Extract from “Practical Thinking skills” Chapter 12: Fallacies and biases.

Hugo and Charlotte are talking about fallacies and biases on the way to the supermarket:

Charlotte: So  what do we mean by fallacies or biases?

Hugo: These can be considered as mistakes (or errors) in reasoning and thinking that are inconsistent with the principles of good reasoning1.

Charlotte: What do you mean by good reasoning?

Hugo: Well, there are three types of fallacies.

Charlotte: What is the first?

Hugo: The first is where the reasons given are inconsistent or “self-defeating.

Charlotte: Such as?

Hugo: For example:

« Morality is relative and it is just a matter of opinion, and so it is always wrong to impose our opinions on other people2.

Charlotte: What is wrong with that?

Hugo: A good question. Let me continue:

“If morality is relative, it is also a relative matter whether we should impose our opinions on other people. If we should not do that, there is at least one thing that is objectively wrong3.”

Charlotte: I see, so what is the second type of fallacy? 

Hugo: This is where the assumptions (premises) are not reasonable in the cases being discussed (self-defeating claims). “I cannot speak a word of French” said in French.

Charlotte: Like “Je ne peux pas parler un seul mot de français!”

Hugo: Exactly! The argument defeats itself.

Charlotte: What about appeal to authority?

Hugo: Yes, the third type. This is where irrelevant reasons are proposed. For example, inappropriate appeal to pity, popular opinion, tradition, authority, peer pressure.

Charlotte: What do you  mean by appeal to authority?

Hugo: I mean appeal to inappropriate or false authority without further evidence. Here appeal to authority is used only in the sense that: “I have to do something or believe something because somebody-told me.”

Charlotte: Like “I believe that gravity exists because my teacher told me”

Hugo: Yes, a better argument that gives a reason would be : “I believe that gravity exists because of the overwhelming evidence that exists for the theory”

Charlotte: And my teacher helped me to access this information?

Hugo: Yes. And appeal to appropriate authority MUST be used in  virtually every conduct of existence. 

Charlotte: Such as?

Hugo: For example, before conducting their own experiment or research, scientists do not have enough lifetimes, knowledge and expertise to verify each experiment carried out by their predecessors over the last 10,000 years of human existence!

Charlotte: You wouldn’t be able to get anything done!

Discussion: Hugo and Charlotte

Hugo: Exactly! So, this use of past relevant reliable information is called “deferring to authority4

Charlotte: Also, when a person buys virtually any object such as a new smartphone, unless you are an electronic engineer, most people do not have the knowledge or the time to verify the electronic theory, circuits and components before trusting the phone to work! We just turn on the phone expecting it to work. Isn’t this also appeal to authority?

Hugo: Yes, indeed. There is also a fourth type where insufficient evidence is put forward to support what is being claimed. 

Charlotte: Thanks. Are there other fallacies?

Hugo: Yes, there is a list of classic fallacies5:

Charlotte: Here they are. What is ad hominem?

Hugo: This is when a theory is discarded because of the person arguing for it. For example: “You would say that because you are a woman”.

Charlotte: That’s not very nice! Is the next one  ad ignorantiam, the appeal to ignorance?

Hugo: That’s right.This is when a claim is accepted because no evidence has been found against it (for example no counterexample is known).

Charlotte: Where could that happen?

Hugo: Well, there are cases where there is positive evidence for a scientific law even though no evidence has been found against it.

Charlotte: And is ad misericordiam, the appeal to misery?

Hugo:No! This is appealing to pity. For example: “You should help me because I am poorer than you”.

Charlotte: And is ad populum, the appeal to popularity like peer pressure?

Hugo: Yes, this is accepting a claim on the basis of popularity. “Buy this washing powder for clothes because most households prefer it.”

Charlotte: Or peer pressure: “Wear these clothes because most people of your age like them?”

Hugo: Yes. There is also “affirming the consequent”

Charlotte: What is that ?

Peer pressure and clothes!

Hugo: This is saying: Q is true therefore P is true.

Charlotte: So, if P is true, Q must be true but the premise, P may not be the only reason why Q is true? 

Hugo: Exactly. Q leads to P; so P must also cause Q

Charlotte: Is there an example?

