Ethical

Fallacies
Table of contents

01 02 03
Ethical Fallacies: Ethical Fallacies:
Ethical Fallacies
The two related fallacies Time and Space
Introduction

04 05
Fallacy of Sencerity Types of Ethical
Fallacies
 “Utopias rest on the fallacy
that perfection is a legitimate
goal of human existence”

—Lewis Mumford
 01
Ethical Fallacies :
INTRODUCTION
 FALLACY
A fallacy is a mistaken belief, particularly those
based on invalid arguments. There are many
general forms that fallacious arguments take,
and they are almost always an indicator of
faulty reasoning, incorrect conclusions, and
even outright manipulation.
Ethical Fallacy
The Ethical Fallacy is the idea that ethical
considerations help to solve the problem of free
will. More specifically, it is the assumption by
some philosophers (from the Scholastics to
Robert Kane) that free decisions must be
restricted to moral decisions.
 02
Ethical Fallacies :
The two related
fallacies
 The Two Related Ethical
Fallacies

Appeal to Appeal to
Majority Individual Rights
The two Ethical
• Two related ethical fallacies are “Appeal to the Majority”

Fallacies
and “Appeal to Individual Rights.” Sometimes these are
valid arguments, but often they are not.

• When some argue that “a majority of Americans support the

death penalty,” that does not constitute a valid ethical
argument.

• Likewise when some argue that we should not restrict any

gun sales because it is an individual right, clearly this is
insufficient ethical justification.

• Politicians and advocates often similarly appeal to Federal

versus State Rights inconsistently and arbitrarily when it
serves their narrow interests.
 03
Ethical Fallacies :
Time and space
Time and Space
 are another set of ethical arguments that are frequently used.

Fallacies
 Just because something was acceptable or thought to be ethical in
Biblical times, or even during the Revolutionary War, does not
guarantee it is still ethical today.

 And just because something is ethical in one place doesn't mean it is

ethical everywhere else.

 It's worth noting that religious individuals have a hard time grasping
this concept. They can't handle it because it's too intricate and messy.
It necessitates much too much thought. They dismiss this type of
ethical reasoning as "situational" and so unethical. They prefer
unchanging dogma.
 04
Ethical Fallacies :
Fallacy of Sencerity
Fallacy of
Sincerity
is frequently invoked by the same persons.
It doesn't make a belief more or less
ethical just because it's "sincere or
heartfelt." Similarly, a "Appeal to Intent or
Ignorance" is sometimes used. These may
be mitigating circumstances, but neither
makes a decision more or less ethical.
 05
Ethical Fallacies
Appeal to the
• Also known as argumentum ad populum

People
• The appeal to people fallacy is a variation of the appeal to
authority. It consists in arguing that some statement p is true
because most people believe.

Example 1: (Non-moral)
• “Ford: America’s best-selling pickup.” Implicit Conclusion:
You should buy a Ford pickup.
Example 2: (moral)
• “Pre-marital sex isn’t wrong; no one thinks twice about it.”
Example 3: (moral)
• All cultures have held that murder is wrong. Therefore,
murder must be wrong
•
Appeal to the
Also known as ad Hominem

Man
• concluding that not-p on the grounds that someone with a bad
character or that was in unfavorable circumstances.

Example 1: (non-moral)
“I had dinner with Senator Geary last night. He was rude, obnoxious,
and his wife wouldn’t shut up. Senator Geary’s proposal cannot be
worth the paper it is printed on.”
Example 2: (moral)
“Christians are cliquish and judgmental. They cannot possibly be right
about my eternal destiny.”
Example 3: (moral)
“Sister Sara was raised by a bunch of right-wing bigots! You can’t seriously think she is right that birth
control is immoral.” (Reformulated conclusion: You should not believe that birth control is immoral.)
 Appeal to the
Man
Addendum: Variation on the ad hominem-tu quoque
(“you, too”)

- concluding that p is morally permissible because

the person arguing against p does p (is a hypocrite)

Example: “You can’t tell me adultery is wrong;

you’re an adulterer!”
Question
- concluding that p from premises that include p
(whether explicitly or implicitly)

Example 1: (non-moral)
“I believe Professor Williams that X. Look; it’s even in
his textbook on page 322!”
Example 2: (moral)
“Of course the government should provide health care.
Health care is a basic human right.”
Example 3: (moral)
“Cheating violates academic integrity. Therefore, it is
wrong to cheat.”
Example 4: (moral)
It is immoral to assign grades according to relative
student performance.
Grading on a curve does just that!
Therefore, grading on a curve is immoral
Question
Addendum: Question-Begging Claims

- Claims or disguised questions that

presuppose other relevant information:
• “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
• “Will you support further unnecessary
spending?”
• “Are you no longer a pedophile?”
• Florida abortion statute:
Illegal abortion: Termination of pregnancy
during last trimester which does not meet
requirements of legal abortion.
-
Slope
concluding a series of very bad implications from p in order to
show that p is false (p will lead to, x, y, and then z, and you
don’t want z, therefore not-p)

Example 1: (Non-moral)

“The CEO’s proposal will frustrate middle management, who will

then take it out on the factory workers. When the factory workers
are angry enough, they will go on strike and sink the whole
company. Surely, we should not accept the proposal.”

