Critical Thinking: A Student’s Introduction

Chapter 5
Logical Fallacies—I

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

Definitions

Logical fallacy (or fallacy): An argument that

contains a mistake in reasoning
• Fallacy of relevance: Mistakes in reasoning that occur
because the premises are logically irrelevant to the
conclusion
• Fallacies of insufficient relevance: Mistakes in reasoning
that occur because the premises, though logically
relevant to the conclusion, fail to provide sufficient
evidence to support the conclusion

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-2

The Concept of Relevance

A statement is relevant to another statement if it

provides at least some reason for thinking that the
second statement is true or false
• A statement can be relevant to another statement even
if the first statement is completely false
• A statement’s relevance to another usually depends on
the context in which the statements are made

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-3

Types of Relevance, 1

Positive relevance: Statement is positively relevant

to another statement if it counts in favor of that
statement
• Example: All dogs have five legs. Rover is a dog. So Rover
has five legs.

Negative relevance: Statement that counts against

another statement is said to be negatively relevant
• Example: Marty is a high-school senior. So, Marty likely
has a Ph.D.
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-4
Types of Relevance, 2

Logical irrelevance: Statement is logically irrelevant

to another statement if it counts neither for nor
against that statement
• Example: The earth revolves around the sun. Therefore,
marijuana should be legalized.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-5

Fallacies of Relevance

• Personal attack (Ad • Straw man

Hominem) popular type • Red herring
• Attacking the motive • Equivocation
• Look who’s talking (Tu • Begging the question
quoque)
• Two wrongs make a right
• Scare tactics
• Appeal to pity
• Bandwagon argument

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-6

Personal Attack (Ad Hominem), 1

This is a fallacy that dismisses an argument by

attacking the person that made the argument,
rather than the person’s argument or claim
• Example: Hugh Hefner argued against censorship. But
Hefner is a degenerate. Therefore, his argument is
worthless.

Common pattern
• X is a bad person
• Therefore, X’s argument must be faulty
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-7
Personal Attack (Ad Hominem), 2

Personal attacks are not fallacious when they

appear in arguments that are trying to establish
something about the character of the person
• Example 1: Millions of innocent people died in Stalin’s
ruthless ideological purges. Clearly, Stalin was one of the
most brutal dictators of the twentieth century.
• Example 2: Becky is a pathological liar. She has twice
been convicted of perjury. Therefore, her testimony is
not good evidence.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-8

Attacking the Motive, 1

The error of criticizing a person’s motivation for

offering a particular argument or claim, rather than
examining the worth of the argument or claim itself
• Example: Professor Michaelson has argued in favor of
tenure. But why should we even listen to Professor
Michaelson? As a tenured professor, of course he
supports tenure.
Common pattern
• X is biased or has questionable motives
• Therefore, X’s argument or claim should be rejected
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-9
Attacking the Motive, 2

Not all attacks on an arguer’s motives are fallacious

• Example: Burton Wexler, spokesperson for the American
Tobacco Growers Association, has argued that there is no
credible scientific evidence that cigarette smoking causes
cancer. Given Wexler’s obvious bias in the matter, his
arguments should be taken with a grain of salt.
• The example reflects the commonsense assumption that
arguments put forward by arguers with obvious biases or
motivations to lie need to be scrutinized with particular
care

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-10

Look Who’s Talking (Tu Quoque), 1

Fallacy is committed when an arguer rejects

another person’s argument or claim because that
person fails to practice what he/she preaches
• Example: I don’t need to stop smoking just because my
doctor tells me to. He smokes, and he won’t stop either!
Common pattern
• X fails to follow his/her own advice
• Therefore, X’s claim or argument should be rejected

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-11

Look Who’s Talking (Tu Quoque), 2

Arguments are good or bad because of their own

intrinsic strengths or weaknesses and not because
of who offers them
• If an argument is good, it is good no matter who
articulates it
• However, hypocritical behavior can (and should) be
criticized
• Example: I should stop smoking as my doctor told me, but
so should my doctor!