Hugo: Yes, if Kyoko goes to see the film on Tuesday night (Q), she will be too tired for work the following day (P). So, if she is tired on Wednesday (P) she must have gone to see the film. (Q)

Charlotte: But she may be tired because she had to work late at the office on Tuesday or she was training for a marathon.

Hugo: This is a different premise for her being tired.

Charlotte: I am beginning  to understanding this. But what is “Denying the antecedent?”

Hugo: This is the opposite to affirming the consequence, which we have just looked at.

Charlotte: This is “Inferring that Q is false just because if P is true, Q is also true, but P is false. »

Hugo: Here is premise 1: If Kyoko goes to see the film on Tuesday night (Q), she will be too tired for work the following day (P).

Charlotte: And premise 2: But she did not go to see the film (P is false),

Hugo: So the conclusion is: Therefore, she will not be tired on Wednesday.

Charlotte: But she could be tired because of a different reason.

Hugo: Yes, she may be tired because she had to work late at the office on Tuesday night or she was training for a marathon, even though she did not go to see the film.

Charlotte: What is begging the question (petito principii)?

Hugo: This is the idea of an argument where the claim or the conclusion is already assumed in the premise 6, and so can also be thought of as an informal fallacy. 

Charlotte: Could this still be a valid circular argument?

Hugo: Yes. The conclusion is assumed in the premise and is a valid argument, but it is not persuasive7. The conclusion may be obvious  or hidden in the premise, but the argument is circular.

An example is: “This book is educational and interesting (conclusion) because it says in chapter three, part 2 that this book is educational and interesting (premise)”.

Charlotte: Is there a more complicated example?

Hugo: Yes. Lau uses this example: « God exists because this is what the Bible says, and the Bible is reliable because it is the word of God8.”

Hugo: This is a valid but circular argument.

Charlotte: A more persuasive argument could be: The evidence from numerous archeological, theological and textual studies demonstrates that the Bible is reliable in all that it affirms. If the Bible is reliable in all that it affirms, then when it assumes that God exists, it can be believed.

Hugo: Or this: The evidence from numerous archeological, theological and textual criticism demonstrates that the Bible is reliable in all that it affirms. If the Bible is reliable in all that it affirms, then when it affirms that it is the word of God, it can be believed.

Charlotte: What about a complicated  or loaded question?

Hugo: This is a question, where the presupposition is not acceptable, and the answer commits the person to a response they would not accept in the context.

Charlotte: What examples do you have?

Hugo: What about these: a) “Have you stopped lying?” b) “Have you stopped beating your wife?” and c) “Have you stopped eating  chocolate?

Have you stopped eating chocolate? © Pexels

Charlotte: But these are trick questions!

Hugo: Yes, answering these questions assumes that you have accepted the underlying suppositions!

Charlotte: What about composition type questions?

Hugo: The components are used to argue that the whole has the same components as the parts. Example: The best player in each football team in a country are assembled to form a national team made of these players. Therefore, the National Team will be the best in the country. (This should be true but illness, bad management, lack of motivation etc. could cause this conclusion to be false).

Charlotte: What about division type questions?

Hugo:  These are the opposite of composition type questions

Charlotte: Do you have an example?

Hugo: Yes, a football team wins the Olympics, therefore every member of the team must be an excellent football player.

Charlotte: Is this not true?

Hugo: This is not necessarily true since the win may be due to four excellent players and the rest are mediocre.

Charlotte: So what is equivocation? Does it have to do with words?

Hugo: Yes. Equivocation or semantic equivocation is using the same  word to mean different things in an argument so that a false conclusion9 is reached e.g. the words good and selfish. 

Define Words (Photo from Pexel)

Charlotte: But, isn’t this easy to spot?

Hugo: No, it is not always easy to spot and so keywords should be defined in an argument to prevent this.

Charlotte: Isn’t that just being misleading?

Hugo: Yes, this is also speaking in a way that is deliberately unclear so as to hide the truth10.

Charlotte: Naughty! Naughty!

Hugo: Yes. Just so!

Charlotte: Is this linked to connotation words?

Hugo: Yes, but here with connotation words, the people debating may mean different concepts by the same word and may not even be aware of this!

Charlotte: For example, words like: God, moral truth, salvation, right wrong? 

Hugo: Yes, all the words that can cause arguments to heat up!

Charlotte: So these words need to be defined as well so that everyone knows what they are arguing about?

