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HOW TO AVOID BIAS AND

LOGICAL FALLACIES


Arguments
persuade your audience that your ideas are valid or more valid
than someone elses.

Strong arguments are logical and credible, but not all
arguments are strong. Weak arguments rely on illogical
statements called fallacies.


LOGICAL FALLACIES
Fallacies are statements that weaken arguments.
Fallacy comes from the Latin word fallacia which
means deceit, lead into error or trick. Fallacy is an
error in reasoning. These flawed statements often
sound true. Do not fall victim to such errors.
Fallacies are defects that discredit arguments
A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that makes
the argument invalid.

1) FALSE CAUSES - NON SEQUITUR (LATIN
FOR IT DOES NOT FOLLOW)
o -the error is due to lack of logical connection

-to describe a statement in which premise and
conclusion are totally unrelated but which is used
as if they were

1) FALSE CAUSES - NON SEQUITUR (LATIN FOR
IT DOES NOT FOLLOW) - EXAMPLE
1) FALSE CAUSES - NON SEQUITUR (LATIN FOR
IT DOES NOT FOLLOW)-EXAMPLES


The President graduated from Harvard. He cant
make mistakes
Bill lives in a large building, so his apartment must
be large.
Mona is a very petite lady, however she drives a
huge car / truck.


1) FALSE CAUSES - NON SEQUITUR (LATIN FOR
IT DOES NOT FOLLOW)-EXAMPLES


"I hear the rain falling outside my window; therefore,
the sun is not shining." (The conclusion is a non-
sequitur because the sun can shine while it is
raining.)
Smoking cigarettes is dangerous, but nearly
everything in life has some danger, such as driving
a car or crossing a street. So, if you are willing to
drive a car, you should be also willing to smoke.
2) OVERSIMPLIFICATION
-multiple causes are reduced to just one or a few
(oversimplification)
2) OVERSIMPLIFICATION - EXAMPLE
The overpopulation in Egypt is the main cause for
poverty and unemployment.
(this issue is more complex, there are many more
factors for poverty,
plus big countries like China, India, Brasil have
flourishing economies;
Communities and companies with many people, if
well organized, produce and market better)

2) OVERSIMPLIFICATION-EXAMPLE
School violence has gone up and academic
performance has gone down ever since organized
prayer was banned form public schools. Therefore
prayer should be reintroduced, resulting in school
improvement.
(This is an oversimplification because there are a
handful of causes for school violence but the
absence of organized prayer in schools.)
2) OVERSIMPLIFICATION - EXAMPLE
Mubarak dies and meets Nasser and Sadat
in the afterlife. They ask him, "Poison or
parade?" (Conspiracy theorists allege Nasser
was poisoned; Sadat was assassinated
during a military parade.) Mubarak shrugs
and answers: "Facebook."
3) CAMELS NOSE- SLIPPERY SLOPE

-there is a saying about how if you allow a camel to
poke his nose into the tent, soon the whole camel will
follow. The fallacy here is the assumption that something
is wrong because it could slide towards something that
is wrong.
-asserting that some event must be inevitably follow
from another without any argument for the inevitability of
the event in question.
-the arguer claims that a sort of chain reaction, usually
ending in some dire consequence, will take place, but
there's really not enough evidence for that assumption.
The arguer asserts that if we take even one step onto
the "slippery slope," we will end up sliding all the way to
the bottom; he or she assumes we can't stop halfway
down the hill.

3) CAMELS NOSE- SLIPPERY SLOPE
One cold night, as an Arab sat in his tent, a camel gently thrust his nose
under the flap and looked in. Master, he said, let me put my nose in
your tent. Its cold and stormy out here. By all means, said the Arab,
and welcome as he turned over and went to sleep. A little later the Arab
awoke to find that the camel had not only put his nose in the tent but his
head and neck also. The camel, who had been turning his head from
side to side, said, I will take but little more room if I place my forelegs
within the tent. It is difficult standing out here. Yes, you may put your
forelegs within, said the Arab, moving a little to make room, for the tent
was small. Finally, the camel said, May I not stand wholly inside? I keep
the tent open by standing as I do. Yes, yes, said the Arab. Come
wholly inside. Perhaps it will be better for both of us. So the camel
crowded in. The Arab with difficulty in the crowded quarters again went to
sleep. When he woke up the next time, he was outside in the cold and
the camel had the tent to himself
3) CAMELS NOSE- SLIPPERY SLOPE -
EXAMPLE


Animal experimentation reduces our respect for life.
If we don't respect life, we are likely to be more and
more tolerant of violent acts like war and murder.
Soon our society will become a battlefield in which
everyone constantly fears for their lives. It will be
the end of civilization. To prevent this terrible
consequence, we should make animal
experimentation illegal right now.

