Non sequitur, either- or, faulty analogy, and circular reasoning fallacies
- 1. Fallacies Non Sequitur, Either-Or, Circular Reasoning/Begging the Question Dr. Lynn Meade
- 2. Let’s get started. First up is the faulty analogy. Analogies are good and they can help us better understand the situation but a faulty analogy seeks to mislead by comparing things that are dissimilar in an important way.
- 3. Consider the following faulty analogy from quia.com We have pure food and drug laws; why can't we have laws to keep movie-makers from giving us filth ?
- 4. The Texas State Philosophy Department's webpage elaborates by saying: “This (faulty analogy) fallacy consists in assuming that because two things are alike in one or more respects, they are necessarily alike in some other respect.” Because human bodies become less active as they grow older, and because they eventually die, it is reasonable to expect that political bodies will become less and less active the longer they are in existence, and that they too will eventually die.
- 5. Yet another faulty analogy… “Bill Clinton has no experience of serving in the military. To have Bill Clinton become president, and thus commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, is like electing some passer-by on the street to fly the space shuttle. ” Steve Davis From I love india fallacy website
- 6. Consider This Faulty Analogy
- 7. Up next is circular reasoning. It is the faulty assumption that A is true because B is true and B is true because A is true. A proves B B Proves A
- 8. Consider this example… Barrack Obama is a good communicator because he speaks effectively.
- 9. Harry Potter’s circular logic… “Voldemort cannot die because no he cannot be killed.”
- 10. Here’s another example of circular reasoning. It is also called begging the question The whole abortion debate about when human life begins is ridiculous. We should be talking about the rights of the baby. From Texas State University Philosophy Department webpage
- 11. One more begging the question/ circular reasoning example The best argument against Atheism is a simple one. According to a recent Gallup poll, over 98 percent of people believe in God. You can’t get that many people to say that the earth is round. God must exist Do you see the circle? We know God exists because people believe in him. People believe in him because he exists.
- 12. I love to paint. One of the things that I really love to do is to mix paint to make new colors. I like to mix red and white to make pink and blue and yellow to make green. If I mix red paint and green paint I get a color I call—yucky brownish color. I can never mix red and green to get yellow. And so it is with arguments. Sometimes speakers try to mix two ideas together and tell you that this is the outcome and it simply is not true. It’s a form of fuzzy logic. It’s a fallacy called a non-sequitur
- 13. Non Sequitur means “It does not follow” It is when the conclusion does not follow the premise. Consider this, “Save the world, buy a Ford.” Me + Buying Does not equal A Ford ≠ The world saved
- 14. Newt Gingrich said the following about why women should not go into combat. "If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets, you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn't matter, you know. These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means being on an Aegis-class cruiser managing the computer controls for twelve ships and their rockets, a female may be again dramatically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes.“ Men Biologically Driven To hunt giraffes Does not equal Why women should Not go into combat + ≠
- 15. Here are a few more non sequiturs If you do not buy your dog Alpo, you do not love your dog. "Tens of thousands of Americans have seen lights in the night sky which they could not identify.The existence of life on other planets is fast becoming certainty !“ All the students like Mrs. Smith. That makes Mrs. Smith a great math teacher.
- 16. Last example: Hitler was a vegetarian therefore vegetarianism is wrong I hope you are scratching your head saying, “What!? This makes no sense at all.” And you are right. It is certainly not a logical outcome—this is fuzzy logic and definitely a non-sequitur.
- 17. Read the sign on your left. At this point you should be thinking, This is a non-sequitur, it is not a logical outcome. Me plus not loving bacon does not equal wrong. I want you to notice one other thing happening here. It makes it look like there are only 2 choices. Choice one is you love bacon and choice two is your wrong. This is creating a false dilemma. It is making it look like either you agree with us or your are wrong. Image from cripplegate.com
- 18. Either-Or / False Dilemma Fallacy…. Image from cripplegate.com By making it seem like there are only two choices when there are clearly more, this sign is demonstrating the false dilemma fallacy. Also called the either-or fallacy.
- 19. Michelle Obama illustrates the false dilemma fallacy: "I get confused when people say there are a lot of choices in this race," she said. "There are so many more experienced candidates. My response is, no, that’s not true. You’ve got two choices in this race. You’ve got the same old thing over and over again that hasn’t worked for regular folks in my lifetime. And then we have Barack Obama.”
- 20. One more example of the either-or fallacy Anybody who loves this country should be supporting the Attorney General’s actions. Those who criticize the Attorney General are really on the side of terror.
- 21. So there you have it—four new fallacies. Either-or / False dilemma Non-sequitur Faulty analogy Circular reasoning / Begging the question.
- 22. If you picked non-sequitur, your right!
- 23. By now you’ve probably seen this photo which had gone viral… Which fallacy do you see here? If you picked non-sequitur, your right!