Example 2: (moral)

“If we permit gay marriage, what is to prevent brothers from

marrying sisters, or adults from marrying children, or, heaven
forbid, a man from marrying his sheep?”
 Slope
Example 3: (moral)
• “Censorship is immoral. If we censor 2LiveCrew, we have to
censor anything the public finds distasteful. Pretty soon we will be
burning books and putting people in jail as instigators. This is a fast
track to fascism!”
Fallacy
- concluding that p ought to be the case (or someone should do p)
on the grounds that p is the case (or on the grounds that someone
has a tendency to do or want to do p)

Example 1: (non-moral)

“Plants need water to survive. You should water your plant, man.”

Example 2: (moral)
• Bodies naturally break down over time.
• Exercise just goes against nature.
• Therefore, you shouldn’t exercise
Fallacy
Example 3: (moral)

“It’s very natural for a child to lash out at her brother and hit him once in a
while. You should just let her.”

Example 4: (moral)

“Animals eat each other, therefore, how could it be wrong for me to eat
animals?”

Ben Franklin on eating fish: "If you eat one another, I don't see why we
mayn't eat you.“
Example 5: (moral)
Homosexuality is a genetic predisposition, even if it cannot be linked to
one specific gene. If homosexuals cannot choose whether to be
homosexual, it cannot be immoral.
 Authority
- Asks audiences to agree with a writer based simply
on his or her character or authority even if that
person may not be fully qualified to offer that
assertion

Example:

My middle school teacher said it so it must be true

 Using Authority
instead of Evidence
- Occurs when someone offers personal
authority of proof

Example:
Because I said so
 Dogmatism
- Shuts down discussion by asserting that the writer’s
beliefs are the only acceptable ones

Example:

I`m the teacher, so what I say is the only right answer

 Accident
The application of a general rule to specific cases to which the rule was not
intended to apply.

Example: "The right to bear arms is protected in this country. I should therefore
be allowed to make a nuclear weapon in my basement if I can and want to do
so.

Ad Hominem
Argument
The irrelevant attacking of one's opponent(s) in an argument rather
than the arguments they make.

Example: "Congressman Smith's arguments against military spending

 Affirming the Consequent
Arguing from the truth of a conditional statement (of the form "if A then B")
and the truth of the consequent ("B") to the truth of the antecedent ("A").

Example: "We all know that if dog fighting is legal then many dogs suffer. We
also know that many dogs suffer. Therefore, dog fighting is legal.

Appeal to unqualified
Authority
An argument that cites as authoritative some person or persons who are not
qualified to be experts on the subject at hand or who lack credibility.

Example: "You ought to buy this brand of razors. A highly respected NFL
quarterback uses these razors."
 Appeal to Ignorance
Arguing from a lack of proof that something is false to the claim that it must
therefore be true.

Example: "No one can prove that intelligent extraterrestrial aliens exist,
therefore they must not be real." Also: "No one can prove that intelligent
extraterrestrial aliens don't exist, therefore they must be out there."

Composition
The assumption that a whole has some property because all of its parts have
that property.

Example: "Everyone on our team is 21 years old. Therefore, our team must be
21 years old.
 Denying the Antecedent
Arguing from the truth of a conditional statement (of the form "if A then B")
and the truth of the denial of the antecedent ("not A") to the truth of the denial
of the consequent ("not B").

Example: "If Jones is sick, he is at home right now. Jones is not sick. Therefore,
he must not be home right now."

Division
The assumption that the parts of some whole have a property because the whole
has that property (opposite of composition).

Example: "Because our army is safe from destruction in the coming battle, all
of our soldiers will survive."
 Equivocation
Accepting a conclusion that depends on a shift in the senses of a certain word
or words.

Example: "It is moral to produce that which is good. Televisions are goods.
Therefore, it is moral to produce televisions.“

False Dichotomy
Arguing from a disjunction (an "either...or..." statement) and the falsehood of
one of the disjuncts to the truth of the other disjunct when in fact there is at
least one other possibility.

Example: "Either you shop at Mall Mart or you must want to pay higher prices.
You don't want to pay higher prices, so you must shop at Mall Mart."
 Hasty Generalization
Arguing from some facts about unrepresentative specific cases to general
conclusions.

Example: "I know four republicans, three of whom will vote for Barack Obama
in 2012. It is probable, then, that Barack Obama will receive the majority of
Republican votes in 2012.“

Questionable
Analogy
Arguing by analogy when there is not a sufficient or relevant similarity between
the two things being compared (at least for the purpose of drawing the
conclusion).

Example: "Murder in movies looks just like murder in real life. If murder in
 Hoc
Literally "after this therefore because of this", arguing from a false causal
connection between two things, often because the imagined cause precedes the
imagined effect.

Example: "The last two times the phone rang I stubbed my toe. Therefore, if I
want to stop stubbing my toe, I must unplug the phone.“

Unwanted Premise
Arguing from premises that have not been sufficiently justified and ought not to
be accepted otherwise.

Example: "Every single American today uses Facebook. Therefore, if we want

to relay information quickly to everyone, we ought to do so through Facebook.
 Summary
1. Fallacies are false logic
2. Ethical Fallacy involves free decisions must be
restricted to moral decisions
3. The types of Ethical fallacies are forms fallacious
arguments take, and they are almost always an
indicator of faulty reasoning, incorrect conclusions,
and even outright manipulation
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