Application of Critical Thinking, Essay Example

Critical thinking is essential to making the right decisions in business management. The below exercise would analyze four different fallacies.

Non Sequitur

Assigning irrelevant reasons to cause-effect relationships is common in the business world. Investigation is needed. As an example, a marketing manager might make assumptions that the success of the campaign is due to featuring children in the ad. However, without examining the market and the real reasons, the company might change something, keep the children in the next ad and the campaign would be a failure. Examining real logical connections is essential.

Faulty Analogy

Drawing analogies based on only one characteristic is one of the major failures of businesses. When marketing a new product aiming at different customers, just because it is an electronic device, this does not mean that the buying triggers would be the same for the target market. Assuming that because two products are similar in one aspect and they would attract the same customers would cause loss for the business.

Hasty Generalization

Market research is important to position a product. An assumption based on a Twitter pose of a celebrity saying: “I would like to see the new version of x product and would buy it even if it costs 500 dollars” would not mean that all people in the target market would think the same way.

Equivocation

An example for equivocation: Some managers might think that hard work should be rewarded. However, if a work is hard for employees, that means they are incompetent. Therefore, all hard-working employees would be incompetent in that sense.

Mystery Logical Fallacy

Tautology. There is no proof to prove or disprove the argument about Clinton’s economic reforms. However, as there is no evidence, it is impossible to prove the end statement; “Clinton trying to sell America…”

Illogical statements can mislead the public in many ways; as many people only listen to the end conclusion and do not follow the full discourse, there is a risk that the public’s beliefs would be changedon an unconscious level. (I.e.: not following through the logical route.)

References

List of Most Common Logical Fallacies. Online.     <http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/rgass/fallacy3211.htm>