X
Logical  Fallacy: a error in reasoning
  (adj)     (noun)

(beta)
List Of Fallacies
Play More
Score:
0


About This Game

Feedback Here
Or On Facebook

Statement #35 Discussion

2 comments (1 thead)
All Discussions

Below is the statement as it appears with the fallacy marked as correct. You can see the totals of most frequent responses to this statement. And after reading the any discussion going on below, you can select your choice(s) for the correct answer. For now, whoever posts each statement can update corrections.
Let us remember that we can do this things not just because of wealth or power but because of who we are - one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Appeal to Belief
Category: Fallacies of Relevance (Red Herrings)

Appeal to Belief is a fallacy that has this general pattern:

  1. Most people believe that a claim, X, is true.
  2. Therefore X is true.
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because the fact that many people believe a claim does not, in general, serve as evidence that the claim is true.

There are, however, some cases when the fact that many people accept a claim as true is an indication that it is true. For example, while you are visiting Maine, you are told by several people that they believe that people older than 16 need to buy a fishing license in order to fish. Barring reasons to doubt these people, their statements give you reason to believe that anyone over 16 will need to buy a fishing license.

There are also cases in which what people believe actually determines the truth of a claim. For example, the truth of claims about manners and proper behavior might simply depend on what people believe to be good manners and proper behavior. Another example is the case of community standards, which are often taken to be the standards that most people accept. In some cases, what violates certain community standards is taken to be obscene. In such cases, for the claim "x is obscene" to be true is for most people in that community to believe that x is obscene. In such cases it is still prudent to question the justification of the individual beliefs.

Click For Fallacy Description
Appeal to Emotion
Category: Fallacies of Relevance (Red Herrings) → Distracting Appeals

An Appeal to Emotion is a fallacy with the following structure:

  1. Favorable emotions are associated with X.
  2. Therefore, X is true.
This fallacy is committed when someone manipulates peoples' emotions in order to get them to accept a claim as being true. More formally, this sort of "reasoning" involves the substitution of various means of producing strong emotions in place of evidence for a claim. If the favorable emotions associated with X influence the person to accept X as true because they "feel good about X," then he has fallen prey to the fallacy.

This sort of "reasoning" is very common in politics and it serves as the basis for a large portion of modern advertising. Most political speeches are aimed at generating feelings in people so that these feelings will get them to vote or act a certain way. In the case of advertising, the commercials are aimed at evoking emotions that will influence people to buy certain products. In most cases, such speeches and commercials are notoriously free of real evidence.

This sort of "reasoning" is quite evidently fallacious. It is fallacious because using various tactics to incite emotions in people does not serve as evidence for a claim. For example, if a person were able to inspire in a person an incredible hatred of the claim that 1+1 = 2 and then inspired the person to love the claim that 1+1 =3, it would hardly follow that the claim that 1+1 = 3 would be adequately supported.

It should be noted that in many cases it is not particularly obvious that the person committing the fallacy is attempting to support a claim. In many cases, the user of the fallacy will appear to be attempting to move people to take an action, such as buying a product or fighting in a war. However, it is possible to determine what sort of claim the person is actually attempting to support. In such cases one needs to ask "what sort of claim is this person attempting to get people to accept and act on?" Determining this claim (or claims) might take some work. However, in many cases it will be quite evident. For example, if a political leader is attempting to convince her followers to participate in certain acts of violence by the use of a hate speech, then her claim would be "you should participate in these acts of violence." In this case, the "evidence" would be the hatred evoked in the followers. This hatred would serve to make them favorable inclined towards the claim that they should engage in the acts of violence. As another example, a beer commercial might show happy, scantily clad men and women prancing about a beach, guzzling beer. In this case the claim would be "you should buy this beer." The "evidence" would be the excitement evoked by seeing the beautiful people guzzling the beer.

This fallacy is actually an extremely effective persuasive device. As many people have argued, peoples' emotions often carry much more force than their reason. Logical argumentation is often difficult and time consuming and it rarely has the power to spurn people to action. It is the power of this fallacy that explains its great popularity and wide usage. However, it is still a fallacy.

