Unraveling Fallacies: Decoding Common Errors in Reasoning

1. Lesson 9: Fallacies SOCI 108 - Thinking Critically about Social IssuesSpring 2012

2. Learning Outcomes • Define Fallacy • Identify common fallacies

3. What a Fallacy • A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning • A fallacious argument is one that contains a mistake in reasoning • If an argument exhibits a fallacy, it is probably a bad argument, but not always

4. Fallacies of Relevance • The statements are not relevant to the conclusion. • What’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?

5. Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence • The statements don’t provide enough evidence • The statements don’t provide the right kind of evidence, not weighty enough • My brother said versus an expert said • Consider the source • Dr. Phil’s diet • Do you question the source’s observations/is the source generally reliable? • Enquirer vs The New York Times • Did the person making the argument understand and cite the original source correctly? • Is there a conflict with other experts? • Smoking pot

6. Fallacies of Ambiguity • Ambiguous language or poor grammatical structure so you can’t follow

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