REASONING & FALLACIES

Week 6
 Types of Reasoning
1.Deductive Argument- truth is intended
to prove that the conclusion is certain,
it is either be valid or invalid.

2. Inductive- is intended to prove that

the truth is highly probable. It is weak
or strong.
 Common Fallacies
Fallacies- are errors and mistakes in
reasoning

2 types – Formal & Informal

Informal- ambiguity, relevance &

presumption
 Fallacies (Ambiguity)
1. Fallacy of equivocation- committed when
several meanings of word or phrase become
confused in the context of argument
2. Fallacy of composition- when one reasons from
the qualities of the whole itself
3. Fallacy of division- when one reasons from the
qualities of a whole of the qualities of the parts
 Fallacies (Relevance)
4. Fallacy of argument from ignorance- when it is
argued that a proposition is true simply on the
basis that it has not been proven false or true.
5. Fallacy of appeal to inappropriate authority-
when one appeals to an authority whose field of
expertise dose not include the nature of the
conclusion being established.
6. Fallacy of appeal to the person- when one evaluates
an argument by citing something about the person
who asserts the said argument.
 Fallacies (Relevance)
7.Fallacy of appeal to pity- when one appeals to
pity to cause the acceptance of a conclusion.
8. Fallacy of appeal to popular will when one
appeals to general, common, popular or
stereotypical beliefs.
9. Fallacy of appeal to force- when one appeals
to force to cause the acceptance of a
conclusion
 Fallacies (Presumption)
10.Fallacy of complex question- when one asks a
question that contains unproved assumptions.
11. Fallacy of false cause- when one attributes a
wrong cause to something, which is often due to
a mere temporal succession of two events.
12. Fallacy of begging the question- when
reasoning is circular in that the conclusion is
already assumed in the premises.
 Fallacies (Presumption)
13.Fallacy of accident- when one applies a
general rule to individual cases because of
their special or accidental nature.
14. Fallacy of hasty generalization- when
one makes generalization from a special or
accidental case or simply from insufficient
number of cases.