Fallacy Blog (Magic With Words)

Fallacy video - Post Hoc
Fallacy Presentation - Dogmatism

Fallacies are magic. All you have to do to use them to your advantage is know what they are, but all you have to do to counteract them is to know what they are. I came into this English unit thinking what is a fallacy, much less how to use them or counteract them. But now I'm expert in logical fallacies.

"Heavy hate magic!" ~ Heavy, Team Fortress 2

A fallacy is a flaw in logical reasoning, and can be very powerful if used correctly. If used in a way that is obvious or wrong, they can backfire and allow the opposing argument/side to point out a fault in your argument. Some major fallacies include cherry picking, dogmatism, and post hoc fallacy.

Cherry Picking- Looking at chart of data and selecting data that helps your side of an argument and ignoring the rest.

Dogmatism- Refusing to accept or listen to the opposing sides argument.

Post Hoc- If event A happened before event B, this means A caused B. This may not be true.

Knowing what these fallacies are can help you argue better by not using them and strengthening your argument while disproving or discrediting an opposing argument. These fallacies are used everywhere. Three major places where you can find them are in ads, political debates, and at school.

One of the more interesting things about fallacies is why they are used. If you see that an argument/side has used a fallacy, you can then use this to think at the core of their argument. For instance, if an argument uses a fallacy, you can conclude a few or all of the following.

1. Their argument is faulty and lacks required evidence or backing to it.

2. The person/s arguing this claim are worried that their argument does not have enough backing to it. (They are afraid of opposing side, this can be used to your advantage.)

3. This person does not know what a fallacy.

All three of these are reasons to use fallacies, and all three are also ways you can counteract them. Fallacies are very risky, if used in a subtle way, you may be able to get away with it. But if the opposing side is looking for the use of fallacies like you should now be doing, your entire argument can collapse on you.