LOGIC - Module 4b the Fallacies of Content

8/3/2019 LOGIC - Module 4b the Fallacies of Content

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Teach a child

WHAT to THINK

and you makehim a slave ofknowledge;But, teach achild HOW to

THINK and youmake

knowledge hisslave.


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Prepared by Mr. Roland Lorenzo M. RubenPhilosophy section, SSDDe La Salle University - Dasmarias


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INTRODUCTION

As they trained the young men of Greecein rhetorics and forensic oratory, theiremphasis on the power of words resulted toverbal trickery. The Sophists stressed

persuasion rather than truth.


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The philosopherSocrates (470-399 B.C.)

started his unrelentingassault against their

shady dealings.

INTRODUCTION

Plato (427-347B.C.) immortalized

their attacks againstthem in hisilluminating literarymasterpieces.


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Aristotle, wrote the first formal studies

on logic, the verbal trickeries of the Sophistswas included in their scope.

Since then, the study of fallacies, as theSophists' verbal trickery came to be called,

has been considered an integral part of logic.

INTRODUCTION


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The fallacies are lies and faultyarguments that, although incorrect, aresubjectively convincing.

That means they are not just plain lies andfaulty arguments, for there are countlessother lies and incorrect arguments whosemalice and faultiness are obvious andcould not deceive anybody.

The fallacies are a special type, for they

can easily pass off as truth and soundreasoning.

INTRODUCTION


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The reason why they are considered partof logic is the idea that through acomprehensive study of what is

incorrect, faulty and deceptive, wemay learn:

what is to be avoidedand, eventually,

what is to be pursued thetruth.

INTRODUCTION


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Though the Sophists were long gone their legacy

has remained alive with us. To date, the most prolific spinner of fallacies are

the commercial advertisements whoseglossy prints, gigantic billboards, lovely jingles,and attractive video clips are omnipresent, trying

to cast their seductive spells on the unwary.

INTRODUCTION


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Closely following the advertisers are thepoliticians, the most seasoned and theproverbial fallacy workers.

Their wagging tongues, calculatedgestures and cunning moves are designedto fool voters.

INTRODUCTION


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Moreover, the ghosts of the Sophists arerestless, they can actually possessanybody.

Fallacies can be made and uttered byanyone, by our enemies and friends,

by our professors and classmates, byour parents and even by ourselves.

INTRODUCTION


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The world is in fact buzzing with lies. Theonly way to be spared from them is to

avoid them, but the only way toavoid them is to know them inthe first place.

It is quite frustrating to know that theremay be hundreds of fallacies circulatingaround, and several of theses hundredsare hybrids -- meaning, single incorrect

arguments that are incorrect in more thanone way.

INTRODUCTION


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What follows are studies of someof the most fundamental andelementary kinds of fallacies.

INTRODUCTION


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II. FALLACIES OF CONTENT

The second major block of fallacies that weare going to examine are faulty not becauseof their structure, but on account of theirquestionable content. Hence they are calledfallacies of content. Under this majorblock, we have three (3) groups, namely:

a) linguistic manipulation

b) psychological warfare

c) logical maneuvers


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A. LINGUISTICMANIPULATIONS

There are some fallacies of content that

are fabricated by manipulating thelanguage used in order to achieve somedesired effect.

The fallacies under this group wouldexploit the nature of language in generaland of words in particular.


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a. Linguistic manipulations

It has been established since classical times that for

every word there is something signified. This thingthat is signified by the word is what we call thedenotation, or the objective meaning. But everydenotation and every word will always imply certainattributes and characteristics, these are the

connotation, or the subjective meaning. For instance, the words man of principle, obstinate,

and pig-headedroughly denote the same thing, thatis a person who is firm and who sticks to hisprinciples. But the connotation of each word varies

from one another. Man of principleobviously soundshighly positive compared to pig-headed. Whereasdenotations are usually fixed and rigid, connotationsare not.


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a. Linguistic manipulations

The fallacies of linguistic manipulation

exploits this connotative fluidity in orderto impress and intimidate, to seduce

and to secure sympathies, or simply to

mislead others.

1. Prestige jargon2. Emotional words

3. Double talking or euphemism

In this group of fallacies, we can see that

though language is the medium throughwhich we convey truth, it can also be themedium through which we conceal thesame truth.


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JARGON means technical and specialized

language.

When used among experts and among persons ofthe same field of practice, who are all familiar withthe denotations of their specialized terminology,

jargon is all right and even helpful for the sake of

precision.

But when maliciously used for anaudience who are not experts or whobelong to other fields of practice in order

to sound impressive and intimidating, thepresence of jargon becomes questionable.

1. PRESTIGE JARGONA. LINGUISTICMANIPULATIONS


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For example, when a school physician tells the

parents of somebody who is injured in a campus

brawl "the patient is suffering fromcircumorbital hematoma, the prescribedtreatment is a regulated application of low-

temperature compress, and our prognosis ishighly positive given an ample time frame,"when he simply means that "the patient got a blackeye, he needs cold compress and his conditionwould disappear after a few days," is guilty of the

fallacy of prestige jargon.



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The use of jargon can be fallacious in two ways.

