From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 08:53:41 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Mission:Critical and Informal Fallacies
Message-ID: <v0400277bb0967c576ccc@[139.167.130.248]>
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I've been writing a gigantic e$ rant, :-), which I haven't done in a while,
and so I've left things to pile up in my POP account until I was done. I'm
done, and I'm still bashing the (blatant :-)) silliness out of it, and will
send it here soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to find a quick and dirty list of informal
logical fallacies, and, while I was at it, I bumped into Mission:Critical,
which is fairly comprenensive website on logic an critical thinking.
Evidently you can earn college credit on it, for those of you who need
college credit. :-). Here it is.

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/

Also, I've found a reasonable list of informal fallacies, from
<http://ddi.digital.net/~setzerl/LOGIC.htm>, (which see for applicable
attributions) which I've appended here. That way, you can all keep score at
home. Expect me to use a bunch, whether I want to or not... :-). Notice
that argumentum ad hominem is when you discount someone's opinion because
of who they are or what they do. Vuperative insults, it seems, are another
thing altogether.  :-).


It's a shame that Tim seems to have killfiled me at this point. Usually, I
like it, because then I can post stuff here without him tearing me a new
asshole very time.  This time, since I'm doing the tearing, maybe he's just
hiding. Which is fine, because he can run, but he can't hide on this crap
anymore...

More in a bit, when I get e$pam all caught up.

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga

-------


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                   Slick Maneuver Identification Table #1

                       Fallacies of Oversimplification

           SLICK MANEUVER                           EXAMPLE

  Special Pleading or                "During a period of war sales
  Card-Stacking: Stacks the deck of  increase, prices rise, and greater
  evidence to facilitate a desired   profits are made. Therefore wars are
  outcome.                           brought about by persons who profit
                                     financially from them."

  Genetic Fallacies: Attempt to
  reduce the significance of a       "Our nation cherishes freedom today,
  movement or a state of affairs     since many of the founders of the
  merely to a proposed account of    republic were men who prized freedom
  its origins or earliest            more than life itself."
  antecedents.

  False Cause: Oversimplifies the
  relevant antecedents of a given    "Rome fell because its leaders
  series of events.                  quarreled among themselves."

  False Analogy: Takes two or more
  objects which are similar in some  "Minds, like rivers, can be broad. The
  ways and makes an unwarranted      broader the river, the shallower it
  inference about the additional     is. Therefore, the broader the mind,
  ways in which such objects could   the shallower it is."
  be similar.

  Black-and-White Fallacy:
  Overlooks both gradations and      "All politicians are either highly
  additional alternatives between    efficient or completely inept."
  extreme positions.

  Accident: Applies a general        "If it is wrong to break into a cabin,
  principle to an exceptional case   then a cabin should not entered to
  without critical examination or    save a party from freezing even though
  regard to context.                 they are caught in a blizzard."

                                     "Since it is permissible for a student
  Converse Accident: Generalizes     to delay handing in his assignment if
  from an exceptional case to a      he is called home on an emergency, it
  proposed general principle.        is permissible for a student to delay
                                     handing in an assignment whenever he
                                     chooses to do so."

                                     "Smith, Jones, and Brown are members
  Hasty Generalization: Reaches a    of labor unions and each of them is
  generalized conclusion on the      interested in gaining the maximum pay
  basis of too limited a range of    with the least amount of work.
  examples.                          Therefore, all members of labor unions
                                     are interested only in gaining the
                                     highest wage for the least work."

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                   Slick Maneuver Identification Table #2

                  Fallacies of Misuse of Appeal to Emotions

           SLICK MANEUVER                           EXAMPLE

  The Misuse of Appeal to Laughter:  "Anyone who accepts the conclusions of
  Diverts attention from the         my opponent would also be forced to
  central issues and stifles         accept the view that the tail wags the
  serious thought and analysis.      dog."

  The Appeal to Pity (Argumentum Ad  "John deserves a 'C' in this class
  Misericordiam): Replaces relevant  since his parents have sacrificed to
  evidence for a conclusion with a   send him to college and he will not
  bid for the sympathy of an         graduate if he receives a lower
  audience.                          grade."

  The Appeal to Reverence: Replaces  "We must beware of foreign entangling
  relevant evidence for a            alliances since Washington, the
  conclusion with a bid for respect  founder of our nation, warned us
  for traditions.                    against taking such a course of
                                     action."

