ARGUMENTS &
FALLACIES
ARGUMENTS
• A series of statements which provides reasons that convince a reader
or a listener that an opinion is truthful.
• Made with an assumption that a certain claim is yet to be
determined.
• Is not the same as fighting (expressing anger or hurt without being
sensitive to your choice of words)
• Coming into an agreement, if you know how to do it right can resolve
issues.
• logic
FALLACIES
• Faulty reasoning
• If logic (Arguments) was a sport then fallacies would be the fouls or
the violations.
• Fallacies violate the rules of the logical thought but often seem
plausible or convincing.
AD HOMINEM (AGAINST THE PERSON)
• Attacking the person
• Focus our attention on people rather than on arguments or evidence
• Example: Why would I believe you? You’re not even the smartest
person in our section?
• Attacking the person and not his/ her opinions
AD BACULUM (APPEAL TO FORCE)
• Using threat or force or an undesirable event to advance an argument
• Example: My father is known to be the richest man in this town, I’m
sure you know what he is capable of. Don’t you dare mess up with
me!”
• The individual threatens the person if he/ she messed up with him/
her.
AD MISERICORDIAM (APPEAL TO PITY/
EMOTION)
• Strong appeal to sympathy
• Example: Ma’am please, accept my late submission of modules. I
spent the last five days, with four hours of sleep each day, working
extra time on it.
• The student tries to convince the teacher through the teacher’s
emotion
AD POPULUM (APPEAL TO THE
PEOPLE)
• The idea presented must be true because many or most people
believe it
• Example: You should turn to channel 6. It’s the most watched channel
this year.
• Many people channel 6, therefore you should also watch it
AD VERECUNDIAM (APPEAL TO
AUTHORITY)
• Insisting that a claim is true simply because a valid authority or expert
on the issue said it was true, without any other supporting evidence
offered
• Example: UFOs do not exist because the astronomer Carl Sagan said
it.
• Carl Sagan is a famous astronomer so you have to believe him even
without any other supporting evidences
APPEAL TO TRADITION
• Assumed that the idea is acceptable because something has been
done a certain way for a long time, or traditionally, so, it is necessarily
the right way of doing it.
• Example: Courtship should be done before entering in a relationship.
That is the first step in showing how man loves and respects the
woman and her family.
• It is the tradition in the Philippines
BEGGING THE QUESTION
• Simply accepts the conclusion without providing real evidence; the
argument either relies on a premise that says the same things as the
conclusion (which you might hear referred to as “being circular” or
“circular reasoning”), or simply ignores an important (but
questionable) assumption that the argument rests on
• I have the right to free speech, therefore you cannot stop me from
talking.
FALLACY OF COMPOSITION
• Assuming that what is true of a part is true for the whole
• Example: Because all of the components of this car are light and easy
to carry, then the car itself must also be light and easy to carry.
• You assume that the parts is light and easy so as the car as a whole
FALLACY OF DIVISION
• Assuming that what is true for the whole is true for its parts
• Example: The boys in my neighborhood like to play volleyball. So my
new neighbor, Jacob, will surely like to play volleyball with them.
• You assume that Jacob wants to play volleyball with them.
PAST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC
(CAUSE- EFFECT)
• One event is said to be the cause of a later event simply because it
occurred earlier
• I noticed that ever since you bought that bag, everything has been
going wrong in your life. Dispose it, that might be the reason why you
are unhappy.
• The cause there is the bag and the effect is the unhappiness of the
person
SLIPPERY SLOPE
• Assuming a very small action will lead to extreme outcomes
• If we allow our 16 year old have a boyfriend, then what’s next? A
baby?
• The parents assumes that having a bf will lead to pregnancy
• Exaggeration of the expected outcome
ACTIVITY
• Look for an article or any statements from
the social media and detect or determine
whether the statement of the argument is a
type of fallacy and what kind of fallacy is
that.
REFLECTION
The moment we want to believe something,
we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and
become blind to the arguments against it.
-George Bernard Shaw