Fallacies in Reasoning

(Part 1 of 2)

GCE14411
Lecture 9
Intended Learning Outcomes

 After this lecture, you should be able to

 Explain what “fallacy” means and what
constitutes a fallacious statement or
argument
 Identify the most common fallacies in daily
life
 Avoid mistakes in reasoning or logical
pitfalls

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Deception in Everyday Life
 Our daily life is full of
arguments
 Some arguments are
sound and convincing but
many are fallacious.
 Some fallacious arguments
are frequently committed
and psychologically
persuasive.

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Deception in Everyday Life
 Some fallacies are committed unintentionally due to
carelessness or ignorance
 But others are committed intentionally to deceive
audience
 In such cases, fallacies are one type of
argumentative tactics used by arguers to generate
support from the audience, misleading them into
supporting the conclusion.
 Possession of the skills to detect, or mere sensitivity
to, fallacious arguments can
 protect our decision-making
 produce valid and sound arguments
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Informal Fallacies
 These fallacies found in everyday arguments are
usually called informal fallacies.
 An informal fallacy occurs when the contents of
an argument's stated premises fail to adequately
support its proposed conclusion.
 In contrast to a formal fallacy of deduction, the
error is not a flaw in the relations between the
premises and the conclusion.

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Four Major Types
Type of fallacy Nature

Inconsistency Making an inconsistent or self-

defeating claim
Inappropriate Assuming something without good
assumption reason; ignoring relevant alternatives
(presumption)

Irrelevance Appealing to irrelevant information

Insufficiency Evidence too weak to support

conclusion

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Type of fallacy Nature
Self-contradiction
Inconsistency
Self-defeating
Circular reasoning/Question-begging
Inappropriate
arguments
assumption
False dilemma
(presumption)
Complex question
Personal attack
Appeal to irrelevant authority
Appeal to popularity
Irrelevance
Appeal to emotion
Red herring
Straw Person
Slippery slope
Causal fallacy
Insufficiency Hasty generalization
Fallacy of composition
Fallacy of division
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1. Fallacies of Inconsistency
 Fallacies of inconsistency are cases in which
someone proposes or accepts a claim or conclusion
that contains self-contradictory or self-defeating
statements.

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1a. Self-contradiction 自相矛盾
 A contradiction entails both a statement (P) and
its negation (not P).
 “The cat is black” (P) and “The cat is not
black” (not P).
 “The only thing that is certain (P) is
uncertainty (not P).”
 “Nobody lives in Hong Kong (P) and I live in
Hong Kong” (not P).
 As we can see, P and not P can’t be true at the
same situation, nor can they be false at the
same situation.
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Is this self-contradictory?
 This spear ( 矛 ) can penetrate all shields
( 盾 ); and this shield can defend against
all spears.

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How about this statement?
 ”The world is flat; the world is round.”

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1b. Self-defeating 自我推翻
 A claim is logically correct, but the very act of
making the claim makes it false.

 “I never mention the word ‘failure’ under any

circumstances.”

 Someone says, "I cannot speak any English.”

 Someone says, "Nothing can be known.”

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2. Fallacies of Inappropriate
Assumption (Presumption)
 Fallacies of inappropriate assumption or
presumption are cases
 where we have explicitly or implicitly made an
assumption that is not reasonable to accept in the
relevant context
 when an argument takes for granted a belief that is in
fact debatable

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2a. Circular Reasoning 循環論證 &
Question-begging Arguments 迴避正
題
 In circular reasoning, the premise has already
assumed that the conclusion is true, and just
rewords the conclusion to make it like a different
proposition
 “You're utterly wrong because you're not making any
sense.”

 “He can lift this heavy chair because he has the

strength and power.”

 “We should study literature because literature is a

worthwhile subject.”
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Circular Reasoning 循環論證
 Logical Form:
 X is true because of Y
 Y is true because of X
 X is equivalent to Y

 “You're utterly wrong because you're not making any sense.”

 “He can lift this heavy chair because he has the strength and
power.”

 “We should study literature because literature is a

worthwhile subject.”

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Question-begging Arguments 迴避正
題
 Logical Form:
 Claim X assumes X is true.
 Therefore, claim X is true.

 Example:
 Marriage is by definition between a man
and a woman.
 Therefore, gay marriage is unacceptable.

