Logical Fallacies Media Piece

Fallacies Study Guide
Using the Logical Fallacies Media piece, fill in a definition and example for each fallacy below. The media piece is located in the “Topic 3 Study Materials” tab. Additionally, a weblink is also listed below within the reference. You are welcome to copy and paste the definitions and examples from the media piece in for this assignment. The reference for the resource has also been included below.
Reference for Logical Fallacies Media Piece: Grand Canyon University (2012). Logical Fallacies. Retrieved from: https://lc.gcumedia.com/phi105/fallacies-website/fallacies-website-v1.1.html
Term

Definition

Example

Appeal to Ignorance

An appeal to ignorance uses lack of evidence (for or against) as the basis of the argument. For example, if something can’t be disproven, it must be true!

You have a family member who has a terminal disease. You hear of a possible new cure being offered in another country. You contact the group promoting this cure and ask if it works. They say, "No one has ever shown that it doesn't work, so of course it works!"

Hasty Generalization

A hasty generalization occurs 'when a conclusion is drawn from a sample that is too small or selective to assume with any confidence that it represents the subject accurately'

John has a moustache.
John is from Switzerland.
Therefore, everyone from Switzerland has a moustache

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Assuming that because B follows A, A must have caused B. This is an easy fallacy to assume because this could happen, but we cannot always assume this happens. Some things just happen due to coincidence and the two things really having nothing to do with each othe

In a case where an athlete wears his 'lucky' socks and the team wins the game, you might conclude that wearing 'lucky' socks leads to winning. Maybe you break a mirror and then soon after you get into an accident, you might conclude that breaking the mirror led to that misfortune. These occurrences are merely coincidental and are not the reason for one's misfortune

Either/Or

An either/or fallacy does not acknowledge that opposing claims could both be true, that grey areas may exist between the two alternatives, or that other possibilities exist.

Saying that either hamburgers or hotdogs are the best food to have at a BBQ. Making a statement such as this limits the choices to only two, when in reality there are many more choices.

Composition

Putting two or more “good” things together does not necessarily mean they will be good together. This fallacy looks at something from two perspectives: as a whole, and made up of parts. The argument is if something is true about the parts, then it is true about the whole

The coach recruited the best players from five different schools therefore his team should be the best in the league. In this case, the argument that the entire team will be the best in the league rests on the fact that each individual player is the...