  The Bandwagon Fallacy: Appeals to
  an interest in following the       "You ought to buy a small European
  crowd and doing as they do rather  sports car as all members of the smart
  than to adequate evidence          crowd now own one of these cars."
  justifying a conclusion.

                                     "I'm sure that you will recognize that
  The Common-Folks Appeal: Appeals   I am more competent than my opponent.
  to attempts to secure acceptance   When I was in high school I had to get
  of a conclusion by the speaker's   up at four-thirty every morning to
  identification with the everyday   deliver papers. In college I was
  concerns and feelings of an        barely able to make C's and had to do
  audience rather than on the basis  janitorial work in order to make ends
  of adequate evidence.              meet to put myself through school.
                                     Therefore, I would make a better
                                     Congressman."

  Appeal to the Gallery (Argumentum  "As you union members know, I am a
  Ad Populum): Seeks acceptance of   champion of the labor movement, and
  a point of view by an emotional    seek to eliminate exploitation of the
  reaffirmation of a speaker's       common worker by big business.
  support of values, traditions,     Therefore, you know you can trust my
  interests, prejudices, or          judgment when I say that this
  provincial concerns shared widely  agricultural legislation will be good
  by members of an audience.         for the country."

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                   Slick Maneuver Identification Table #3

                Fallacies of Involved or Complex Assumptions

              SLICK MANEUVER                           EXAMPLE

  Begging the Question (Petitio
  Principii): Assumes what needs to be    "All the events in nature are
  proven and offers this assumption as    determined. Human events are
  evidence for a conclusion that only     part of the events in nature.
  particularizes the assumption or that   Therefore, human events are
  restates an equivalent form of the      determined."
  original assumption.

  Arguing in a Circle: Uses a premise as  "Democracy is desirable because
  evidence to establish a conclusion,     it promotes freedom of inquiry.
  and this conclusion is used as          But why is freedom of inquiry
  evidence to establish the original      desirable? Because it promotes
  premise.                                democracy."

  Name-Tagging: Assumes the attachment
  of labels to persons or things          "This application is easy to
  constitute evidence for conclusions     use. Look at its label, 'Easy
  about the objects to which the labels   Applicator.'"
  are applied.

                                          "Anything that you say would be
  Poisoning the Wells: Discredits the     influenced by your interest in
  source of proposed evidence, so that    civil rights. You may make your
  the evidence is ruled out prior to any  statement, but we shall know
  consideration of its merits.            beforehand that it will be
                                          distorted and unreliable."

  Complex Question: Assumes or
  presupposes a certain state of
  affairs, so that any answer involves    "Have you stopped telling lies?"
  the granting of the assumption.

  Leading Question: "Plants" a proposed   "You do believe that longer
  answer to a question by the manner in   vacations are desirable, do you
  which the question is asked.            not?"

  Contradictory Assumptions: Attempts to
  make two or more contradictory          "What would happen if an
  assumptions, thus violating the         irresistible force met an
  Aristotelian rule of "either-or."       immovable object?"

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                   Slick Maneuver Identification Table #4

               Fallacies of Imprecision in the Use of Language

          SLICK MANEUVER                           EXAMPLE

  The Misuse of Vague             "You claim that you believe in free
  Expressions: Occurs if a        enterprise, yet you accept socialistic
  conclusion not justified by     practices of government like the War on
  evidence is attributable to     Poverty and Medicare. The American way
  the misinterpretation of a      of life has never endorsed a policy of
  vague expression.               providing something for nothing."

  The Fallacy of Simple
  Ambiguity: Results from an
  effort to establish a           "We cannot expect John to come since he
  conclusion by interpreting a    said, 'Nothing will deter me from
  statement in a manner not       coming.'"
  justified by the context.

  The Fallacy of Equivocation:    "Everything subject to law is subject to
  Changes or shifts the meaning   a lawgiver. The natural order is subject
  of a key expression in the      to a law. Therefore, the natural order
  middle of an argument.          is subject to a lawgiver."

  The Fallacy of Amphibole:
  Occurs if a conclusion not      "No cat has nine tails. Any cat has one
  justified by evidence is based  more tail than no cat. Therefore, any
  upon ambiguity attributed to    cat has ten tails."
  the syntax of a sentence.

