A timely and accessible guide to 100 of the most infamous logical fallacies in Western philosophy, helping readers avoid and detect false assumptions and faulty reasoning
Youll love this book or youll hate it. So, youre either with us or against us. And if youre against us then you hate books. No true intellectual would hate this book.
Ever decide to avoid a restaurant because of one bad meal? Choose a product because a celebrity endorsed it? Or ignore what a politician says because shes not a member of your party? For as long as people have been discussing, conversing, persuading, advocating, proselytizing, pontificating, or otherwise stating their case, their arguments have been vulnerable to false assumptions and faulty reasoning. Drawing upon a long history of logical falsehoods and philosophical flubs,Bad Argumentsdemonstrates how misguided arguments come to be, and what we can do to detect them in the rhetoric of others and avoid using them ourselves.
Fallaciesor conclusions that dont follow from their premiseare at the root of most bad arguments, but it can be easy to stumble into a fallacy without realizing it. In this clear and concise guide to good arguments gone bad, Robert Arp, Steven Barbone, and Michael Bruce take readers through 100 of the most infamous fallacies in Western philosophy, identifying the most common missteps, pitfalls, and dead-ends of arguments gone awry. Whether an instance ofsunk costs, is ought, affirming the consequent, moving the goal post, begging the question,or the ever-popularslippery slope, each fallacy engages with examples drawn from contemporary politics, economics, media, and popular culture. Further diagrams and tables supplement entries and contextualize common errors in logical reasoning.
At a time in our world when it is crucial to be able to identify and challenge rhetorical half-truths, this bookhelps readers to better understand flawed argumentation and develop logical literacy. Unrivaled in its breadth of coverage and a worthy companion to its sister volumeJust the Arguments(2011),Bad Argumentsis an essential tool for undergraduate students and general readers looking to hone their critical thinking and rhetorical skills.
Notes on Contributors xiii
Introduction 1
Part I Formal Fallacies 35
Propositional Logic 37
1 Affirming a Disjunct 39Jason Iuliano
2 Affirming the Consequent 42Brett Gaul
3 Denying the Antecedent 46Brett Gaul
Categorical Logic 49
4 Exclusive Premises 51Charlene Elsby
5 Four Terms 55Charlene Elsby
6 Illicit Major and Minor Terms 60Charlene Elsby
7 Undistributed Middle 63Charlene Elsby
Part II Informal Fallacies 67
Fallacies of Relevance 69
8 Ad Hominem: Bias 71George Wrisley
9 Ad Hominem: Circumstantial 77George Wrisley
10 Ad Hominem: Direct 83George Wrisley
11 Ad Hominem: Tu Quoque 88George Wrisley
12 Adverse Consequences 94David Vander Laan
13 Appeal to Emotion: Force or Fear 98George Wrisley
14 Appeal to Emotion: Pity 102George Wrisley
15 Appeal to Ignorance 106Benjamin W. McCraw
16 Appeal to the People 112Benjamin W. McCraw
17 Appeal to Personal Incredulity 115Tuomas W. Manninen
18 Appeal to Ridicule 118Gregory L. Bock
19 Appeal to Tradition 121Nicolas Michaud
20 Argument from Fallacy 125Christian Cotton
21 Availability Error 128David Kyle Johnson
22 Base Rate 133Tuomas W. Manninen
23 Burden of Proof 137Andrew Russo
24 Countless Counterfeits 140David Kyle Johnson
25 Diminished Responsibility 145Tuomas W. Manninen
26 Essentializing 149Jack Bowen
27 Galileo Gambit 152David Kyle Johnson
28 Gamblers Fallacy 157Grant Sterling
29 Genetic Fallacy 160Frank Scalambrino
30 Historians Fallacy 163Heather Rivera
31 Homunculus 165Kimberly BaltzerJaray
32 Inappropriate Appeal to Authority 168Nicolas Michaud
33 Irrelevant Conclusion 172Steven Barbone
34 Kettle Logic 174Andy Wible
35 Line Drawing 177Alexander E. Hooke
36 Mistaking the Relevance of Proximate Causation 181David Kyle Johnson
37 Moving the Goalposts 185Tuomas W. Manninen
38 Mystery, Therefore Magic 189David Kyle Johnson
39 Naturalistic Fallacy 193Benjamin W. McCraw
40 Poisoning the Well 196Roberto Ruiz
41 Proving Too Much 201Kimberly BaltzerJaray
42 Psychologists Fallacy 204Frank Scalambrino
43 Red Herring 208Heather Rivera
44 Reductio ad Hitlerum 212Frank Scalambrino
45 Argument by Repetition 215Leigh Kolb
46 Special Pleading 219Dan Yim
47 Straw Man 223Scott Aikin and John Casey
48 Sunk Cost 227Robert Arp
49 Two Wrongs Make a Right 230David LaRocca
50 Weak Analogy 234Bertha Alvarez Manninen
Fallacies of Ambiguity 239
51 Accent 241Roberto Ruiz
52 Amphiboly 246Roberto Ruiz
53 Composition 250Jason Waller
54 Confusing an Explanation for an Excuse 252Kimberly BaltzerJaray
55 Definist Fallacy 255Christian Cotton
56 Division 259Jason Waller
57 Equivocation 261Bertha Alvarez Manninen
58 Etymological Fallacy 266Leigh Kolb
59 Euphemism 270Kimberly BaltzerJaray
60 Hedging 273Christian Cotton
61 If by Whiskey 277Christian Cotton
62 Inflation of Conflict 280Andy Wible
63 Legalistic Mistake 282Marco Antonio Azevedo
64 Oversimplification 286Dan Burkett
65 Proof by Verbosity 289Phil Smolenski
66 Sorites Fallacy 293Jack Bowen
Fallacies of Presumption 297
67 Accident 299Steven Barbone
68 All or Nothing 301David Kyle Johnson
69 Anthropomorphic Bias 305David Kyle Johnson
70 Begging the Question 308Heather Rivera
71 Chronological Snobbery 311A.G. Holdier
72 Complex Question 314A.G. Holdier
73 Confirmation Bias 317David Kyle Johnson
74 Conjunction 321Jason Iuliano
75 Constructive Nature of Perception 324David Kyle Johnson
76 Converse Accident 330Steven Barbone
77 Existential Fallacy 332Frank Scalambrino
78 False Cause: Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc 335Bertha Alvarez Manninen
79 False Cause: Ignoring Common Cause 338Bertha Alvarez Manninen
80 False Cause: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc 342Bertha Alvarez Manninen
81 False Dilemma 346Jennifer Culver
82 Free Speech 348Scott Aikin and John Casey
83 Guilt by Association 351Leigh Kolb
84 Hasty Generalization 354Michael J. Muniz
85 Intentional Fallacy 357Nicolas Michaud
86 Is/Ought Fallacy 360Mark T. Nelson
87 Masked Man 364Charles Taliaferro
88 Middle Ground 367Grant Sterling
89 Mind Projection 369Charles Taliaferro
90 Moralistic Fallacy 371Galen Foresman
91 No True Scotsman 374Tuomas W. Manninen
92 Reification 378Robert Sinclair
93 Representative Heuristic 382David Kyle Johnson
94 Slippery Slope 385Michael J. Muniz
95 Stolen Concept 388Rory E. Kraft, Jr.
96 Subjective Validation 392David Kyle Johnson
97 Subjectivist Fallacy 396Frank Scalambrino
98 Suppressed Evidence 399David Kyle Johnson
99 Unfalsifiability 403Jack Bowen
100 Unwarranted Assumption 407Kimberly BaltzerJaray
Index 410
