SWK 510 CT assignment
A fallacy is an error in reasoning or thinking. It is important to understand and spot fallacies in our own arguments as well as others. This is a component of Critical Thinking.
Common Fallacies
1. How can anyone seriously believe in evolution? I certainly don’t. How can you take seriously a theory that claims humans are just monkeys with less hair and that our ancestors were apes?
This commits the Straw Man fallacy. Evolutionary theory just doesn't claim that humans are monkeys with less hair. That's a vast oversimplification of the theory, hence you've created a 'straw' version of the original theory.
2. A recent study showed that students who cram immediately before examinations usually get lower grades than those who do not. Well, I certainly won’t make that mistake this term. I’m not even going to open a book during the exam period.
The student seems to be under the impression that because cramming tends to come before having a bad grade, it's the cause of the bad grade. But that's not correct, what causes the bad grades is putting yourself in a position such that you need to cram. Once you've done that you might as well cram as it will minimize the damage that not working all term does. The student has assumed that because a particular thing (i.e., cramming) tends to come before bad grades, it's the cause of the bad grades. Thus, the student is committing a causal fallacy (in particular, the post hoc fallacy).
3. If you don't get to bed early, you'll be too tired to do well on the GRE tomorrow. If that happens, you won't get accepted into a decent graduate school. You’ll end up a washed-out alcoholic living in a trash-bin.
This is a pretty clear instance of the slippery slope fallacy. Many 'if-then' claims are made here (and some others seem to be assumed), that together make a very weak case for the ultimate conclusion of the argument.
4. Two weeks after they put fluoride in St. John’s water I got sick. I had a fever and couldn’t keep solid food down. So, I switched to drinking bottled water and I recovered in a day or so. That fluoridated water is dangerous stuff.
This is another instance of a causal fallacy (again, a post-hoc fallacy). Just because the fluoridation of the water preceded the headache and the headache cleared up after he stopped drinking fluoridated water, we can't assume that the fluoride caused the headache. We'd need much better evidence than that.
5. War is the only way of stopping Saddam Hussein. After all, sanctions haven’t worked at all.
This seems to assume a false dichotomy, i.e., it seems to assume that the only options are war or sanctions. But what about diplomacy or other possibilities? In other words, the argument assumes that the possibilities of sanctions and war exhaust all the possibilities, but they don't. As such it commits the fallacy of false dichotomy.
6. If the police knew that Bobo had a motive for the crime then he would be a suspect. But the police do not know that Bobo had a motive, therefore he's not a suspect.
Notice that the first sentence doesn't say 'Bobo would only be a suspect if the police knew he had a motive for the crime.' As such, we can't conclude that because they don't know this, he's not a suspect. There may be other reasons to consider him one.
The argument has the form:
P1: If A then B P2: It is not the case that A C: It is not the case that B
As such, it commits the fallacy of denying the antecedent.
7. Undemocratic societies kill the human spirit. The reason is clear: unless the people have the power in their society, the human spirit withers.
This is a pretty standard instance of begging the question. The conclusion seems to be that undemocratic societies kill the human spirit, but the only reason we are given to believe this is essentially that same conclusion in different terms.
8. Darwin's theory of evolution is just that, a theory. Theories are just speculation with no evidence behind them. We don't want our children to learn theories with no evidence behind them, so we shouldn't allow the theory of evolution to be taught in school.
This commits the fallacy of equivocation. We do sometimes use the word 'theory' to mean a speculation with little or no evidence behind it, but that's not the way we're using the word when we describe the theory of evolution as a theory. Hence, a word is being used in 2 quite distinct ways here, but the arguer is acting as though he is using the word consistently throughout the argument.
9. Anyone who teaches philosophy is an obnoxious freak, so that obnoxious freak over there must be a philosophy teacher.
This affirms the consequent. Even if it is true that all philosophy teachers are obnoxious freaks, it doesn't follow that all obnoxious freaks are philosophy teachers.
Another way of expressing the argument is:
P1: If you teach philosophy then you are an obnoxious freak. P2: The person is an obnoxious freak. C: That person must teach philosophy.
But that argument is invalid for the reason mentioned above.
10. What Peter Singer said about us needing to give more to charity can't be right. After all, Singer is just another one of those obnoxious freaks.
This is a case of a clear ad hominen fallacy. Singer's argument isn't attacked here, Singer is.
11. A trendy treatment coming out right now, suggests that you can lose weight by drinking apple cider vinegar. Everyone’s doing it. I’m going to start this tomorrow.
This is an example of newness, jumping on the bandwagon/peer pressure, falling prey to the argument of newness or that everyone is doing something.
12. A study found 50 Japanese participants lived longer just by eating fresh fish every day. I’m sure that could work with African American men living in Florida.
This is a case of overgeneralizing. What works for one study means that it worked for one study. Findings from research need to accumulate and studies need to be done on different groups of people to suggest effectiveness.
13. Dr. Offenheimer is a leading scientist at Duke University, so certainly we need to pay attention to what he says.
This is an instance of believing in something based on authority, title, and/or expertise, etc.
14. I think we should cancel our trip with Aardvark air, I just read a review by a woman, who said it was a terrible airline.
This is an example of making a decision based on a single case, an anecdote, or a very small sample size.
CT Exercise
1. Dr. Ernie Lichtenstein presented a new treatment for adolescent Depression last night. He was so thorough, organized and very dynamic. What an amazing presenter. I’m thinking of trying his approach with one of my adolescent clients.
2. The Clinical Director from the New Hope agency was mentioning that a new version of EMDR has come out with promising results. Apparently, a study with 30 participants in Australia found a reduction in trauma symptoms with middle age adults. You might want to try this with your clients.
3. I know that there are no studies showing evidence for ABC therapy’s effectiveness, but my years of clinical experience and gut instinct tell me differently.
4. I think we need to exercise caution when we listen to Dr. Sanchez. I know she has accumulated research evidence on Bipolar disorder, but she is rather weird.
5. I just read an article on Facebook about Dementia and I think we should consider starting a program here for patients.
6. Did you notice that the presenter never defined the terms he was talking about, even when asked directly? I think I need to hear more about this before I try that medication.
7. If we don’t get this client into services now, she could really hurt herself, and if that happens we both could be fired.
8. How could anyone take the Psychodynamic theory seriously at this time? Are we really to believe that we’re all running around with ids and superegos fighting, with our egos trying to mediate?
Scoring:
Compare your answers to those below. Give yourself one point for each correct identification of a fallacy and another point if you correctly identified which fallacy it was.
1. Fallacy- Newness and/or authority
2. Fallacy- overgeneralization
3. Fallacy- single case and/or your own authority
4. Fallacy- ad hominen
5. Fallacy- single case and/or overgeneralizing
6. Not a fallacy
7. Fallacy- Slippery slope
8. Fallacy- Straw man
Provide your total score to your Instructor with an answer to the following question.
Think of a time when you committed a thinking fallacy and describe the situation and what fallacy you fell victim to.