Chapter 6 – Logical Fallacies II – Fallacy of insufficient evidence (cont.)

Hi again!

In my previous post, I have given an introduction to fallacy of insufficient evidence, and only mentioned 1 of the 9 fallacies in the list. This post will continue in the elaboration of this topic. However, in this post only examples are given and not explanations on the fallacies. Its intentionally done so in order to polish your mind and figure out the explanation by yourselves in accordance to the examples given.

This post is contributed by two of my Critical Thinking students, which are Wan and Man. I hope the others qould take this as a challenge and in turn contribute your own piece into this blog. Anyhow, Enjoy!

2. Appeal to ignorance.

Example:

There must be an AIDS cure. No one says that there are none. There are no AIDS cure. No one says has proven that here are.

3.False alternatives

Example:

“Hey man, the choice is simple, join us in selling drugs and we all get a lot of money. Or else, your wife and children will be held prisoner. How would it be?”

4.Loaded questions

Example:

Police: So, will you admit that you have stopped raping old women?.
Aziz: Yes, er…. no…

5.Questionable cause

i. Post hoc fallacy

(assuming without proper evidence, that because A happened before B, A is the cause of B)

Example:

Three days after Mat Sabu entered the Mr. Ilham’s Critical Thinking class, all the other students caught  a vicious flu. Mat Sabu must be the cause this happened.

ii. More correlation fallacy

(assuming without proper evidence , that because A and B occured together , A must be the cause B or vice versa)

Example:

Every August, the villagers of Dusun Village sacrified a goat to the ‘Guardian of the Lake’ , and every September all the durian trees at Dusun Village flowered. Therefore, if we sacrifice a goat to the Guardian of the Lake’ every August, surely all the durian trees will eventually flower.

iii. Oversimplified cause fallacy

(assuming without proper evidence, that A is the sole cause of B, even though are several)

Example:

Recently this year, the overall SPM Examination result have fallen drastically. This must be caused by the existence of PS3 in the market.

6. Hasty generalization.

Example:

My mother have hired 3 Indonesian maids. They are   all lazy to the bone. It is clear that all Indonesian maids are lazy.

7. Slippery Slope.

Example:

We should not brush our teeth too often because flouride abrasion to the teeth. Abrasion to the teeth can lead to teeth. Abrasion to the teeth can lead to teeth and gum problem and will cause them to be damaged teeth, and ultimately make us look less attractive. It is certain that brushing our teeth too often will make us look less attractive.

8. Weak analogy.

Example:

Hockey sticks are long and hard, and can be used as a weapon. A French bread, “Baguette” is long and hard too. Most probably, it can be used as a weapon.

9. Inconsistency.

Example:

Joe: ” We should not smoke here. It’s against the college rules.”

Mat: ” Didn’t you just had your puff here a minute ago?”

Joe: “Yeah. So what?”

Mat: “Nothing. Just checking…”

- Courtesy of Man and Wan, Critical Thinking Class of July 2008