3) CAMELS NOSE- SLIPPERY SLOPE -
EXAMPLES
If I fail English 101, I won't be able to graduate. If I
don't graduate, I probably won't be able to get a
good job, and I may very well end up doing temp
work or flipping burgers for the next year.
If the current situation continues, the stock
exchange will plunge further causing the Egyptian
Pound to fall against the other currencies, the
country will be in free fall, the economic life will
collapse (being first terribly hit due to disablement
of the mobile telecommunications and the Internet
connection), no tourists will be visiting for years to
come and Egypt will become one of the poorest
countries in Africa.

3) CAMELS NOSE- SLIPPERY SLOPE
NOT ALWAYS THE INTERMEDIATE STEPS ARE MENTIONED
-EXAMPLES
We have to stop the tuition increase. The next thing you
know, they will be charging 40 000 $ per semester!
You can never give anyone a break. If you do, they will
walk all over you.
Allowing abortion in the first week of pregnancy would
lead to allowing it in the ninth month.
If we legalize marijuana, then more people will try
heroin.
If I make an exception for you than I will have to make
an exception for everyone
If we allow doctor assisted suicide, then eventually the
government will control how we die.

4) BLACK CAT FALLACY -POST HOC ERGO
PROPTER HOC (LATIN FOR AFTER THIS,
THEREFORE BECAUSE OF THIS)
-attributes a cause-effect relation simply because
something occurs after something
-it happened after, so it was caused by it.
-A occurred, then B occurred. Therefore A caused
B.

4) BLACK CAT FALLACY -POST HOC ERGO
PROPTER HOC (LATIN FOR AFTER THIS,
THEREFORE BECAUSE OF THIS) - EXAMPLES
A black cat crossed my path before I took the math
test; I ended up failing the test because of that cat!



The cock always crows just before sunrise. The
rooster crows, and therefore the sun rises.
The rooster crowed and the sun came out. Therefore
the rooster made the sun came up


4) BLACK CAT FALLACY -POST HOC ERGO
PROPTER HOC (LATIN FOR AFTER THIS,
THEREFORE BECAUSE OF THIS) -EXAMPLES


Our weather pattern changed since we began
launching the space shuttle in space
"Before women got the vote, there were no nuclear
weapons.

4) BLACK CAT FALLACY -POST HOC ERGO
PROPTER HOC (LATIN FOR AFTER THIS,
THEREFORE BECAUSE OF THIS) -EXAMPLES

After Billy was vaccinated, he developed autism,
therefore vaccine caused his autism

She got sick after she visited China, so something
in China caused her sickness. (Similar to a non
sequitur, but time dependent.) Perhaps her
sickness derived from something entirely
independent from China.

5) CIRCULAR REASONING
repeats a premise rather than giving a valid reason
-the conclusion of the argument merely restates a
possibly false premise in a slightly different language,
nothing new!
-circular reasoning occurs when the reasoner begins
with what he or she is trying to end up with.
-a conclusion is derived from premises that
presuppose the conclusion. Normally, the point of
good reasoning is to start out at one place and end up
somewhere new, namely having reached the goal of
increasing the degree of reasonable belief in the
conclusion. The point is to make progress, but there is
no progress.

5) CIRCULAR REASONING - EXAMPLE
5) CIRCULAR REASONING - EXAMPLES
Ford Motor Company clearly produces the finest
cars in the US. We know they produce the finest
cars because they have the best design engineers.
This is true because they can afford to pay them
more that other manufacturers. Obviously they can
afford to pay them more because they produce the
finest cars in the US

5) CIRCULAR REASONING - EXAMPLES
Martha is a good supervisor because she
supervises the companys personnel office
effectively.
Only a fatalist would bungee jump and the fact that
bungee jumpers are fatalist is a proof of this.





Change is good because when things dont remain
the same, it is beneficial.


5) CIRCULAR REASONING - EXAMPLE
Women shouldnt fight bulls because a bullfighter
is and should be a man said the Bullfighters
Association president. The president is saying
basically that women shouldnt fight bulls because
women shouldnt fight bulls. This reasoning isnt
making any progress.

5) CIRCULAR REASONING
-EXAMPLE
Active euthanasia is morally acceptable. It is a
decent, ethical thing to help another human
being escape suffering through death. (the
arguer has really just said the same thing
twice: "decent, ethical" means pretty much the
same thing as "morally acceptable," and "help
another human being escape suffering
through death" means "active euthanasia." So
the premise basically says, "active euthanasia
is morally acceptable," just like the conclusion
does! The arguer hasn't yet given us any real
reasons why euthanasia is acceptable;
instead, she has left us asking "well, really,
why do you think active euthanasia is
acceptable?" Her argument "begs" (that is,
evades) the real question.)

