Fallacies

Presented by:
Harsh Dayama
Ho Ming Cai
Jasmine Chua
Ha Minh Tuan
Fan Shi Yi
 Fallacies

Slippery
Composition Division
Slope

Causal Semantic
Fallacy of Composition
Definition
The fallacy of Composition is committed
when a conclusion is drawn about a whole
based on the features of its constituents
when, in fact, no justification is provided
for the inference.
Reasoning form

All of the parts of the object O have the

property P.

> O has the property P.

 Illustration

Cat is made
Cat Atom
is invisible
of atoms is invisible
If used properly, it may not always be
a logical fallacy.
Ice Kachang

• Red bean
• Sweetcorn
• Grass jelly
• Agar agar
• Cendol
Fallacy of Division
Definition
• A fallacy characterized by giving that what
is true of a whole is also necessarily true of
its parts.
Reasoning Form
• Object O has property P.

>All parts of object O have property P.

Illustration 1

• Tea is a liquid.

> All the ingredients of tea are also liquids.

Illustration 2
• Manchester United is the oldest soccer team
in the EPL

> All it’s players are the oldest players in

EPL.
Exception
• A cake is made up of flour, egg, milk, sugar
and other ingredients.

• This cake is edible.

> All of its ingredients are also edible.

Fallacy of the Slippery
Slope
Definition
• A slippery slope argument is a kind of an
argument that warns you if you take a first
step, you will find yourself involved in a sticky
sequence of consequences from which you
will be unable to extricate yourself, and
eventually you will wind up speeding faster
and faster towards some disastrous outcome.
 Slippery Slope

Causal Semantic
Causal
• If A leads to B,
• B  C,
• C  D,
• Then A  D!
Illustration 1
• If Tuan drinks too much water, he will go to the
toilet more often.
• If he goes to the toilet too often, he would have
lesser time to workout
• If he has lesser time to workout then he will
grow fat
> If Tuan drinks too much water, he will grow fat.
Illustration 2
• If Harsh attends school regularly, he will get good
grades
• If he get good grades then he get ostracized by the
other students
• If he get ostracized by the other students then he will
not have a social life
• If he doesn’t have a social life, then he will grow to
become a lonely bitter old man
> If Harsh attends school regularly, he will become a
lonely bitter old man
Semantic
• If P then Q.
• There are no relevant differences between P
and R.
• So, if R then also Q.
Illustration 1
• Shi Yi studies for 2 hours for her AS exam and
gets an A+.
• Jasmine also studies for 2 hours for her AS
exam.
• They are both SMU year 1 students and have the
same high-school background.
> Jasmine should also get an A+ for her AS exam.
Illustration 2
• If Jack Villain is 50 years old and he needs
Viagra to keep him going
• There is no relevant difference between Jack
and Ben Villain (his twin brother)
> Ben Villain will also need Viagra to keep him
going
Always a Logical Fallacy?
• Some claim the Slippery Slope argument is
inherently a logical fallacy. (Most scholars do
not make this claim.) Like any logical
argument, if used improperly, the Slippery
Slope argument can lead to a fallacious
conclusion. But when used properly, it is
perfectly sound and cogent.