  The Fallacy of Ambiguity of
  Significance: Occurs in the     "A period of higher unemployment is
  drawing of an improper          developing, since there was a one
  conclusion by                   percent increase in the rate of
  misinterpretation of the        unemployment in January."
  significance of a statement.

                                  A theme was returned to a student with
  The Fallacy of Accent: Occurs   the notation, "Some parts of this theme
  when improper emphasis is       are good and other parts interesting.
  placed upon a word, phrase, or  The interesting parts are inaccurate and
  a sentence and on this basis a  the good parts were copied." The student
  conclusion is inferred.         wrote his parents, "The grader wrote
                                  that my theme was 'good' and
                                  'interesting.'"

  The Fallacy of Division:        "Since surgeons have spent many years in
  Infers that the property of an  perfecting appendectomies, Dr. James
  organized whole also            Doe, the new surgeon in our town, has
  characterizes the parts of the  spent many years in perfecting his
  whole.                          technique in performing appendectomies."

  The Fallacy of Composition:     "Since the members of this team are the
  Infers that the qualities or    best players of their respective
  characteristics of parts of a   positions in the conference, a team
  whole must also characterize    composed of these players would be the
  the whole itself.               best team in the conference."

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                   Slick Maneuver Identification Table #5

                          Fallacies of Irrelevance

           SLICK MANEUVER                           EXAMPLE

  Fallacies Misusing Appeals to
  Authoritative Sources: Support a
  conclusion by appeals to           "Man must be immortal because this
  documents, generally held          belief has tended to be present in
  beliefs, or the opinions of        such widely differing societies in
  well-known persons that are not    highly divergent circumstances over
  particularly germane or qualified  such a long span of history."
  to deal with the point at issue.

  The Appeal to Force (Argumentum    "You should accept the view that our
  Ad Baculum): Substitutes force or  protection society can strengthen the
  the threat of its use for          sales of your product. Otherwise you
  rational evidence in the support   might find that your machinery has
  of a conclusion.                   been damaged and that your labor
                                     troubles increase."

  The Appeal to the Man (Argumentum
  Ad Hominem): Seeks to prove a      "The statement of this witness cannot
  conclusion false by attacking the  be accepted as reliable, since he
  character, reputation,             participated in a protest
  associations, or social            demonstration against the United
  situations of the person           States' foreign policy when he was a
  proposing it.                      student in college."

  The Argument from Intimidation:
  Asserts arbitrarily that a
  person's idea is false and then
  uses the assertion as proof of     "John asserts that no man is his
  that person's immorality. This     brother's keeper. This is a false
  fallacy was identified by Ayn      idea. Therefore, John is immoral."
  Rand in The Virtue of
  Selfishness.

  The Appeal to Ignorance
  (Argumentum Ad Ignorantium):
  Advances the position that if one  "Since you cannot disprove that there
  conclusion in an argument cannot   are flying saucers, you should accept
  be established convincingly, then  as reliable the reports of those
  the opposing view can be           claiming to have seen such objects."
  accepted.

                                     "Any high school graduate should be
  The Fallacy of an Irrelevant       admitted to any university supported
  Conclusion or of "Missing the      by taxes in his state, since he
  Point of the Evidence" (Ignoratio  should be assured of all privileges
  Elenchi): Stresses factors that    of citizenship guaranteed to him by
  may support a conclusion other     the Constitution, his family also
  than the one proposed.             pays taxes in that particular state,
                                     and he can get a better job if he is
                                     a graduate of a university."

  The Argumentative Leap (Non
  Sequitur): Jumps to a conclusion   "The electoral college is subject to
  with no immediate basis for        extreme criticism. Therefore,
  drawing the proposed conclusion    presidential candidates should be
  provided internally within the     nominated by popular votes rather
  argument.                          than by political conventions."

  Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (After
  This, Therefore Because of This):
  Suggests that because one event    "John had a cold. John took large
  follows another, the former must   doses of vitamin C. The cold
  have caused the latter, without    subsided. Therefore, the large doses
  showing a causal link. This        of vitamin C caused the cold to
  fallacy was identified by Frank    subside."
  R. Wallace in The Neo-Tech
  Discovery.
-----


-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/
Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>