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-12

Two Wrongs Make a Right, 1

This fallacy is committed when one tries to make a

wrong action look right, by comparing it to another
wrong (perhaps worse) action
• Example: I don’t feel guilty about cheating; everyone
does it

Common forms
• X is common behavior. Therefore, X is not wrong.
• X is worse than Y. Therefore, Y is not wrong.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-13

Two Wrongs Make a Right, 2

There are times when an act that would otherwise

be wrong can be justified by citing the wrongful
actions of others
• Example: I killed the man because he was about to kill
me. It was an act of self-defense.
• Not all cases are clear
• Example: Jedediah Smith murdered three people in cold
blood. Therefore, Jedediah Smith should be put to death.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-14

Scare Tactics, 1

This fallacy is committed when an arguer threatens

harm (physical or nonphysical) to a reader or
listener if he or she does not accept the argument’s
conclusion
• The threat is irrelevant to the truth of the conclusion
• Example: This gun control bill is wrong for America, and
any politician who supports it will discover how wrong
they were at the next election.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-15

Scare Tactics, 2

Not all threats involve fallacies

• Example: You shouldn’t pass that law. If you do, it will
hurt public welfare.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-16

Appeal to Pity, 1

Occurs when an arguer inappropriately attempts to

evoke feelings of pity or compassion from his
listeners or readers
• Example 1: He deserves to make the football team. If he
doesn’t, he will be really upset.
• A starting position is deserved by ability, not by reaction
• Example 2: You shouldn’t give me an F in the class just
because I failed all the exams. I had a rough semester.
• A grade is deserved by achievement, not by circumstance

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-17

Appeal to Pity, 2

Such arguments are not always fallacious

• If feelings are legitimately a motivating factor for an
action, then bringing out those feelings are appropriate
for persuasion
• Example: Everyone is counting on you. Make them proud!
Play like the champions you are!

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-18

Bandwagon Argument, 1

An argument that plays on a person’s desire to be

popular, accepted, or valued
• Example: All the really cool kids at East Jefferson High
School smoke cigarettes. Therefore, you should, too.
Common form
• Everybody (or a selective group of people) believes or
does X
• Therefore, you should believe or do X, too

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-19

Bandwagon Argument, 2

Not all appeals to popular beliefs or practices are

fallacious
• Example: All the villagers say it is safe to drink the water.
Therefore, the water probably is safe to drink.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-20

Straw Man, 1

Fallacy is committed when an arguer distorts an

opponent’s argument or claim to make it weak (like a
straw man) in turn making it easier to attack
• Example: Senator Biddle has argued that we should outlaw
violent pornography. Obviously, the senator favors
censorship of free speech. Frankly, I’m shocked that such a
view should be expressed on the floor of the U.S. Senate. It
runs counter to everything this great nation stands for. No
senator should listen seriously to such a proposal.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-21

Straw Man, 2
• This “recasts” the plausible “anti-violent pornography”
argument as a not-so-plausible “anti-free-speech” argument

Common pattern
• X’s view is false or unjustified [but where X’s view has
been unfairly characterized or misrepresented]
• Therefore, X’s view should be rejected

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-22

Red Herring, 1

The fallacy is committed when an arguer tries to

sidetrack his audience by raising an irrelevant issue
and then claims that the original issue has
effectively been settled by the irrelevant diversion
• Example: Many people criticize Thomas Jefferson for
owning slaves. But he was one of our greatest presidents,
and his Declaration of Independence is one of the most
eloquent pleas for freedom and democracy ever written.
Clearly, these criticisms are unwarranted.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-23

Red Herring, 2

It is not a fallacy simply to change the subject or

evade an issue
• Example
• Q: Congressman, now that you have been convicted of
bribery and extortion, isn’t it high time that you resigned
from office?
• A: How about those Yankees! A ten-game lead at the All-
Star break!
• Since such arguments don’t attempt to settle the original
argument, no fallacy is committed
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-24
Equivocation, 1

Committed when a key word is used in two or more

senses in the same argument
• The apparent success of the argument depends on the
shift in meaning
• Example: (1) Any law can be repealed. (2) The law of
gravity is a law. (3) Therefore, the law of gravity can be
repealed.
• The meaning of “law” is different in (1) than it is in (2) and
(3)

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-25

Equivocation, 2

Common pattern
• All A’s are B’s
• C is an A
• Therefore, C is a B
The fallacy becomes apparent when the meaning of
the word “law” is clarified in the previous example
• Example: (1) All laws regulating human conduct are
things that can be repealed. (2) The law of gravity is an
observed uniformity of nature. (3) Therefore, the law of
gravity can be repealed.
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-26
Begging the Question, 1

Fallacy is committed when an arguer states or

assumes as a premise the very thing he or she is
trying to prove as a conclusion
• Example 1: Capital punishment is wrong because it is
ethically impermissible to inflict death as punishment for
a crime
• The conclusion is just a restatement of the premise

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-27

Begging the Question, 2

• Example 2: Everything the Bible says is true. The Bible

says that whatever it says is true. Therefore, whatever
the Bible says is true.
• This is an example of circular reasoning

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 5-28