The Logical Fallacies, Research Paper Example

We saw two houses: one in the suburbs and one in the center of town. The suburban house was less expensive than the one in town so there must be something wrong with it.

This is fallacious reasoning because inner City properties are normally more expensive than urban properties.  The cost of the land in the inner City being the prime reason.  It would therefore stand to reason that you are more likely to get better ‘value for money’ on urban properties.

I’ve been putting in a lot of overtime and life has been really difficult lately. I want a promotion and I deserve it; you should give me one.

The concept of putting in overtime is rewarded by overtime pay.  It is not directly related to a meritorious process deserving of promotion.  Overtime might demonstrate company loyalty but may not be reflective of quality or the skills to carry out a more advanced role, the latter of which should be rewarded on merit

You are only attacking my politics because you are a racist.

Political freedom and right of free speech is available to all in a democracy.  You have a right to disagree with political expression.  Racism indicates discrimination and bigotry, the two are not necessarily linked.

People take more seriously what they have to pay for. Therefore, people paying their way are more serious students than those who are not

Education should be freely available to all walks of life.  Those provided with student grants are normally very appreciative and serious committed students.  A person being given money by affluent parents may not necessarily make a good student, particularly if they have become accustomed to taking things for granted.

Children are imaginative; they are different from adults. Therefore, they should have a good education.

Children are not different from Adults just a younger version. The fallacy is that Adults do not have imagination.  There is not an automatic entitlement to a good education other than a belief that no children should be deprived of a good education.

Cognito ergo sum – I think therefore I am ( Rene Descartes: 1637 )

Descartes was saying this in the context that he is alive and he exists because he can think.  ” Descartes argued, because even if an all-powerful demon were to try to deceive me into thinking that I exist when I do not, I would have to exist for the demon to deceive me. Therefore, whenever I think, I exist.” (Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2009).  The fallacy is that thinking is the only way you can exist. There are other ways that prove existence other than by speculation.

If you vote for a democrat, you vote against the war on terror

The current democratic administration is conducting a policy or war against terrorism. Hence a vote for the democrats does not achieve this aim.  Terrorism is an international threat against democracy in the west and both leading US political parties are defenders of a democratic constitution.

All Muslims are terrorists and should be killed

All Muslims are not terrorists, as you cannot generalize.  Nobody should be killed without due course of justice and process of law.  One could argue that war is legalized homicide.

It is true that certain organizations have ties to groups in areas of conflict that some may describe as terrorists but they have also run orphanages and supported other local humanitarian efforts.

One persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter.  It is the definition of the word terrorist.  The Red Cross and Geneva Convention had ties with the Germans in the Second World War but equally tried to facilitate well being and aid to prisoners.  At times it can be necessary to have conflicting interests in order to facilitate the greater good.

A Gallup poll last week found that 73 per cent of highly religious people didn’t think we should go to war with countries harbouring terrorism.

This is a poll that produces  an opinion which is valid only at one point in time. Circumstances may change at a subsequent date that changes that opinion. The fallacy is that the opinion is an eternal truth.

A great leader is infallible and can never be wrong. Saddam Hussein was clearly a great leader because he could really inspire people to follow him. Yet anyone advocating genocide was clearly wrong and Hussein did advocate and practice genocide. Therefore Hussein was not infallible.

No leader is infallible, as we are all human beings and as such capable of making mistakes.   The difference with Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Stalin etc is that there acts were pre-meditated and not mistakes. They knew precisely what they were doing when carrying out acts of genocide. In this sense they were not making mistakes but following a clear plan of action to commit mass murder.

The terrorists only struck large cities like New York and Washington. Since I live in Iowa I will be safe.

Terrorists have struck at soft targets, consider the IRA campaign against the British.  They bombed civilians, public houses and market places.  There is no guarantee of safety against acts of terrorism that can be quiet random.

Any country that does not relinquish terrorists to the American justice system is clearly on the side of the terrorists.

This is not true because America does not have an automatic right to interfere with the legal process of other nations.  There are war crime tribunerals and international courts that can decide upon the rights of extradition.  The Lockerby bombing of a PanAm  plane was primarily American citizens but carried out on British soil.  The terrorists were captured and faced legal prosecution in the UK. (Perterkin, 2010)

The Company CEO got a confidential notice from the CIA that one of our employees attended a radical survivalist convention.

The fallacy is that the CIA are not in the habit of sending notices to the CEO of a Company about such a trivial issue.  If the person was committing a Federal offence he would be arrested. At the very least he may be kept under observation and if ultimately proved to be carrying out covert activities by the state is most likely to be referred to the FBI.  The Central Intelligence Agency being more concerned with international dimensions.

America for Americans. Close the gates on immigrants.

America is founded upon a nation of immigrants or a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society.  It is the cornerstone of democracy and human rights.  There is a need for some immigration control but no western democratic state  will preclude this altogether

A person of integrity is one who will honour his / her commitments

The fact that you might have high moral principles and standards does not necessarily mean that you will uphold them.  You may still have integrity i.e. beliefs, without necessarily implementing them.

Esse est percipi – to be is to be perceived “rejected the idea that sense perceptions are caused by material substance, the existence of which he denied. Intuitively he grasped the truth that “to be is to be perceived.” The argument is a simple one, but it has provoked an extensive and complicated literature, and to some contemporary Idealists it seems irrefutable.”  (Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2009)

At a time when young Muslims are being persuaded to murder large numbers of innocent people with the promise of a reward in heaven, it seems prudent to be wary of leaders who want to drag god into the dismal consequences of human behaviour.  The hell that appears to be looming is man made…

Heaven is essentially fictitious and as such promises of rewards in such a place are equally with out substance or reality.  Equally the concept of murder cannot be justified in Islamic faith, even the concept of a jihad does not condone mass murder.  Religious fundamentalist leaders are capable of putting a “spin” on the reading of the Quran in order to meet their own needs, hence it becomes a question of religious interpretation.  Within the context of globalization the key will be education and the future with the young people of the world to live in harmony with one another.

Socrates is a man,

All men are mortal,

Therefore, all men are Socrates

The fallacy is that we are all born equal.  Some are born intelligent, others are fools.  We are all mankind but not clones of one another, we each have our separate identities and intelligence levels.

Works Cited

Encyclopedia Brittanica. (2009). Encyclopedia Brittanica. Retrieved 1 8, 2010, from Idealism : http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/281802/idealism/68523/The-esse-est-percipi-to-be-is-to-be-perceived-argument-of-Berkeley

Encyclopedia Brittanica. (2009). Philosophy. Retrieved 1 8, 2010, from Encyclopedia Brittanica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124443/cogito-ergo-sum

Perterkin, T. (2010, 1 7). Tests show Lockerbie bomb piece evidence was ‘improbable’. Retrieved 1 8, 2010, from News Scotsman: http://news.scotsman.com/news/Tests-show-Lockerbie-bomb-piece.5961796.jp