LESSON 2B: ARGUMENTS AND FALLACIES
 “You will not have a good future with that man! I
OUTLINE
I What is an Opinion?
A Argument
B Bias
i Types of Bias
II Fallacies
A Types of Fallacies
WHAT IS AN OPINION?
 An opinion is a statement of judgment of a person about
something in the world.
 Opinions are statements of judgment that are in need of
further justification.
o Examples:
 Life begins at birth and abortion should be illegal.
 Low taxes are best for job growth.
 Over-regulation is stifling to progress and the
economy.
 How to critically examine opinions:
o For an opinion to gain status of truth, it must be able to
pass the test of justification.
o Whoever makes the opinion must be able to argue for
it in the most reasonable way.
o A philosophical mind must then be prepared to
examine arguments supporting an opinion.
ARGUMENT
 Claim (the conclusion of an argument)
 Premises (the reasons used to support the conclusion)
o Example: “There is no hope in the Philippine
government because many officials are corrupt, and
Filipino voters continue to elect them.”
 Claim - There is no hope in the Philippine
government …
 Premises - … because many officials are corrupt,
and Filipino voters continue to elect them.
BIAS
 Tendencies or influences which affects the views of
people.
TYPES OF BIAS:
 Correspondence bias or attribution effect: tendency to
judge a person’s personality by his or her actions,
without regard for external factors or influences.
o Examples:
 “These soldiers who fought in the war are all
bloodthirsty murderers!”
 “Millennials are a bunch of overfed, overprotected,
spoiled youth.”
 Confirmation bias: tendency to look for and readily accept
information which fits with one’s own beliefs or views
and to reject ideas or views that go against it.
o Examples:
 “How can I accept the view that there is no God? I
am a Christian!”
1
know, I am a mother, mothers knows best!”
 Framing: focusing on a certain aspect of a problem while
ignoring other aspects.
o Examples:
 “Preliminary evidences have still not pointed out
the actual cause of the plane crash, but
investigation are currently focusing on the
possibility of pilot error.”
 “It is probably because he had a rift with the
instructors who teaches those subjects that he
consistently failed in them.”
 Hindsight: tendency to see past events as predictable,
or to ascribe a pattern to historical events.
o Examples:
 “Filipino live well in other countries because
they’re very adaptable and resilient.”
 “I knew it, he won’t be able to resist giving an
offensive joke in his speech!”
 Conflict of interest: a person or group is connected to or
has vested interest in the issue being discussed.
o Examples:
 “We should not be hasty in giving our judgments,
instead let us pray for our priests.”
 “I believe that my clients is unfoundedly accused.”
 Cultural Bias: analyzing an event or issue based on one’s
cultural standards.
o Examples:
 “I do not agree with this western practice placing
aged parents in retirement homes. We Filipinos
take care of our family members.”
 “You Filipinos are very rude and unmindful, often
violating our personal space!”
NOTE:
 Not all arguments are good arguments. There are false
arguments.
 Logic studies and elaborates in good argumentation.
 False of fake arguments are called fallacies.
o Example: There is no hope for Philippine government
because the Philippines is a tropical country.
FALLACIES
 Group of statements that appear to be arguments but fail
to support the conclusion. They usually come in the
guise of well-articulated arguments.
 Errors in reasoning that invalidate the argument.
TYPES OF FALLACIES
 Argumentum ad misericordiam
o (Appeal to pity): an argument that attempts to induce
guilt to sway opponents.
o Examples:
 “Watching Hillary Clinton pretending to get teary-
eyed is enough to make me give up shedding
tears altogether. The currency, you might say, has
become devalued.” (Germaine Greer)
 Arguments & Fallacies
 “Oh please I’ve been sick! That’s why I’ve missed
the deadline.”
 Argumentatum ad ignorantiam
o (Appeal to ignorance): claiming that something is true
because no one has proven it false or vice versa.
o Example: Because we have no knowledge of alien
visitors, that means they do not exist.
 Argumentum ad baculum
o (Appeal to force): An argument where force,
coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a
justification for a conclusion.
o Examples:
 If you insist on taking the course, I will not support
your studies and kick you out of the house.
 You’ll go to hell, if you don’t believe in God.
 Argumentum ad hominem
o (Argument against the person): attacking the
opponent’s personal traits or character instead of
countering the argument logically; includes name
calling and mudslinging.
o Examples:
 A: I believe that human cloning is wrong.
B. Of course you would say that, you’re an idiot!
 One candidate on a debate: Can we let a shrimp
like him run this great country?
 Argumentum ad populum
o (Appeal to the people/popularity): An argument that
appeals or exploits people’s vanities, desire for
esteem, and anchoring on popularity,
o Examples:
 We can’t remove your Uncle Harry’s life support.
We are Catholics, we value human life more than
anything else in the world.
 Most people approved of X. Therefore X is true.
 Argumentum vericundiam
o (Appeal to authority): assuming a claim is true
because a supposed authority says it is.
o Examples:
 “Gun laws should be extremely strict and it should
be incredibly difficult to acquire a gun. Many
respected people, such as actor Brad Pitt, have
expressed their support of this movement.”
 My dentist told me that aliens built the lost city of
Atlantis. So it’s reasonable to believe that aliens
built that city.
 Petitio principii
o (Begging the question): happens when an arguer
states or assumes as a premise (reason) the very
thing he is seeking to probe as a conclusion.
o Examples:
 The soul can never die, for it is immortal.
 Abortion is wrong because it is illegal.
 If actions were not illegal, then they would not be
prohibited by the law.
 Post hoc
o (False cause): fallacy committed when it is concluded
that one event causes another simply because the
proposed cause occurred before the proposed effect.
o Examples:
 The Roman Empire declined and fell after the
appearance of Christianity. Therefore, the cause
of the fall of empires is due to the spread of
Christianity.
 The rooster crows immediately before sunrise,
therefore the rooster causes the sun to rise.
 Fallacy of Equivocation
o Occurs when different meanings of a word or phrase
are used in the argument.
o Examples:
 Spirits are immaterial substances, but whiskey
and liquors are spirits. Therefore, whiskey and
liquors are immaterial substances.
 A plane is a carpenter’s tool. Boeing 737 is a
plane. Therefore Boeing 737 is a carpenter’s tool.
 Fallacy of Composition
o Inferring that something is true of the whole from the
fact that it is true of some part of the whole; reverse of
the fallacy of division.
o Examples:
 Your brain is made of molecules. Molecules do not
have consciousness. Therefore, your brain cannot
be the source of consciousness.
 Members of parliament are wasteful, parliament is
wasteful.
 Fallacy of Division
o Assuming that something true of a thing must also be
true of all or some of its parts.
o Examples:
 All STEM senior high school students excel in their
science subjects. Erika is a senior high school
student. Therefore, Erika excels in science
subjects.
 This machine is heavy. Therefore all parts of this
machine is heavy.
 Non Sequitor
o (It does not follow): arguments in which claims,
reasons, or warrants fail to connect logically.
o Examples:
 Please give him the job. His mother is very sick.
 She should be our class president. She looks
great.
 Hitler was a vegetarian. Therefore, vegetarianism
is wrong.