Usage
Appeal to pity can be used when the person shows images that brings up strong emotion, such as a hungry child or an abused animal, to persuade the audience to response in his/her favor.
Damage
This fallacy is illogical because it uses human emotion, not evidence, to get a person to accept the other person's arguments and completely convince audience.
Examples
Bibliography
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-pity.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-pity/
http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~shagin/logfal-emotion-pity.htm
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/blfaq_fall_pity.htm
http://www.mandm.org.nz/2011/03/fallacy-friday-ad-misericordiam-appeal-to-pity.html
(All images found on Google Images)
Other Examples
In politics, a strong example of appeal to pity is when Hillary Clinton ran for president. She spoke of how the other male candidates were attacking her, and how she wanted to "break into the boy's club" and take the lead. Some, people started interpreting this as "Vote for Clinton because she is a solitary woman dealing with all the nasty men campaigning against her."
"You must have graded my exam incorrectly. I studied very hard for weeks specifically because I knew my career depended on getting a good grade. If you give me a failing grade I'm ruined!"
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look at this miserable man, in a wheelchair, unable to use his legs. Could such a man really be guilty of embezzlement?"
“Those poor, cute little squeaky mice are being gobbled up by mean, nasty cats that are ten times their size!”
Jordynn Tyndall
Period 6
Alternate names
argumentum ad misericordiam
Galileo argument
Definition
What is an Appeal to Pity?
Appeal to pity is the logical fallacy when the arguer presents a claim intended persuade the audience and to create the feeling of sorrow. In return, the arguer earns the audience's sympathy and obtains favorable response.
An unfortunate situation is described in an argument. Therefore, that argument should be favored