6) BLACK OR WHITE REASONING (EITHER
OR REASONING) FALSE DILEMMA OR
FALSE DICHOTONOMY

-a claim that presents an artificially limited range of choices,
but most situations provide more than 2 possible outcomes
-a person who unfairly presents too few choices and then
implies that a choice must be made among this short menu of
choices commits the false dilemma fallacy, as does the person
who accepts this faulty reasoning.
-reducing a set of many possibilities to only two
-the arguer then eliminates the undesirable alternative,
leaving the desirable one as the conclusion.
-you either like it or you don't. He either stands guilty or not
guilty. Many times, a continuum occurs between the extremes
that people fail to see. The universe also contains many
"maybes."

6) BLACK OR WHITE REASONING (EITHER
OR REASONING) FALSE DILEMMA OR FALSE
DICHOTONOMY - EXAMPLES

George Bush: You are either for us or against us
(either you are with Americas fight against
terrorism or you are Americas enemy)
If you don't support our president invading Iraq then
you must love Muslim terrorists.
"Vote for me or the terrorists will attack." You are
given a choice between two things you might not
want, but one choice being infinitely undesirable as
to induce you to choose the other.
Are we going to increase the number of police
officers in this city or are we going to abandon it to
thugs, gangs and drug dealers?

6) BLACK OR WHITE REASONING (EITHER
OR REASONING) FALSE DILEMMA OR FALSE
DICHOTONOMY - EXAMPLES
assuming Atheism is the only alternative to
Fundamentalism
being a traitor is the only alternative to being a loud
patriot
"Caldwell Hall is in bad shape. Either we tear it
down and put up a new building, or we continue to
risk students' safety. Obviously we shouldn't risk
anyone's safety, so we must tear the building
down.
There are only 2 solutions for the question of how
the Universe was created: the Big Bang or Creation

6) BLACK OR WHITE REASONING (EITHER
OR REASONING) FALSE DILEMMA OR FALSE
DICHOTONOMY - EXAMPLE
Suddenly a horrific security vacuum took place
when the ex-minister of interior ordered his people
to withdraw from the scene and just for every
personnel to seek his own protection. There will be
no protection without the police that is linked to the
government: you either support it or you will risk
your life at the hands of thugs and gangs storming
the city
7) PERSONAL ATTACK -AD HOMINEM (LATIN FOR
AGAINST THE MAN)

-attacks the person rather than the issue, name
calling
-an arguer who uses ad hominem attacks the
person instead of the argument.
-whenever an arguer cannot defend his position
with evidence, facts or reason, he/she may resort to
attacking the opponent.

7) PERSONAL ATTACK -AD HOMINEM (LATIN FOR
AGAINST THE MAN) - EXAMPLE
7) PERSONAL ATTACK -AD HOMINEM (LATIN
FOR AGAINST THE MAN)
You feel that abortion should be legal, but I disagree,
because you are uneducated and poor.
He is physically addicted to nicotine. Off course he
defends smoking.
Mr Smith is not an effective leader because he has ugly
pointed ears.
Sam is divorced, so how can he make sound financial
decisions for the city?
Dr Browns books on plant genetics are worthless
because he is a convicted forger and embezzler.

7) PERSONAL ATTACK -AD HOMINEM (LATIN
FOR AGAINST THE MAN)


BUT IN SCIENCE NAME CALLING DOES NOT
HAPPEN

If Einstein were caught practicing witchcraft, this
would not invalidate his theory of relativity
8) THE RED HERRING ARGUMENT-NAMED AFTER A
STRONG SMELLING FISH - RINGA?

-beside the point
-distract the audience from the issue through the
introduction of some irrelevancy.
-draws attention away from the main issue by focusing
on a side issue or something irrelevant
-a deliberate attempt to divert a process of enquiry by
changing the subject
-the introduction of a topic not related to the subject at
hand
-the arguer diverts the attention of the reader or listener
by changing the subject to a different but sometimes
subtly related one
changing the subject to something unrelated to the
question.
take the focus away from the topic at hand.



8) THE RED HERRING ARGUMENT
The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading
attention away from the argument and to another
topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following
form:
-Topic A is under discussion.
-Topic B is introduced under the guise of being
relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not
relevant to topic A).
-Topic A is abandoned.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because
merely changing the topic of discussion hardly
counts as an argument against a claim.

8) RED HERRING - EXAMPLES
Police officer: Do you know why I pulled you over?
Motorist: No, but shouldnt you spending your time
going after real criminals like murderers and
thieves?

Some say that auto insurance rates needs to be
more strictly regulated, but how
strict are regulations on health insurance?

