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More About This Title Bad Arguments - 100 of the Most ImportantFallacies in Western Philosophy
English
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
You’ll love this book or you’ll hate it. So, you’re either with us or against us. And if you’re 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 she’s 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 Arguments demonstrates how misguided arguments come to be, and what we can do to detect them in the rhetoric of others and avoid using them ourselves.
Fallacies—or conclusions that don’t follow from their premise—are 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 of sunk costs, is ought, affirming the consequent, moving the goal post, begging the question, or the ever-popular slippery 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 volume Just the Arguments (2011), Bad Arguments is an essential tool for undergraduate students and general readers looking to hone their critical thinking and rhetorical skills.
English
ROBERT ARP is an instructor of philosophy and a researcher for the US Army. He has published numerous books and articles in philosophy and other areas. More information about his work and research interests can be found on his website.
STEVEN BARBONE is an Associate Professor of philosophy at San Diego State University. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on Baruch Spinoza.
MICHAEL BRUCE works in the software industry in San Francisco. With Steven Barbone, he edited Just the Arguments (Wiley Blackwell, 2011). An avid researcher in the history of philosophy and psychology, he has been published widely and is an active blogger for Psychology Today.
English
Notes on Contributors xiii
Introduction 1
Part I Formal Fallacies 35
Propositional Logic 37
1 Affirming a Disjunct 39
Jason Iuliano
2 Affirming the Consequent 42
Brett Gaul
3 Denying the Antecedent 46
Brett Gaul
Categorical Logic 49
4 Exclusive Premises 51
Charlene Elsby
5 Four Terms 55
Charlene Elsby
6 Illicit Major and Minor Terms 60
Charlene Elsby
7 Undistributed Middle 63
Charlene Elsby
Part II Informal Fallacies 67
Fallacies of Relevance 69
8 Ad Hominem: Bias 71
George Wrisley
9 Ad Hominem: Circumstantial 77
George Wrisley
10 Ad Hominem: Direct 83
George Wrisley
11 Ad Hominem: Tu Quoque 88
George Wrisley
12 Adverse Consequences 94
David Vander Laan
13 Appeal to Emotion: Force or Fear 98
George Wrisley
14 Appeal to Emotion: Pity 102
George Wrisley
15 Appeal to Ignorance 106
Benjamin W. McCraw
16 Appeal to the People 112
Benjamin W. McCraw
17 Appeal to Personal Incredulity 115
Tuomas W. Manninen
18 Appeal to Ridicule 118
Gregory L. Bock
19 Appeal to Tradition 121
Nicolas Michaud
20 Argument from Fallacy 125
Christian Cotton
21 Availability Error 128
David Kyle Johnson
22 Base Rate 133
Tuomas W. Manninen
23 Burden of Proof 137
Andrew Russo
24 Countless Counterfeits 140
David Kyle Johnson
25 Diminished Responsibility 145
Tuomas W. Manninen
26 Essentializing 149
Jack Bowen
27 Galileo Gambit 152
David Kyle Johnson
28 Gambler’s Fallacy 157
Grant Sterling
29 Genetic Fallacy 160
Frank Scalambrino
30 Historian’s Fallacy 163
Heather Rivera
31 Homunculus 165
Kimberly Baltzer‐Jaray
32 Inappropriate Appeal to Authority 168
Nicolas Michaud
33 Irrelevant Conclusion 172
Steven Barbone
34 Kettle Logic 174
Andy Wible
35 Line Drawing 177
Alexander E. Hooke
36 Mistaking the Relevance of Proximate Causation 181
David Kyle Johnson
37 Moving the Goalposts 185
Tuomas W. Manninen
38 Mystery, Therefore Magic 189
David Kyle Johnson
39 Naturalistic Fallacy 193
Benjamin W. McCraw
40 Poisoning the Well 196
Roberto Ruiz
41 Proving Too Much 201
Kimberly Baltzer‐Jaray
42 Psychologist’s Fallacy 204
Frank Scalambrino
43 Red Herring 208
Heather Rivera
44 Reductio ad Hitlerum 212
Frank Scalambrino
45 Argument by Repetition 215
Leigh Kolb
46 Special Pleading 219
Dan Yim
47 Straw Man 223
Scott Aikin and John Casey
48 Sunk Cost 227
Robert Arp
49 Two Wrongs Make a Right 230
David LaRocca
50 Weak Analogy 234
Bertha Alvarez Manninen
Fallacies of Ambiguity 239
51 Accent 241
Roberto Ruiz
52 Amphiboly 246
Roberto Ruiz
53 Composition 250
Jason Waller
54 Confusing an Explanation for an Excuse 252
Kimberly Baltzer‐Jaray
55 Definist Fallacy 255
Christian Cotton
56 Division 259
Jason Waller
57 Equivocation 261
Bertha Alvarez Manninen
58 Etymological Fallacy 266
Leigh Kolb
59 Euphemism 270
Kimberly Baltzer‐Jaray
60 Hedging 273
Christian Cotton
61 If by Whiskey 277
Christian Cotton
62 Inflation of Conflict 280
Andy Wible
63 Legalistic Mistake 282
Marco Antonio Azevedo
64 Oversimplification 286
Dan Burkett
65 Proof by Verbosity 289
Phil Smolenski
66 Sorites Fallacy 293
Jack Bowen
Fallacies of Presumption 297
67 Accident 299
Steven Barbone
68 All or Nothing 301
David Kyle Johnson
69 Anthropomorphic Bias 305
David Kyle Johnson
70 Begging the Question 308
Heather Rivera
71 Chronological Snobbery 311
A.G. Holdier
72 Complex Question 314
A.G. Holdier
73 Confirmation Bias 317
David Kyle Johnson
74 Conjunction 321
Jason Iuliano
75 Constructive Nature of Perception 324
David Kyle Johnson
76 Converse Accident 330
Steven Barbone
77 Existential Fallacy 332
Frank Scalambrino
78 False Cause: Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc 335
Bertha Alvarez Manninen
79 False Cause: Ignoring Common Cause 338
Bertha Alvarez Manninen
80 False Cause: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc 342
Bertha Alvarez Manninen
81 False Dilemma 346
Jennifer Culver
82 Free Speech 348
Scott Aikin and John Casey
83 Guilt by Association 351
Leigh Kolb
84 Hasty Generalization 354
Michael J. Muniz
85 Intentional Fallacy 357
Nicolas Michaud
86 Is/Ought Fallacy 360
Mark T. Nelson
87 Masked Man 364
Charles Taliaferro
88 Middle Ground 367
Grant Sterling
89 Mind Projection 369
Charles Taliaferro
90 Moralistic Fallacy 371
Galen Foresman
91 No True Scotsman 374
Tuomas W. Manninen
92 Reification 378
Robert Sinclair
93 Representative Heuristic 382
David Kyle Johnson
94 Slippery Slope 385
Michael J. Muniz
95 Stolen Concept 388
Rory E. Kraft, Jr.
96 Subjective Validation 392
David Kyle Johnson
97 Subjectivist Fallacy 396
Frank Scalambrino
98 Suppressed Evidence 399
David Kyle Johnson
99 Unfalsifiability 403
Jack Bowen
100 Unwarranted Assumption 407
Kimberly Baltzer‐Jaray
Index 410
