What are fallacies?
Fallacies are defects that weaken arguments. There are two important things to realize about fallacies:
First, fallacious arguments are very, very common and can be quite persuasive, at least to the causal reader or listener.
Second, it is sometimes hard to evaluate whether an argument is fallacious. An argument might be very weak, somewhat weak, somewhat strong, or very strong. An argument that has several stages or parts might have some strong sections and some weak ones.
Description of Fallacies:
In order to understand what a fallacy is, one must understand what an argument is. Very briefly, an argument consists of one or more premises and one conclusion. A premise is a statement (a sentence that is either true or false) that is offered in support of the claim being made, which is the conclusion (which is also a sentence that is either true or false).
There are two main types of arguments: deductive and inductive
1) A deductive argument is an argument such that the premises provide (or appear to provide) complete support for the conclusion.
2) An inductive argument is an argument such that the premises provide (or appear to provide) some degree of support (but less than complete support) for the conclusion. If the premises actually provide the required degree of support for the conclusion, then the argument is a good one.
A fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning. This differs from a factual error, which is simply being wrong about the facts. To be more specific, a fallacy is an "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support.
A deductive fallacy is a deductive argument that is invalid (it is such that it could have all true premises and still have a false conclusion).
An inductive fallacy is less formal than a deductive fallacy. They are simply "arguments" which appear to be inductive arguments, but the premises do not provided enough support for the conclusion. In such cases, even if the premises were true, the conclusion would not be more likely to be true.
Examples of Fallacies:
1. Inductive Argument
Premise 1: Most American cats are domestic house cats.
Premise 2: Bill is an American cat.
Conclusion: Bill is domestic house cat.
2. Factual Error :Columbus is the capital of the United States.
3. Deductive Fallacy
Premise 1: If Portland is the capital of Maine, then it is in Maine.
Premise 2: Portland is in Maine.
Conclusion: Portland is the capital of Maine. (Portland is in Maine, but Augusta is the capital. Portland is the largest city in Maine, though.)
4. Inductive Fallacy
Premise 1: Having just arrived in Ohio, I saw a white squirrel.
Premise 1: Having just arrived in Ohio, I saw a white squirrel.
Conclusion: All Ohio Squirrels are white. (While there are many, many squirrels in Ohio, the white ones are very rare)
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