In all fairness it must be noted that the use of tactics to inspire emotions is an important skill. Without an appeal to peoples' emotions, it is often difficult to get them to take action or to perform at their best. For example, no good coach presents her team with syllogisms before the big game. Instead she inspires them with emotional terms and attempts to "fire" them up. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. However, it is not any acceptable form of argumentation. As long as one is able to clearly distinguish between what inspires emotions and what justifies a claim, one is unlikely to fall prey to this fallacy.

As a final point, in many cases it will be difficult to distinguish an Appeal to Emotion from some other fallacies and in many cases multiple fallacies may be committed. For example, many Ad Hominems will be very similar to Appeals to Emotion and, in some cases, both fallacies will be committed. As an example, a leader might attempt to invoke hatred of a person to inspire his followers to accept that they should reject her claims. The same attack could function as an Appeal to Emotion and a Personal Attack. In the first case, the attack would be aimed at making the followers feel very favorable about rejecting her claims. In the second case, the attack would be aimed at making the followers reject the person's claims because of some perceived (or imagined) defect in her character.

This fallacy is related to the Appeal to Popularity fallacy. Despite the differences between these two fallacies, they are both united by the fact that they involve appeals to emotions. In both cases the fallacies aim at getting people to accept claims based on how they or others feel about the claims and not based on evidence for the claims.

Another way to look at these two fallacies is as follows
Appeal to Popularity

  1. Most people approve of X.
  2. So, I should approve of X, too.
  3. Since I approve of X, X must be true.
Appeal to Emotion
  1. I approve of X.
  2. Therefore, X is true.
On this view, in an Appeal to Popularity the claim is accepted because most people approve of the claim. In the case of an Appeal to Emotion the claim is accepted because the individual approves of the claim because of the emotion of approval he feels in regards to the claim.

Click For Fallacy Description
Appeal to Flattery
AKA Apple Polishing, various 'colorful' expressions

Category: Fallacies of Relevance (Red Herrings) → Distracting Appeals

An Appeal to Flattery is a fallacy of the following form:

  1. Person A is flattered by person B.
  2. Person B makes claim X.
  3. Therefore X is true.
The basic idea behind this fallacy is that flattery is presented in the place of evidence for accepting a claim. This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because flattery is not, in fact, evidence for a claim. This is especially clear in a case like this: "My Bill, that is a really nice tie. By the way, it is quite clear that one plus one is equal to forty three."

Click For Fallacy Description

 919 Total Answer Attempts   76%
 700 Correctly Popped Fallacies
 219 Incorrectly Un/Popped
posted by wikiworldorder     url: youtube/m2TI...

Most Common Responses

 
319 - Appeal to Belief
295 - Appeal to Emotion
86 - Appeal to Flattery
20 - Appeal to Tradition
19 - Appeal to Popularity
19 - Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief
14 - Begging the Question
14 - Gambler's Fallacy
12 - Red Herring
10 - Ignoring a Common Cause
10 - Hasty Generalization
10 - Special Pleading
9 - Biased Generalization
8 - Genetic Fallacy
8 - Appeal to Authority
8 - Confusing Cause and Effect
7 - Fallacy of Composition
6 - False Dilemma
5 - Misleading Vividness
5 - Appeal to Common Practice
5 - Circumstantial Ad Hominem
5 - Relativist Fallacy
4 - Appeal to Novelty
4 - Fallacy of Division
4 - Burden of Proof
3 - Peer Pressure
3 - Ad Hominem Tu Quoque
2 - Post Hoc
1 - Guilt by Association
1 - Poisoning the Well
1 - Appeal to Ridicule
1 - Slippery Slope
1 - Middle Ground

Likes for Correct Answers

Show all on page ↑

Show All Comments On One Page
Threads Sorted by Date - Sort by Likes
+
OMG this is the most clear cut appeal to flattery
This is text book appeal to flattery... do this not only because we are rich and powerful... um calling someone rich and powerful is flattery

7.1.16 04:44 by ozzz169
1      0

  + Reply 1 comment downstream. Please read it before replying.



+









Play Game - Fallacy List - Add Statements - Player Collections - Discussions

Login - High Scores - About - Trivium - Links - Contact

Donate To DontFallacy.Me - Support Dr. Labossiere

Creative Commons, 2014, Wiki World Order (Morgan Lesko)


* Fallacious statements are usually paired with a random image of a person who never spoke those words.
This free site is for educational purposes, studying intellectual dishonesty. The images are being used under fair use. Sunflower by robstephaustrali.