appear stronger. Tools of advertisers, propagandists, charlatans, and sincere yet self-deceived people who make claims without the benefit of good evidence. Aristotle was the first thinker to begin to classify various types of defective inferences that provide psychologically persuasive (but not logically adequate) reasons to believe a claim. Fallacious Assumptions False Dilemma: If the glove does not fit, you must acquit! Presenting two alternatives as the only ones when others are possible. Either you accept every verse of Scripture as God’s word or reject it all as false human religious speculation. Circular Reasoning Begging the question: when the arguer assumes as a premise the conclusion he or she is arguing for. Abortion is murder because it kills babies. No affirmative action policy can be fair or just because you can’t fix one injustice by committing another. We have to have the death penalty to keep murderers off our streets. We must reject Obamacare. Government programs are never as effective as private enterprise. Ambiguity Equivocation: Shifting the meaning of an ambiguous term. Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Therefore, knowledge corrupts. We have the right to study logic. We have a duty to do right…. Ambiguous Phrasing: Amphibole Dog for sale. It eats False implication: When anything and is very fond an advertiser says of children. something true but If you don’t go to other implies something that people’s funerals, they isn’t true. won’t come to yours. He is trying to quit smoking cold turkey. Tired of cleaning yourself, let us do it for you. Composition and Division Composition: Incorrectly Division: Incorrectly inferring that what is true inferring that what is true of the parts is true of the of the whole is true of the whole. parts. We have the best athletes USC has a great school of in the league on our team, business. Therefore, since so we have the best team. Jane went to USC, she must OxiClean is yours for just be a great businesswoman. four easy payments of TRW is a high paying $19.95 company so Lester will make a lot now that he works for them. Vagueness Abuse of vagueness: Using a vague expression for it’s persuasive power as a substitute for evidence. Homosexual behavior is perverse because it isn’t natural. Puffery: Intentional overstatement in advertising. Great Western Bank, we’ll always be there. Gillette, the best a man can get. Hype: Exaggeration: Amazing bargains! Incredible deals! Biggest sale of the season! More Advertising Fallacies Unspecified Weasel Words: Comparison: Advertisers use weasel When a product is words to make vacuous compared to an claims look substantive. unnamed competitor. Make your floor look like Taster’s Choice Coffee- new. smoother taste. Helps you look younger! Smoother than what? Lasts up to eight hours. Less filling, lower in fat, etc. Extreme Quantifiers and Intensifiers shut off debate. Everything she says is a lie! PETA activists are completely misguided. Obamacare is totally flawed. I know that my redeemer Your resume claims you liveth! are absolutely the greatest Economics instructor in the World (?) Emotional Appeals Appeal to Anger: Arouse feelings of anger as a substitute for evidence. If you want my gun you’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead, hand! Appeal to Fear (or force) Listen, Galileo, drop this heliocentric nonsense or Brother Vito will rotate your head around the sun! Hurry in! These unbelievably low prices won’t last! False Authority Unidentified Authority Irrelevant Authority When expert opinion is The authority cited must be alluded to without explicit qualified on the topic in identification of who the question. expert is. Reverend John McArthur claims Studies show that gun control that the theory of evolution is doesn’t work. not grounded in good science. Apologist Hank Hanegraaff, the Experts agree that legalizing Bible Answer Man, concurs with pot would be a disaster. this opinion. Hence, we can conclude that evolution is a flawed theory. More False Authority Fallacies Testimonials: When a Division of Expert celebrity or unknown Opinion: When the user of a product experts have not reached endorses it’s value, their a consensus, we cannot testimony provides weak appeal to one expert’s support. view to resolve a dispute. Tiger Woods says drive a We know alien abductions really occur. Even Harvard Buick, chicks dig it! psychiatrist John Mack believes I lost 50 lbs in two days alien abduction reports are authentic. with the lap band! Conflict of Interest When there is reason to Bbb believe that the authority cited has a vested interest in the topic, his or her testimony is compromised by bias. The CEO of Shell Oil says offshore drilling is completely safe, so we can approve their request Trust me, I know! to drill. Statistical Inference Fallacies Small Sample: Overestimating the statistical significance of evidence derived from too few cases. In a published article, three gay men testified that their homosexuality was a choice, not a decision forced on them by their genes or upbringing. Thus, there is no biological basis for male homosexuality. All three of my husbands had affairs so don’t deny the fact that all men are cheaters. My husband died of brain cancer and he was a pot smoker so marijuana smoking causes brain cancer. Causal Fallacies Confusing correlation Prayer works! I said four with causation. “Hail Mary’s” before the 83% of criminals drink game and the Chargers alcohol before committing won! crimes. So Alcohol use Common Cause: causes crime. Inferring a causal Post hoc ergo propter connection when two hoc. Mistaking temporal items are both produced by succession for causal an underlying cause. 75% of Prozac users have connection. contemplated suicide. That stuff is dangerous!