Fallacies

Shahid Sher Ali

 What is a fallacy
• A defect in reasoning , when one reasons badly
• The conclusion does not follow from its premises.
• Formal fallacies (defect in the form an argument)
• Informal fallacies(defect in the content of an argument
Formal fallacy
Informal fallacy
Informal Fallacy
Exercise
Exercise
 Classification of Informal fallacies
• Fallacies of relevance
• Fallacies of defective induction
• Fallacies of presumption
• Fallacies of ambiguity
 Fallacies of Relevance
The premises of an argument is simply not relevant to its conclusion.
The appeal to authority( ad populum )
The straw man fallacy
The appeal to emotions
The red herring
The attack on the person
The appeal to force
Missing the point
Appeal to force / Appeal to stick
Appeal to Pity
Appeal to pity
Direct Approach / Mob gathering
 Indirect approach/ Band wagon

Appeal to vanity
 Appeal to people
Appeal to Snobbery

Appeal to Tradition
 Attack on Person / Ad hominem
Abusive

Circumstantial
Tu Quoque
No fallacy
Fallacy of Accident
The Straw Man fallacy
Straw Man
 Straw man
• Politician A: Why is the government once again moving crime to the top
of its agenda when far more pressing issues like childhood poverty and
environmental devastation continue to be under addressed?

• Politician B: I am surprised that my honorable friend thinks crime is so

unimportant. With the alarming increase in gang violence in our cities
we face a breakdown of law and order on a major scale. The members
of the opposition would wish on us a society in which people could
never feel safe even in their own homes.
Missing the Point Fallacy
Red Herring Fallacy
 Fallacies of Defective/weak induction
The premises of the argument although following the conclusion but are
so week and relying on them could be a blunder
The argument from ignorance
The appeal to inappropriate authority
The false cause
The hasty generalization
Appeal to unqualified authority
Appeal to Ignorance
 Appeal to Ignorance
No fallacy
Hasty Generalizations
 Hasty Generalization

No fallacy
False Cause Fallacy
False Cause
Slippery slope fallacy
Slippery Slope Fallacy
Fallacy of Weak Analogy
 Begging the question
• Treating the arguable proposition as it is a fact. The conclusion that
writer should prove is affirmed in the claim
 The fallacies of presumption
When too much is assumed in the premises. The inference to the
conclusion is based on these unwarranted assumption.

Accidents
Begging the question
Complex question
Begging the question
 Fallacies of Ambiguity
• Fallacies of ambiguity arises from equivocal use of words

Equivocation
Accent
Amphiboly
Composition
Division