Transcript What is a fallacy?

Persuasive Text
And Fallacies of Argument
What does it mean to be
persuasive?
 When you are persuasive you talk someone
into doing something or into believing a
certain way.
 A persuasive text is a piece of writing that
tries to accomplish this.
What are some types of
persuasive texts?
 Newspaper articles
 Speeches
 Advertisements
such as billboards,
magazine ads,
commercials, etc.
– These all try to
convince people
of something.
In order to persuade….
 Sometimes authors use something called a
FALLACY
 What is a fallacy? A fallacy is an error in
logic – in other words…a place where
someone has made a mistake in his
thinking.
 Ex. “A cloud is 90% water. A watermelon
is 90% water. Therefore, since a plane can
fly through a cloud, a plane can fly through
a watermelon.”
Fallacy
Origins of Word
 The word “fallacy” may derive from the
Latin word fallere meaning, “to deceive, to
trip, to lead into error or to trick.” The word
may also derive from the Greek phelos,
meaning “deceitful.”
About Fallacies
 Fallacies tend play tricks with your mind:
many people think that they are good
arguments.
 One reason why there are so many fallacies
is that many people use arguments to
persuade other people, and to win debates,
rather than to find the truth.
Beware of the Fallacy
 Of course, lawyers,
politicians, car sales
people, and others
define a good argument
as one that is persuasive,
whether it is sound or
not. They use
FALLACIES to try to
persuade people or win
arguments.
Types of Fallacies
 Ad Hominem
 Exaggeration
 Bandwagon
 Stereotyping
 Categorical Claim
 Slippery Slope (aka Camel’s Nose)
Ad Hominem (Abusive)
 Literally means
against “the man”
 Attacking the arguer
instead of their
argument.
Ad Hominem
 “We must dismiss
the conclusion of
Ms. Smith’s
argument because it
is clear to me at this
point that Ms.
Smith is a liar and a
thief!”
Ad Hominem
“Einstein
couldn't have
been right about
Relativity...just
look at the way
he combs his
hair!”
Ad Hominem
Billy-Bob says we
should make
mudding an
Olympic sport but
he’s a redneck.
Therefore, we
shouldn't allow it.
Exaggeration
 Represent
(something)
as being
larger,
greater,
better, or
worse than
it really is.
Bandwagon
 Bandwagon – the belief that something
should be done because the majority of
people do it (or wish to do it).
 Bandwagon advertising is when a company
says any variation of the phrase “Everyone
else is doing it, you should to”.
Bandwagon
 Have you ever seen a
poster in the hallway
like this?
 “You should go to the
school dance this
Friday. Everyone is
going to be there!”
Stereotyping
Stereotyping is the act of judging a
person or group of people because of
the actions or behaviors of others that
are similar.
Stereotyping
“All pitbulls
should be put
to sleep.
They are
dangerous
dogs.”
Categorical Claim
 Perform the task of
telling how one type
of thing or action
relates to another.
 All flowers are things
of beauty.
 Every flower is a thing
of beauty.
 Only things of beauty
can be flowers.
 It is necessary for a
flower to be a thing of
beauty.
Slippery Slope ( camels nose )
 If A is allowed to
happen then X, Y and
Z will also happen.
 No proof is given as to
why XYZ will happen.
Slippery Slope
 "We have to stop the
tuition increase! The
next thing you know,
they'll be charging
$40,000 a semester!"
 "We've got to stop
them from banning
Huckleberry Fin. Once
they start banning one
form of literature, they
will never stop. Next
thing you know, they
will be burning all the
books!"