philosophy
abzul13
InductiveFallaciesLecture.ppt
Why are we doing this again?
- 1) Generally speaking, humans are not very good at reasoning.
- 2) The purpose of this class is to make you better at reasoning.
- 3) Fallacies are specific examples of bad reasoning, and they are all around us.
- Thus, learning to recognize fallacies is likely to make you commit them less often, and consequently become a better reasoner.
Hasty generalization
- Hasty generalization: inappropriately generalizing from too few examples.
- Anecdotal evidence
Freewrite: Hasty Generalization
Is there reasoning behind prejudice? What is the motivating force of prejudice or racism (as a subcategory of prejudice)? Does a person’s limited experiences with another group lead them to unjustified conclusions about an entire race (in which case it’s a hasty generalization)? Or is it some deep-seated prejudice that goes beyond reason?
Generalization from an exceptional case
- Generalization from an exceptional case: Inappropriately generalizing from cases that are unique, or unusual.
- Biased sample
- Self-selection fallacy
Accident
- Accident: Assuming a general claim applies to a specific case that could be unusual.
- Example: “In America we have the right to bear arms. So if I want to point a gun at a police officer, I should be able to do so.”
Weak Analogy
- Weak analogy: a weak argument based on unimportant or irrelevant similarities between the things being compared.
- Example: “Going to SWC is like being in prison. After all, both the campus and the prison are buildings constructed by humans.”
- Example: “Corporations are like people. If people can be tried in a court of law, then so can corporations.”
Untestable Explanation
- Untestable explanation: when someone provides an explanation that cannot even be tested in principle.
- Example: “Charlene is really good at helping people because she gives off such good vibes.”
Slippery Slope
- Slippery Slope: the suggestion that something will progress by degrees to an exaggerated or undesirable outcome.
False cause/correlation is not causation
- False cause: assuming that because one event happened after (or around the same time as) another that it was caused by the other.
- In assuming that one event causes another, the person committing this fallacy can overlook:
- Coincidence
- A common cause
- Random variation
- Regression to the mean
False cause (random variation)
- “In our tests, we randomly selected men to drive a golf ball as far as they could. We then had them wear our magnetic bracelet and try again. On the second occasion the men hit the ball an average of ten feet further. Our bracelet can lengthen your drive as well.”
False cause (regression to the mean)
- “The girls were well below their average on Monday, so I made them do 50 sets of pushups. Guess what? Their average was much better on Tuesday. Pushups did the trick.”
Appeal to Authority
- Appeal to authority: giving the opinion of a non-authoritative source to support a claim.
- Example: “My smart friend says that Obamacare is bad for the country. So he must be right.”
- Example: “The pope said that evolution is true. So evolution must be true.”
Appeal to Popularity
- Appeal to Popularity: accepting a claim because lots of people believe it.
- Example: “A majority of Americans believe in God and they can’t all be wrong.”
- Example: “Don’t object, Timmy, men in our family have always joined the military.” (Common practice)
Aristotle’s Model of the Universe: Widely Accepted until the 16th Century