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 The argument begs the question
against those who support gay
marriage.
 So the argument is problematic
because it avoids explaining why
marriage cannot be understood more
broadly.
 The argument offers no reason for
the narrow definition of marriage.
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 In both circular and question-begging
arguments, the speaker just rewords the
conclusion or presuppose the truth of the
premises; no useful explanation is offered.
 To avoid circular reasoning, we must give
additional useful information (i.e. reason or
evidence) to support the conclusion.

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2b. False Dilemma 假兩難
 In false dilemma, the arguer assumed that
there are limited number of options without
good reason
 The arguer gives only two options when other
realistic possibilities are available, and hence
posing a false either/or choice and leaving no
grey areas ( 灰色地帶 )
 This fallacy can be referred to as
 a false dichotomy, fallacy of false choice, the black
and white fallacy, the fallacy of the excluded middle

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 Can you think of other alternatives?
• staying neutral?
• against both?
• partially agree with both?
 In reality, there should be plenty of options in
between. This simplification ( 過份簡化 ) of a
complex situation is unwarranted and highly
deceptive. 20
If we cannot touch green-
belt sites ( 綠化地帶 ), how can
we face residents living in
sub-divided flats ( 劏房 ) in
industrial buildings?

 The Chief Executive talked about land and

housing issues in September 2016
 Could you note the dilemma implied in his
words?
 Do you think there is a third alternative?

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 It may be the case that there are only two
choices, but this has to be proved and not just
assumed.
 Sometimes, such either-or situation is a trick
played by the author to limit our choice.
 A critical thinker would question whether there
are really only two options.

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2c. Complex Question 混合問題
 The complex question fallacy occurs when one
asks a question that contains an unfair,
questionable, or unjustified assumption
 It is usually used to trap the respondent into
acknowledging something that s/he might not
want to acknowledge
 It is often called “Trick Question” or “Loaded
Question”

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 Can you see the built-in assumptions in the following
questions?
 “Have you stopped cheating on exams?”

presupposes, without justification, that you have

been cheating on exams

 “Do you still steal from your boss?”

presupposes, without justification, that you did
steal from your boss

 “Have you stopped being an idiot?"

presupposes that you have been an idiot

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 A loaded question combines more than one
question that should be broken up
 “Have you stopped cheating on exams?”
 Did you cheat on exams?
 If you did, have you repeated cheating on exams?

 To respond to a loaded question effectively,

 one must distinguish the different questions being
asked and respond to each individually
 Otherwise one had better reject the question in the
first place (e.g. “I have never cheated on exams!”)

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3. Fallacies of Irrelevance
 In fallacies of irrelevance ( 不相關 ), irrelevant
information is used in reasoning or a discussion.
 Such mistakes in reasoning occur when

 the premises are logically irrelevant to the conclusion

 an arguer offers reasons that are logically irrelevant to

his or her conclusion

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3a. Personal Attack
(Ad Hominem) 因人廢言
 We commit the fallacy of personal attack (or
an ad hominem argument) when
 we reject someone’s argument or claim by attacking
the person, his/her position or character rather than
the merits of the person’s argument or claim (i.e.
what s/he is saying)
 an arguer tries to divert the discussion ( 帶離討論主
題 ) and discredit ( 貶低可信性 ) another person's
argument

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 Because of the rising
expenses and teachers’
salaries, the school has no
choice but to raise its
tuition fee
Of course you would
support that. You are
an employee of the
school.

The student did not consider the reason for the increase of
tuition fee, but just dismiss it because the argument was given
by a teacher of the school

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 Ad hominem reasoning is fallacious because
even if X is a bad person, that doesn’t mean he
is incapable of offering good arguments on the
topic

 We should bear in mind that not every personal

attack is a fallacy. There are situations where
one may legitimately bring a person's character
and integrity into question (e.g. during a
testimony)

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3b. Appeal to Irrelevant Authority /
Inappropriate Appeal to Authority 偽托權威
 An authority is a person or source who
possesses special knowledge, competence, or
expertise in a particular field.
 An argument becomes fallacious when the
reasoning appeals to an authority that is not an
expert on the issue at hand (i.e. not a genuine
authority).

