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Strawmen/women, False Dilemma, Slippery Slope Sign In! Fake quiz!/review Strawman arguments False Dilemmas Types of false dilemmas Slippery Slopes For next time: Read Chapter 7 pages 223-229 Fake Quiz! Diagram the following argument: Since (1) we can conclude (2) and (3). 2 by itself implies (4); (3) implies (5). (4) separately implies (6) and (7). When combined, (5) and (7) imply (8). (6) also implies (8). [Assume that (2) and (3) are separate claims implied by (1)]. Fake Quiz! What, if anything, is wrong with the following: (A) claims: 1. Logical fallacies are sometimes the result of cognitive biases 2. Studies have shown that becoming aware of cognitive biases can reduce the degree to which you fall prey to them.* 3. :. Studying cognitive biases can help to reduce the degree to which we resort to fallacious reasoning *Assume that A cites articles from JSTOR for support Fake Quiz! What, if anything, is wrong with B's response to the argument by A? (A): Sometimes, especially when there is a threat of wide-scale bank failure, it's a good idea to nationalize banks, at least temporarily (B): So what you're saying is that you agree with Hitler's economic policy? Are you crazy? Fake Quiz! Scientists from a major drug manufacturer have run limited trials on their new experimental depression drug Plahseebow. After giving the drug to 5 patients they discovered that 4 out of 5 report feeling 'a little better' after taking the medication. The scientists conclude that their new drug is improving patient's mood and that it should be mass marketed. What, if anything, is wrong with this reasoning? Strawmen/women It's easy to beat up on a person made out of straw: they don't fight back! We produce a strawman argument when we argue against an exaggerated or clearly false position instead of addressing an actual argument or claim Strawmen/women and other fallacies Strawmen arguments are often made in conjunction with other fallacious arguments For example: (A): I believe that we should have the right to bear arms (B): What? So you think it's okay to walk around with machine guns just because you're insecure and feel threatened by everything? What a nut! Note that B has not only strawmanned A's claim but also committed both circumstantial and personal attack ad hominems while leaving A's claim untouched Strawman/woman and cognitive biases Strawman arguments are often made in the hopes that they trigger your cognitive biases We have seen the power of framing effects, for example: how we are presented with information affects our beliefs We have also seen how negativity biases can affect our judgments of character and value A strawman argument uses these biases to achieve its persuasiveness (this is why it works) but it is still bad reasoning Example “I'm a very controversial figure to the animal rights movement. They no doubt view me with some measure of hostility because I am constantly challenging their fundamental premise that animals are superior to human beings.”* Why is this an example of a Strawman argument? *Moore and Parker. Critical Thinking. 10th ed. Page 218. Dilemma A dilemma occurs when we are faced with at least two different options which are both unattractive or impossible Recall the moral dilemma that we looked at in class: 'sheriff' In the 'sheriff' case we had more than two options but all of our available options involved sacrificing or modifying one of two important moral intuitions Showing that a claim leads to a dilemma can therefore make for a persuasive argument to avoid the claim Another Moral Dilemma A trolley is heading downhill out of control You are standing right in front of a lever that can switch the track the trolley is on There are 5 people tied to the original track, if you do nothing they all die There is only 1 person tied to the other track Do you switch tracks? False Dilemma When we portray something as a dilemma when it really is not one then we are guilty of the fallacy of false dilemma (faulty dilemma) Either A or B A dilemma is faulty when there are more options available than the ones presented (especially if the options not presented are more attractive or sensible) False dilemmas are often used in conjunction with strawman arguments to persuade us in favor of one obvious choice False Dilemma Examples “You can choose to either switch to diet sodas or prepare yourself for a lifetime of medical problems resulting from too much sugar” “If we don't accept the President's new bill then we are essentially voting for a double dip recession” “You succeed by working hard, if you don’t succeed then you didn’t work hard enough.” Notice that in all of these cases there are many other reasonable options available that are not presented and that one choice is obviously superior to the other Slippery Slope Arguments If we vote in favor of new gun restrictions, pretty soon it will be almost impossible to legally own any guns at all. If that happens then only criminals will own guns and crimes will go way up. You don't want that do you? Then don't vote in favor of the new gun restrictions. A slippery slope is a slope you want to avoid. Slippery slope arguments work according to this principle: A implies B and B implies C. C is terrible so let's not A. The argument above is a slippery slope argument, do you see why? Avoiding the Slippery Slope Slippery slope arguments often imply a series of causal relationships A leads to B which leads to C and E then F etc But this kind of argument becomes a fallacy when the intermediate stages are not given arguments of their own If we are not given any reason for thinking that A leads to B or that B leads to C then the argument is a fallacy and relies primarily on belief biases to persuade Slippery Slope Example We cannot relax the marijuana laws in this country because marijuana is a gateway drug. If you use marijuana then you are going to end up experimenting with harder and harder drugs. We cannot allow ourselves to create a society where access to hard drugs becomes legal or common therefore we must not relax marijuana laws Why is this a slippery slope argument? What should be done to improve it, if we wanted to improve it? Vagueness Fallacy: Line-Drawing We said that concepts are vague when they admit of borderline cases A vague concept has clear cases of application, clear cases of non-application, and then borderline cases There is a fallacy that appeals to this feature of vague concepts to support claims: the line-drawing fallacy Line-drawing arguments claim that the existence of borderline cases suggests that the concept itself should not apply at all Line-Drawing Fallacy (A) I can't possibly watch too much T.V. How much is 'too much' anyway? Can you point to the minute when I go from watching 'enough' to watching 'too much'? No, you can't. If five hours is too much then why isn't four hours and fifty nine minutes? So you're wrong, I don't watch too much T.V. Why is this a line drawing fallacy? Can we help to respond to this fallacious argument by clarifying the ambiguity? How? Line-Drawing Fallacies (again) Most fallacies sound silly when made obvious but the linedrawing fallacy can affect important decisions Line-drawing reasoning, for example, was behind the acquittal of the police officers who were charged with beating Rodney King “...therefore, if we are to conclude that excessive force was indeed used, then sometime during the course of the beating...there must have been a moment—a particular blow—at which the force became excessive. Since there is no point at which we can determine that the use of force changed from warranted to excessive, we are forced to conclude that it did not become excessive at any time during the beating...” For next time: Read Chapter 7 pages 223-229 Study for midterm!