exam.

6. Appeal to authority
The logical fallacy of saying a claim is true simply because an authority figure made it,
but that is not the expert in the area. Use famous people to claim that the data is true but
it's not the same as the people that are experts at that.
Example:
- Grandma always told me that eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away. That’s why
I never go for checkups at the doctor, I always eat one apple a day.
- A media celebrity with no medical expertise who endorses an extreme diet, while
implying that their fame alone means that they're qualified to speak on the topic of
nutrition.

7. False dichotomy
Make the audience believe that there are only 2 choices.
Example:
- Either you are for the dam project, or you are in favor of prolonged drought conditions in
the western US.
- Either you must eat the food I'm serving for dinner or you will starve.

8. Post Hoc
Post: setelah, hoc is kejadian. This fallacy states that the first event necessarily caused
the second when one event happens after another.
Example:
- I ate spicy food, and the day after that I got diarrhea. So I got diarrhea from eating spicy
food the other day.

9. Ad Hominame
This fallacy occurs when, instead of addressing someone’s argument or position, you
irrelevantly attack the person or some aspect of the person who is making the argument.
Example:
- You’re way too nervous about driving at night, so of course, you don’t want to
drive.

10. Straw Man

This fallacy occurs when someone takes another person’s argument or point, disorts it or
exaggerates or misrepresenting it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the
extreme disortion, as if that is really the claim the first person is making.
Example:
- 1st person: I think pollution from human contributes to climate change
2nd person: So, you think humans are directly responsible for extreme weather,
lice hurricanes, and have caused droughts in the southwestern U.S.?
- 1st person: I like Chinese food more than Pizza
2nd person: Well, you must hate Pizza
- Teacher: The class needs to spend more time on math tasks
Parent: The teacher doesn’t care about the literacy project

11. Red Herring Fallacy

Irrelevant information is presented alongside relevant information, distracting attention
from that relevant information. This may be done intentionally or unintentionally.
Example:
- Daughter: I'm so hurt that Todd broke up with me mom. Mother: “Just think of all
the starving children in Africa honey. Your problem will seem pretty insignificant
then.”
- Andy: "Hey, what's with all this junk food you bought? You're always railing at me
about eating healthy." Aunt Bea: "Don't fuss -- it was on sale."

12. Begging the Question Fallacy

when an argument’s premise relies on the conclusion. You can identify this fallacy
because the premise usually just re-states the conclusion rather than supporting it.. Dia
gak menjelaskan, masih dipertanyakan
example:
- dia gamungkin bohong karena dia org yang jujur.

13. Cherry picking

a) Cherry picking occurs when someone selects and presents only the evidence
that supports their stance while ignoring the evidence that would contradict it.
 b) Cherry picking is a logical fallacy that happens when someone focuses solely
on evidence that supports their position on a claim and ignores any
information that goes against their defense.

Orang orang memilih data dan menyembunyikan untuk defense their arguments.