Hugo: Yes.

Charlotte:  So tell me about false dilemmas.

Hugo: This is presenting an option or a limited set of alternatives, where there are extremes (unless we know from other premises that this is true).

Charlotte: So, do you have examples?

Hugo: Yes here is a false dilemma: in the election, you must vote for the RED party or the BLUE party. If you vote for the RED party, there will be war. If you vote for the BLUE party, there will be peace.

Charlotte: But some people may support some government policies and not others and may choose to vote for neither party.

Hugo: True! That is why it is a false dilemma. You can choose not to vote but this option is not presented to you!

Charlotte:  So what is not a false dilemma?

Hugo: Here is an example: When there are no space missions currently traveling between theEarth and space, then every human being alive is either on planet Earth or in a space station.

Charlotte:  So we have two possibilities. So what is a “non sequitur? »

Hugo: This is another way of defining a bad argument, where the conclusion does not follow from the premise.

Charlotte: And what is “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc (literally, « after this, therefore because of this”?.

Hugo: These are arguments that link consequences that are not related and are due to other reasons:

Charlotte: For example?

Hugo: Inferring that X must be the cause of Y just because X is followed by Y.

Charlotte: In everyday language?

Hugo: For example: “I was walking along the street looking at some shops and was standing outside of the bakers, I saw a black cat walking under a silver ladder, the next thing I knew, there was an accident at the traffic lights where the driver of the BMW crashed into a black jaguar. This must be due to the black cat because while watching this I did not see a lamp post and bumped my head.”

Charlotte: That’s your fault if you bumped your head!

Hugo: Yes, thank you!

Charlotte: So what is a “Red Herring?”

Hugo: When arguing, an issue or claim that is irrelevant to the argument at hand, is raised. 

Charlotte: What’s the point?

Hugo: The purpose is to divert attention from the main subject. The red herring may express a strong opinion, but by design or by error, it diverts the question being discussed away from the main discussion.

Charlotte: Can this help the person arguing?

Hugo: Yes, the force of the argument may be increased away from the main discussion.

Charlotte: Could the person be arguing from emotion or bring in information that would be relevant only in another discussion?

Hugo: Exactly!

Charlotte: But when is a red herring not a real red herring?

Hugo: A good question. Dear reader, what do you think?

(C)Extract from “Practical Thinking skills” Chapter 12: Fallacies and biases. A.Adedapo 2020

Sources:

[1] Lau, Joe, and Jonathan Chan. “[F06] List of Fallacies.” [C01] What Is Critical Thinking?, Philosophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/list.php. Accessed 15th August 2018 at 19:48 https://Phileo ophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/

 [2] Lau, Joe, and Jonathan Chan. “[F06] List of Fallacies.” [C01] What Is Critical Thinking?, Philosophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/list.php. Accessed 15th August 2018 at 19:48 https://Phileo ophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/

[3] Lau, Joe, and Jonathan Chan. “[F06] List of Fallacies.” [C01] What Is Critical Thinking?, Philosophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/list.php. Accessed 15th August 2018 at 19:48 https://Phileo ophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/

 [4] Bennettt, Bo. “Appeal to Authority.” Logically Fallacious, 2020, www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Appeal-to-Authority. Accessed 8th August 2020

 [5] Lau, Joe, and Jonathan Chan. “[F06] List of Fallacies.” [C01] What Is Critical Thinking?, Philosophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/list.php. Accessed 15th August 2018 at 19:48

 [6] Hanks, Craig. “Begging the Question.” Department of Philosophy : Texas State University, Texas State University, 15 May 2019, www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/Begging-the-Question.html. Accessed 8th August 2020

 [7] “Begging the Question.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question. Accessed 8th August 2020

[8] L au, Joe, and Jonathan Chan. “[F06] List of Fallacies.” [C01] What Is Critical Thinking?, Philosophy.hku.hk/think/fallacy/list.php. Accessed 15th August 2018 at 19:48

[9] Nordquist, Richard. “The Logical Fallacy of Equivocation and How to Combat It.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 4 Dec. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/equivocation-fallacy-term-1690672. Accessed on 24th August 2019 at 17:38

[10] “EQUIVOCATE: Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/equivocate. Accessed 24th August 2019 at 17:50

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