Appeal to Pity

(Ad Misericordiam)
The argument attempts to persuade by provoking
irrelevant feelings of sympathy.

Examples:
 "You should not find the defendant guilty of murder,
since it would break his poor mother's heart to see him
sent to jail."
 "Is it not better to be unjust than just, when the just
man, while obeying the law not to resist arrest, may be
beaten, kicked, clubbed, insulted, and abused, by
those arresting him?"
Appeal to Utility
 The argument attempts to persuade by invoking a
sentiment favoring practicality and reason (without,
however, actually engaging in practical reasoning), or by
professing to despise sentimentality.

Examples:
 "Despite the overwrought emotionalism of the abolitionists,
slavery cannot be immoral, since it would destroy the
Southern way of life if we were to free our slaves."

 "Arguments that we have an obligation to use taxes to feed

the poor are just bleeding-heart liberalism."
 Appeal to Fear (Scare Tactics)
The argument attempts to persuade by invoking feelings of
insecurity and fear. It is only a warning. The speaker is foretelling
that something bad will happen to the listener, but is not
threatening to be the cause of that harm.

Examples:
 "Goodyear. Because a lot is riding on your tires." [Visual: a baby in a
car seat. Outside the car it is raining and the car is slipping
unsteadily.]
 "Listerine: kills the germs that can cause bad breath."
 "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.
They're sending people that have lots of problems. They're bringing
drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume,
are good people." - Donald Trump (2015, at a campaign rally)
 Appeal to Hope
(Wishful Thinking)
The argument attempts to persuade by invoking
hopes and desires.

Examples:
 "Using Ultra-Brite will give you sex appeal."

 "These people all won a million dollars by playing the

state lottery. Some day it might happen to you. Play to
win!"
 Appeal to Humor
The argument attempts to persuade by invoking feelings
of good humor and laughter. To laugh with someone
seems to imply agreement with his position and makes
agreement with the position easier.
Examples:
 "I notice that everyone in favor of abortion has already been
born." - Ronald Reagan 1980, in response to a question on
his position on abortion during the presidential debates.
 "Keep Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld in office! After
all, why change horsemen in mid-apocalypse?" - found on a
website during the 2004 Bush re-election campaign.
 Appeal to Gravity
The argument attempts to persuade by invoking a
wish to be serious. Some characteristic ways to express
this fallacy may be to defend a position as "responsible"
and "mature," or to attack an opposing position by
calling it "frivolous" or "disrespectful."
Examples:
 "The President's tax proposal lacks detail. Clearly it does
not come to grips with genuine problems in a serious
manner."
 "John Kerry is a serious man for a serious job in a serious
time in our country's history." - Hillary Rodham Clinton
(2004) at the Democratic National Convention
Jingoism (Appeal to Patriotism)
The argument attempts to persuade by calling on ones
community spirit, specifically on ones love of country.
Alternatively, the argument may attempt to refute a position
by calling it treasonous or unpatriotic.

Examples:
 "Of course the war in Iraq is justified! Support our troops!"
 "Questioning the president's tax cut is tantamount to treason."
 "It's an attack on our country in a true sense. It's an attack on
what we all stand for." - Donald Trump (April 9, 2018,
responding to the execution of a legal search warrant by the
FBI on the office of his attorney Michael Cohen.)
ACTIVITY
Direction: Identify what emotional fallacies are the following

1. You never can tell when bad breath might strike. Be
prepared with Flirts Breath Mints.
2. You may already be a winner! Yes, you are
a finalist in our drawing for A HUNDRED MILLION
DOLLARS! And if you buy a subscription to one of our
magazines, we will mark your entry for priority
treatment.
3. I realize you are concerned about human rights
violations in my country. But a leader who gave in to
such tender-hearted sentiments would never be able
to maintain control in our country.
 4. We need to raise salaries for teachers. Our country can no longer
afford the wasted lives and grinding despair that results from illiteracy.
 5. My opponent's lighthearted approach to the problem of post-
gustatory flatulence does a disservice to this important topic. Let's try to
be adults.
 6. How many Scientific Creationists does it take to change a light bulb?
They don't know how to change a light bulb: they still use oil lanterns!
 7. It's President's Day, and it's time for all patriotic Americans to come
on down to Crazy Eddie's Used Cars. While we're saving the world for
democracy, you can save big on a new used car from Crazy Eddie's,
where Americans come to shop.
 8. Can't you raise my grade to a B? This was a really hard semester for
me. My dog got run over, my grandmother died, and the distributor went
out on my car. Plus my landlord raised my rent and I had to get a job.