First, when somebody starts using highlytechnical words, the immediate connotation wouldbe is that such a person is an expert in his field,and who would dare to argue against an expert.That is intimidation.

Second, by using jargon one can easily obscurehis own points thereby confusing others andpreventing them to counter argue.

Next time when you hear somebody saying "such a

phenomenal event occurred in accordance to thepre-designed volitions of the supreme and divinebeing," when he clearly meant "it is God's will,"malicious jargon is there.



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The fallacy of the use of emotional words happens

when one carefully employs words andimages that are heavy with emotional

connotations in order to secure the

sympathies of others.

2. EMOTIONAL WORDSA. LINGUISTICMANIPULATIONS


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2. EMOTIONAL WORDSA. LINGUISTICMANIPULATIONS


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Words can either have negative or positive

connotations.Sometimes we can hide unpleasant denotations by

employing words with positive connotations. This isthe fallacy of double talking, or euphemism.

This happens whenever we carefully

package our unpleasant ideas in nice

sounding words. Here, words are used

to hide, to mask and to mislead others.

the use of words that sound better.

3. DOUBLE TALKING OREUPHEMISM



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For instance, gamblingas a pleasant connotation,

so the organizers of Lotto posted billboards sayingplay herewhen they clearly meant gamble here.

The bad news that there will be tax increase canbe stated as "there will be a tax enhancement," orinflation as "price enhancement."

When Ferdinand Marcos declared the martial law,he called his regime constitutionalauthoritarianism, when everybody knows that itwas actually a dictatorship.




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The lab rat wasn't killed, it wassacrificed.

Mass murder wasn't genocide, itwas ethnic cleansing.

The death of innocent bystanders iscollateral damage.

Microsoft doesn't find bugs, orproblems, or security vulnerabilities:they just discover an issuewith apiece of software.




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b. Psychological warfare

Classically, man has been defined as a rationaland intelligent animal. Yet, modern psychology andexperience have proven that such a definition is onlyhalf true. Aside from being rational and intelligent,man is also an animal of sensuousness, of emotionsof will and of the sub-conscious.

The human mind is not all intellect and cognition buta faculty with several aspects. It has a sense andperceptual aspect, an affective and emotional aspect,a cognitive and intellectual aspect, a volitional orwilling aspect, and a subconscious aspect.

Most often, man is not guided by his cognitive

and intellectual powers but by his sensuousness,emotions and subconscious drives.


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The fallacy of meaning from association isperhaps the most abused fallacy in theproduction of commercial advertisements.

Here, the advertised products are put

side by side with logically unrelatedthings and ideas, to suggest that if you

purchase this or that product you too

get the associated things and ideas.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE


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Though from a logical point of view, theunrelatedness of the products and thethings associated with them is quiteobvious, still many of us are persuaded bythis fallacy.

The fact that it is frequently employed byadvertisers attest to its effectivity.

Marshall McLuhan, a pioneering theorist inmass communications, has evensuggested that advertisements will not onlyseduce man's sensuousness andemotions, but even his sub-conscious itself.This is what McLuhan calls the subliminal

seduction.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE


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B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE


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B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE


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The fallacy of misuse of authority is a widely

used psychological tactic.Since we cannot possibly be experts in all sorts

of fields, consulting and appealing to authoritiesare oftentimes useful. When one finds amathematical problem too difficult, it is only

appropriate to consult one's mathematicsprofessor, or when having problems with anEnglish composition, the best thing to do is toapproach the language professor.

The fallacy of misuse of authority happenswhenever we cite an authority in one

given field regarding an issue that is

outside his/her field of competence.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE


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B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE


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It is a fact that it is easier to accept a liethat one has heard many times before thanto accept truth that one has never heard of.The fallacy of repeated assertion takes

advantage of this psychological fact. This fallacy repeats or multiplies

essentially the same assertion

with the aim that sooner or later

people will accept it as true.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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Adolf Hitler used this fallacy, when he practically

littered Germany with his ideological banners andslogans.

The politician who clutters all the street corners andpublic walls with his and office long before electiontime and with truck-loads of posters during the

campaign season is guilty of this fallacy.More ingenious advertisers will compose catchy

jingles or television scenes that will hopefully recurover and over again in heads of the audience, sothat even though the advertisement is no longer in

front of them they will still see it or hear it in theirminds.

But of course stating a lie a hundred times willcertainly not make it true.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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The person's attitude is his habitual way of

regarding other persons, objects, situationsor ideas.

The fallacy of attitude fitting is done

through inserting into the

argument persons, objects,situations or ideas that are known

in advance to be positively or

negatively regarded by the

intended audience.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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As early as the later part of the ninth

century, the Vikings discovered a hugeisland that is 85 % covered with ice.Wanting to attract more settlers, theynamed it Greenland. At about the same

time they also discovered another territorywhich was lush and fertile, wanting to keepthe island for themselves they called itIceland. They knew very well that otherpeoples love the images of a green and

fertile land, and were disgusted with theimages of ice and frozen wasteland. Theirstrategy of naming in order to attract andrepel was an early example of attitude

fitting.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

Modern advertisers knew verywell our seemingly incurablecolonial mentality, and howour people esteem productsfrom the USA as superior to

our local counterparts. Thus,they packaged cigarettes,soap, shirts, as having thespirit of the USA, or havethem recommended by some

American doctors, or informthe audience that suchproducts are preferred bymost Americans.