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 My hairstylist told me that
Einstein’s general theory of
relativity is full of rubbish. I
guess Einstein wasn’t as smart
as everybody thinks he was.
 My dentist told me that aliens
built the lost city of Atlantis.
So, it’s reasonable to believe it.
 Jacky Chan said that Bawang
herbal shampoo could make
our hair very black, very shiny
and very soft! He is famous
and I think the shampoo can
really work.
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3c. Appeal to Popularity 訴諸群眾
 Such an argument
 uses the fact that a sizable number of
people (or the majority) believe in
something as evidence that it must
therefore be true

 tries to justify a claim by appealing to our

acceptance of something large groups of
people have in common

 may claim that a theory or belief is plausible

because it is accepted by a lot of people
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 More than 60 percent of
people who took part in a
survey respond that fares of
the Mass Transit Railway
(MTR) are too high.
Therefore, the MTR fare in
Hong Kong is indeed high.
 About 91% of Philippines
citizens supported what the
President Rodrigo Duterte
did in cracking down on
drug dealers and addicts.
Therefore, what Duterte did
must be correct.
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 They are fallacious because

 the fact that a belief (or practice) is popular may

provide little or no evidence for it to be true (or good)

 they require us to accept the false assumption that

anything favored by the majority is desirable

 e.g. many people would try to avoid paying tax

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3d. Appeal to Emotion 訴諸情感
 A tactics to draw emotional reactions from
people, and use that reaction to get them to
agree with a conclusion
 This fallacy is committed when our emotional
responses should not be relevant ( 不應牽涉情緒 ) to
the conclusion
 It may involve threat, create pity, and use
emotionally charged language to distract readers
and listeners from relevant reasons and evidence

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 Teacher, I know I missed half
your classes and failed all my
exams. But I had a tough
semester. First my uncle died.
Then my girlfriend told me she
wants a gender reassignment
surgery. With all I went through
this semester, I don’t think I Appeal to pity
really deserved an F. Can you
change my grade to C or D?

 If the activists keep on

protesting, visitors will not come
to the city and we will
experience economic depression

Appeal to fear
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 Fear and sympathy are powerful motivators
that can cause us to think and behave
irrationally
 This fallacy is common in advertising, political
debate and the courtroom
 A critical thinker should put aside the
emotional part and examine whether there is
objective reason to accept the conclusion

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3e. Red Herring 轉移視線
 The red herring fallacy is committed when
 one tries to distract attention from an issue
by introducing an irrelevant, or at most
superficially related, issue to the main issue

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 “Red herring” is a strong-smelling smoked fish
used to train hunting dogs
 It is put along the trail to distract and divert
the dogs from the correct route when hunting
 In a similar way, an arguer commits the red
herring fallacy when he seeks to distract or
mislead his audience by raising an irrelevant
issue

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Suppose people in our community are drawing graffiti
on public buildings.
A: Graffiti is an illegal activity and we should make a
more concerted effort to warn and prosecute the
offenders.

B: But graffiti is art and the people who do it are

artists.

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 What is the real issue about graffiti?
 It is about __________________
and not ___________________.
 The attacker diverts our attention to another
issue, which we usually agree or accept.
 If the reader is not clear-minded, the attention
will be diverted and miss the point.

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3f. Straw Person 稻草人謬誤
( 扣帽子 )
 With a strawman argument, one gives an
opponent positions that s/he doesn’t actually
hold, positions far more extreme, exaggerated
and indefensible, and then tricks him/her into
defending them.
 Misrepresenting and oversimplifying are common
means to “put up a strawman”
 A strawman argument usually distorts the
opponent's argument for the purpose of making it
easier to attack and defeating her

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Our government argues that we should
outlaw violent pornography. Clearly, they
favor complete censorship of books,
magazines, and films. I’m shocked that
such a view is expressed in Hong Kong. It
runs against the great values this city
embraces. No one should listen to such a
proposal.

This argument distorts ( 歪曲 ) the

government’s view which is about
outlawing violent pornography but not
complete censorship of books,
magazines, and films.

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A: We should allow
LegCo Councilors to
throw bananas in
LegCo meetings. It is
a matter of freedom
of expression.

B: No. Throwing things

should not be
allowed. We should
not allow Councilors
to throw bananas,
spill feces, set fire in
meetings. These are
not acceptable.
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 “Spill feces, set fire ” is something set up by
the attacker, which is easily attacked. The
original speaker never suggested something so
extreme
 People are misled to believe that this
exaggerated ideas are what the original
speaker proposes
 As a critical thinker, you should examine
whether the reason given really represents the
position of the original author

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Type of fallacy Nature
Self-contradiction
Inconsistency
Self-defeating
Circular reasoning/Question-
Inappropriate
begging arguments
assumption
False dilemma
(presumption)
Complex question
Personal attack
Appeal to irrelevant authority
Appeal to popularity
Irrelevance
Appeal to emotion
Red herring
Straw Person

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Reading
 Reading the related chapter of the textbook for
more understanding and examples
 The Internet also contains numerous good
explanations and examples of the fallacies

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