Logical Fallacies

**pchalk** · November 17, 2009, 01:38 PM

Calling all Philosophy buffs

. I happen to be in a Philosophy 101 course and could use some help. I am to find examples in News and other medium (except books on fallacies

) of certain types of logical fallacies.

The particular fallacies assigned to me were: Tu quoque, Genetic fallacy(deflation), slippery slope, circumstantial and abusive ad hominem.

Given how foolish and funny some instances of fallacious arguments can be I welcome all types of logical fallacy. No reason we cant have fun with this

. I am prepared to offer rep for the ones pertaining to my assignment and of course any that I find so ridiculously funny.

**Ariovistus Maximus** · November 18, 2009, 08:44 AM

Interestingly enough, I posted some work on this a week ago or so.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=307452

**Shams al-Ma'rifa** · November 18, 2009, 08:53 AM

I fail to see why slippery slope is (always) considered fallacy... Your entire life is a slippery slope with one event leading to another ex. chaos theory. A change in drug laws will not only trigger one outcome, the consequences are numerous, and those outcomes will inevitably trigger other outcomes...

**pchalk** · November 18, 2009, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by mkesadaran

I fail to see why slippery slope is (always) considered fallacy... Your entire life is a slippery slope with one event leading to another ex. chaos theory. A change in drug laws will not only trigger one outcome, the consequences are numerous, and those outcomes will inevitably trigger other outcomes...

i think its the fact that a slippery slope argument often fails to acknowledge the numerous outcomes but only the one that helps the arguer. correct me if I am wrong.

also based on some of the sources ive been looking at. there are correct ways of using these otherwise fallacious methods

Originally Posted by Ariovistus Maximus

Interestingly enough, I posted some work on this a week ago or so.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=307452

lol r u in my class

. the one time i dont search before I start a new thread I end up missing one thats already there.

thanks +1 rep (ok for some reason i need to spread around rep before giving u some so mkesadaran will get some too)

**Ariovistus Maximus** · November 18, 2009, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by mkesadaran

I fail to see why slippery slope is (always) considered fallacy... Your entire life is a slippery slope with one event leading to another ex. chaos theory. A change in drug laws will not only trigger one outcome, the consequences are numerous, and those outcomes will inevitably trigger other outcomes...

I don't think it is.

Use of the slippery slope fallacy is quite a slippery slope.

Because there is a fine line between the wisdom in forseeing future problems and committing a slippery slope.

I think the gist of it is, if you wish to say that something is a slippery slope, you should give a good case for it.

That is the nature of fallacies; they start out as good arguments and are slightly skewed.

The key is VALIDITY. Fallacies may actually be correct, but they are not valid.

That is, for instance, in math:

A --> B

Therefore, B --> A

This statement COULD be true. However, it is not VALID because it is not ALWAYS true. Thus, it is a fallacy.

lol r u in my class

.

Lol nope. I have no logic class, sadly. Just a topic I'm interested in.

Good subject for discussion though.

Also, I suggest that you check out this website. An excellent list of fallacies.

**Shams al-Ma'rifa** · November 18, 2009, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Ariovistus Maximus

I don't think it is.

Use of the slippery slope fallacy is quite a slippery slope.

Because there is a fine line between the wisdom in forseeing future problems and committing a slippery slope.

I think the gist of it is, if you wish to say that something is a slippery slope, you should give a good case for it.

That is the nature of fallacies; they start out as good arguments and are slightly skewed.

The key is VALIDITY. Fallacies may actually be correct, but they are not valid.

That is, for instance, in math:

A --> B

Therefore, B --> A

This statement COULD be true. However, it is not VALID because it is not ALWAYS true. Thus, it is a fallacy.

Well when people debate ideologies it's never a concrete, mathematical answer anyways...

**pchalk** · November 18, 2009, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by Ariovistus Maximus

Also, I suggest that you check out this website. An excellent list of fallacies.

thanks, i managed to find a pretty good one myself:
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/examples.html

**Bovril** · November 18, 2009, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by mkesadaran

I fail to see why slippery slope is (always) considered fallacy... Your entire life is a slippery slope with one event leading to another ex. chaos theory. A change in drug laws will not only trigger one outcome, the consequences are numerous, and those outcomes will inevitably trigger other outcomes...

Slippery slope is not a formal (logical) falacy, but a rhetorical falacy. Essentially it is an argument based on groundless assosiation. When causality has been established, slippery slope no longer applies.