Fallacies of Relevance

Fallacies of Relevance

Examples

Appeal to Ignorance

Tu Quoque

From fallacyfiles.org

Fallacy when the argument lacks knowledge and or evidence. A lack of evidence by itself is no evidence; ignorance is no reason for believing anything. The argument is not valid if there is no proof offered with reliable information.

Latin for "you too." Argument when one attempts to defend oneself or another person by turning the critique back against the accuser.

• commonly committed by children
• "but she started it"

• an act of hypocrisy
• "look who's talking"

Appeal to Authority

Fallacies of Relevance

Examples

• Don’t move to Seattle because it rains all the time.

Fallacies of relevance are instances in reasoning in which someone attempts to prove a conclusion by offering irrelevant evidence in the premise and therefore cannot establish its truth.

• Some Catholic priests have been pedophiles, so all priests are pedophiles.

Fallacy committed when an arguer focuses on providing a person of authority in an attempt to credit their argument, but is irrelevant to their argument.

• No one can actually prove that God exists; therefore God does not exist.

Resources

all examples provide no further evidence to validate their arguments

Fallacies of relevance are merely

arguments that lack relevant evidence.

Genetic Fallacy

Examples of Genetic Fallacy

From Critical Thinking to Argument

&

Fallacy also known as "fallacy of origins" where a conclusion is drawn based on the origin or history of a topic. The arguer provides irrelevant evidence rather than actual present claims and thus discredits the argument.

What is a Fallacy?

This cartoon assumes that the majority of Christians oppose gay marriage. While it may be true that some Christians oppose gay marriage, you can't assume that all do.

A fallacy is a mistake made in an argument; a misleading notion. An idea or belief that is false but many people think it's true.

Resource: http://38voices.blogspot.com/2008/11/this-cartoon-is-example-of-genetic.html

http://www.logicallyfallacious.com/

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/

The origin of a claim or thing is presented

Argument: The Declaration of Independence was corrupt because Thomas Jefferson was a slaveholder.

Explanation: It is wrong to attack the sincerity of the Declaration of Independence because the fact that Thomas Jefferson practiced slavery occurred over two centuries ago does not validate the argument of the declaration of being corrupt.

The claim is true(or false) or the thing is supported (or discredited)

Examples of Tu Quoque

The End!

Poison the Well

Examples of Ad Hominem

Kevin: "You shouldn't be smoking...smoking affects your health and increases your chance of getting lung cancer."

Arthur: "You smoke all the time, you just smoked a cigar five minutes ago. You're healthy, so that's not true."

A person's character or behavior has nothing to do with the merit of his or her argument.

Protecting the Hypothesis

Jones: I don't think prayers should be allowed in public schools because...

Smith: Of course you would say that, you have been convicted of assaulting members of the clergy.

Example

This fallacy is very similar to the genetic fallacy. It is an attempt to shift attention from the validity of the argument to the source/origin of the argument.

The arguer "poisons" the evidence by discrediting an opponent and deflecting the attention from the real issue.

Appeal to Fear

The issue here is the topic of prayer, not Jones' behavior. Smith attacks Jones, but the significance is Jones' argument, not his criminal record.

A politician describes the country of Ruritania as a "democracy." However, the country does not have elections, written constitutions, and etc.

The original claim that Ruritania is a democracy is no longer valid because the qualifications have taken the content out of the initial description.

Also known as "missing information fallacy."

When someone protects the hypothesis by insisting that his/her ignorance has something to do with missing evidence that validates the hypothesis and conclusion.

• When someone is trying to discredit what you or anyone else is saying by presenting unfavorable information

An attempt to persuade someone by threatening them with harmful consequences. Causing harm or violence does not constitute evidence for a claim.

Ad Hominem Fallacy

Closely related to the genetic and poisoning the well fallacies.

Example of Poisoning the Well

Death by a Thousand Qualifications

Latin for "against the person." Instance of reasoning when someone attacks their opponent's character or traits to discredit his or her argument.

Example

This distracts the audience because they do not know if the opponent has "the best wishes of the university at heart" if they haven't heard the opponent's side of the argument yet.

"Before turning the floor over to my opponent, I ask you to remember that those who oppose my plans do not have the best wishes of the university at heart."

© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012

Example

When a term is used to define something but there are so many qualifications to the definition; thus, the original term is meaningless.

Gil: Scientists have no idea what the appendix is for because they refuse to accept that its function is the source of psychic powers in humans that we have forgotten how to use.

John: Scientists actually now know that the appendix serves an important role in the fetus and in young adults. This is well documented and empirically tested.

Gil: This does not mean that it still is not the source of psychic powers—this just has not been tested yet.

"You know, Ms. Davis, I really need to get an A in this class. I'd like to stop by during your office hours later to discuss my grade. I'll be in your building anyways, visiting my father. He's the principle, by the way. I'll see you after school."

Creating fear in people in the course of an argument is not the best way to persuade audiences. It is common in marketing, like the WWF ad above.

In order to protect the hypothesis from error, it is assumed, without evidence that the answer does exist, but is beyond current scientific understanding.

© LogicallyFallacious