B


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Politicians knew too the attitude of

Filipinos towards movie stars. If they canafford it, they will certainly bring one ormore actors along their campaign trail.Some politicians would even go to the

extent of enlisting actors as their runningmates or including them in the list ofcandidates in their party.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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Tokenism is a favourite ploy among

politicians.

This fallacy happens when people

are misled to see a token gesture

as the real thing.

Whenever substantial action is needed butperforming it would be too expensive, timeand effort consuming, and even distractingto one's agenda, politicians resort to

tokenism. Here, they will perform a littletoken gesture, dramatize it as much aspossible and let the press shout about itas loud as they can.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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When one poisons a well all the water that

is drawn from it becomes poisoned andunpotable.

The fallacy of poisoning the well works

similarly. It happens when one

discounts in advance theopponent's evidence, proof, or

counter argument, thereby

preventing him from employing

them.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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When a biblical fundamentalist says "theories are

speculations, and speculations are alwaysunreliable, now how do you prove your theory ofevolution?," he is already discounting in advancethe value of a theory and has prevented hisopponent to argue in favour of it. Hence, he haspoisoned the well from which his opponent maydraw his evidences, proofs and counter arguments.

When your biology professor exhorts the class thatonly lazy students ask for examinations with opennotes, then asks later on who wants an examinationwith an open notes he is using the same ploy.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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Aesop, a 6th century Greek folk hero and

teller of animal fables, had a story about afox who felt so bad because he could notgrab the hanging bunch of grapes. Aftersome more tries the fox finally gave up

and comforted himself, saying, "Anyway,those grapes are sour. Who would like toeat sour grapes?"

When one's ego is placed in an

unpleasant situation one canspin untrue, but pleasant,

reasons to settle things.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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Some teachers who were driven into their

profession by circumstances wouldrationalize that it is their decision to be intheir profession because moulding theyouth into better citizens is the noblest

task a man could ever dream of. If realreasons are not available, pleasantreasons can always be made.

This is the fallacy of rationalization, itmakes a clearly delicious bunch of grapessour, and the obviously sour lemon sweet.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B


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B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B.


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This fallacy still bears its classical Latin

name. Baculummeans a club or staff, andargumentum ad baculum roughly meansan argument accompanied with athreatening blow of a club.

This fallacy happens when force orthe threat of force is used instead

of proper reason.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B.


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A professor who is bombarded with

numerous questions regarding acontroversial subject matter can easilycontrol everything by screaming "shut up,or else I'll flunk you all," but he commits

this fallacy.The father who says "you better study

well, or I'll cut your allowance," is as guiltyas the board room strategist who insists"all executives should act in accordancewith this proposal, otherwise the CEO willrecall their appointments.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B.


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Maybe the most famous and the mostdramatic example of this fallacy in moderntimes is the life of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). With the use of the newly inventedtelescope, Galileo compiled mathematicaland empirical data supporting the

Copernican heliocentric world system,which unfortunately was seemingly incontradiction with the bible. Instead ofarguing with him on scientific and

mathematical grounds, Rome merelyissued an edict condemningCopernicanism in 1616, then tried andsentenced Galileo to life imprisonment for"vehement suspicion of heresy" in 1633.

B.PSYCHOLOGICAL

WARFARE

B.


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Argumentum ad hominem is another

fallacy that still bears its classical Latinname. It simply means argument againstthe person. Normally, arguments attackthe opponent's arguments and counter-arguments.

The fallacy of argumentum ad hominemattacks the person of the opponent

himself. It wrongly assumes that if

you discredit a person, hisargument is also discredited.

PSYCHOLOGICALWARFARE

B.


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Person P claims that C is true.

But, Person P has a certain quality.Therefore, C is false.

There are two forms of this fallacy--theabusive form and the circumstantial

form. The abusive occurs when you claim that

what someone says is false becausethere is something wrong with him or her.

The circumstantial form occurs in acouple of ways. This fallacy occurs whensomeone claims that what someone saysis false, because of the circumstances ofthe speaker.


B.


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A special type of circumstantial ad

hominem argument is called the tuquoque ("you too") fallacy. It occurswhen someone claims that the speaker ismistaken because the speaker does not"practice what he/she preaches."


B.


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However, in court adjudications

argumentum ad hominem may bereasonably used. Lawyers may attack thetestimony of witnesses by focusing ontheir character, credibility and expertisebecause witnesses and experts likedoctors, and psychologists often presentopinions which we cannot argue withdirectly. The next best way then is toevaluate their credibility, integrity, and

judgment. (ex. The movie, Enemy of theState.)


B.


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When reasons, evidences, proofs and

answers are unavailable, one can still foolothers by using proper gestures, wellcalculated intonations and positivelanguage.

The fallacy of confident manner issaying too little or nothing at all in

so much impressive words and

body language.


LOGIC - Module 4b the Fallacies of Content

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