Bad Arguments
Description
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.
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Persons
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.
Content
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
