Fallacious Arguments, Essay Example

• Premise: The Internet is in public Space.
• Conclusion: Those who use the Internet should not expect to retain any personal privacy.

This argument does not appear to be very convincing. This argument is fallacious. The premise is true. In the argument’s current form, the conclusion does not likely follow from the premise, even when that premise is assumed true.

No one has even proven that God exists; therefore, God does not exist.

• Premise: No one has ever proven that God exists.
• Conclusion: God does not exist.

Issue: Whether God exist

The first argument concludes that God exists, and the second concludes that God does not exist. Both of these arguments deal with the same issue, namely whether God exists. Neither of these arguments are good arguments; neither offers reasons to support its conclusion. Instead, they both illegitimately shift the burden of proof to the other side of the issue. Thus, they are both examples of a fallacious appeal to ignorance.

• Premise 1: Protestants and Catholics say the Lord’s Prayer differently.
• Premise 2: Some Children don’t even know the Lord’s Prayer.
• Premise 3: The parents of non-Christians might not want the children to learn the Lord’s Prayer.
• Conclusion: We should not require every children to recite the Lord’s Prayer at mealtimes.

Issue: Whether we should recognize a right to pray in public schools

In this example, all of the premises are relevant to whether we should require all students to recite the Lord’s Prayer at mealtimes. However, this is not the conclusion relevant to the original issue. The arguer substitutes the conclusion as if it countered the opposition’s conclusion that “We should recognize a right to pray in public schools”. But, it does not. Instead, the distortion of the main conclusion commits the strawman fallacy (Mosser,89).

Works Cited

Mosser, Kurt. Introduction to Logic. Bridgepoint Education, Inc, 2011. Print.