-It is my contention
that the Flying
Spaghetti Monster
does exist
-What evidence do you
have to support such
assertion?
-Oh, there is plenty of
evidence. It is all
around us. BESIDES,
LOOK AT HOW I AM
STANDING ON ONE
LEG !









http://www.flickr.com/phot
os/markklotz/4603295958
/in/photostream/
8) Red Herring
fallacy- example
8) RED HERRING - EXAMPLES
You are not fair in denying me the opportunity to
make up the quiz; after all, I am paying for my own
education and I work 2 jobs, I have to raise my 6
children on my own.

"I don't think Professor Jones should be given
tenure. After all, the tenure system only leads to
lazy professors who spend too much time on
research and not enough on teaching." The topic
was about whether Jones has met the criteria
established for granting her tenure, not about the
tenure system itself.

8) RED HERRING
The former Egyptian government was
corrupted and the former president was not
the best leader, but look at whats happening
in Libya?

9)STRAW MAN ARGUMENT RIDICULE AND TWIST
YOUR OPPONENTS VIEWS

-to create a position that is easy to refute, then
attribute that position to the opponent -attributes
untrue characteristics to an argument and then
attacks the argument based on those
characteristics.
-the arguer sets up a wimpy version of the
opponents position and tries to score points by
knocking it down. But just as being able to knock
down a straw man, or a scarecrow, isn't very
impressive, defeating a watered-down version of
your opponents' argument isn't very impressive
either.

9) STRAW MAN
-an arguer distorts an opponents argument for the
purpose of more easily attacking it. -twisting someones
position or argument so that it sounds ridiculous
-a weak argument is attributed to the opposition, and
then (easily) refuted -- in order to make it appear that
you've refuted the opponent's entire position
-purposely exaggerating or caricaturing or mocking an
argument as a way to make it easier to attack
-"A refutation of a caricature can be no
more than a caricature of a refutation." -
- Amos Tversky



-it is easy to knock down, and
it is a poor substitute for a real
man
-imagine a fight in which one of the
combatants sets up a man of straw,
attacks it, then proclaims victory. All
the while, the real opponent stands
by untouched.
9) STRAW MAN - EXAMPLES
If relativity was right, my car would get shorter and
heavier when I drive it. This is absurd, therefore
relativity must be false.
Evolution is false! How could a mouse evoluate into
an elephant?

Evolution is a ridiculous theory! Macro-evolution
says that a fish can just evolve into a bird! Clearly
this is preposterous!

9) STRAW MAN - EXAMPLE
You are opposed to building more B2 bombers. But
if you had your way, we would have no national
defense at all! Our nation couldn't exist long without
a national defense!"The conclusion is then drawn:
"We should build more B2 bombers." (Notice what
happens here. The original position (no need for
more B2 bombers) is distorted or exaggerated to
become the claim that we don't need a national
defense. This position (a "straw man") is then easily
attacked.)

10) TRADITIONAL WISDOM
dont rock the boat
-we should continue to do things as they have been
done in the past,
-we shouldnt challenge time-honored customs or
traditions;
-uses the logic that the way things use to be is
better than they are now, ignoring all the problems
of the past
a practice must be OK today simply because it has
been the apparently wise practice in the past, you
commit the fallacy of traditional wisdom

10) TRADITIONAL WISDOM - EXAMPLES
Ms Rickey says that all electronic devices should be
banned from school because it was better without them
in 1965.
Off course we have to play Here comes the bride at
our wedding because thats always been the song that is
played.
The Egyptian state has traditionally had a strength and
solidity that made its collapse seem unthinkable.
"These rules were written 100 years ago and we have
always followed them. Therefore, there is no need to
change them."
Women should stay at home, because women have
always stayed at home."

10) TRADITIONAL WISDOM - EXAMPLES
Of course we should buy IBMs computer whenever
we need new computers. We have been buying
IBM as far back as anyone can remember.
We should have a military government because we
had it since 1952


11) BANDWAGON OMNISCIENCE
- CREATES THE IMPRESSION THAT EVERYBODY IS
DOING IT AND SO SHOULD YOU

Everybody is trying Mc Donalds new
McMudBurger, so should you.
The majority of people like soda. Therefore, soda is
good.
More and more people are buying sports utility
vehicles. Isnt it time you bought one, too? (you
commit the fallacy if you buy the vehicle solely
because of this advertisement)
You should vote for Joe Blow because most people
are
Our product is the best because more people are
buying it.

11) BANDWAGON

12) APPEAL TO PITY
arguer tries to get people to accept a conclusion
by making them fell sorry for someone
Im positive that my work will meet your
requirements. I really need the job since my
grandmother is sick.
"I deserve a good grade in this course. If I don't
pass, I'll flunk out of school and it will break my poor
mother's heart."
I did not murder my mother and father with an axe!
Please don't find me guilty; I'm suffering enough
through being an orphan

13) ARGUMENT FROM AUTHORITY

Einstein was very impressed with this theory
The experts say
Newton believed in Creation. He was a great
physicist. Surely you are not going to argue with
him.

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