Fallacies Non Sequitur, Either-Or, Circular Reasoning/Begging the Question

Dr. Lynn Meade

Let’s get started. First up is the faulty analogy. Analogies are good and they can

help us better understand the situation but a faulty analogy seeks to mislead by

comparing things that are dissimilar in an important way.

Consider the following faulty analogy

from quia.com

We have pure food and drug laws;

why can't we have laws to keep

movie-makers from giving us filth ?

The Texas State Philosophy Department's webpage elaborates

by saying: “This (faulty analogy) fallacy consists in assuming

that because two things are alike in one or more respects,

they are necessarily alike in some other respect.”

Because human bodies become less active as they grow older, and because they eventually die, it is reasonable to expect that political bodies will become less and less active the longer they are in existence, and that they too will eventually die.

Yet another faulty analogy…

“Bill Clinton has no experience of serving in the military. To have Bill Clinton

become president, and thus commander in chief of the armed forces of the

United States, is like electing some passer-by on the street to fly the space

shuttle. ” Steve Davis

From I love india fallacy website

Consider This Faulty Analogy

Up next is circular reasoning. It is the faulty

assumption that A is true because B is true

and B is true because A is true.

A proves B

B Proves A

Consider this example…

Barrack Obama is a good communicator

because he speaks effectively.

Harry Potter’s circular logic…

“Voldemort cannot die because no he cannot be killed.”

Here’s another example

of circular reasoning.

It is also called begging the question

The whole abortion debate about

when human life begins is ridiculous.

We should be talking about the rights of the baby.

From Texas State University Philosophy Department webpage

One more begging the question/

circular reasoning example

The best argument against Atheism is a simple one.

According to a recent Gallup poll, over 98 percent of people

believe in God. You can’t get that many people to say that

the earth is round. God must exist

Do you see the circle?

We know God exists because people believe in him.

People believe in him because he exists.

I love to paint. One of the things that I really love to do is to

mix paint to make new colors. I like to mix red and white to

make pink and blue and yellow to make green.

If I mix red paint and green paint I get a color I call—yucky

brownish color. I can never mix red and green to get yellow.

And so it is with arguments. Sometimes speakers try to mix

two ideas together and tell you that this is the outcome and

it simply is not true. It’s a form of fuzzy logic. It’s a fallacy

called a non-sequitur

Non Sequitur means “It does not follow” It is

when the conclusion does not follow the premise.

Consider this, “Save the world, buy a Ford.”

Me Buying

A Ford

Does not equal

The world saved+ ≠

Newt Gingrich said the following about why women should not go into combat. "If combat means living

in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get

infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare.

On the other hand, men are basically little piglets, you drop them in the ditch, they roll around

in it, doesn't matter, you know. These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means

being on an Aegis-class cruiser managing the computer controls for twelve ships and their

rockets, a female may be again dramatically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated

sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes.“

Men

Biologically

Driven

To hunt

giraffes

Does not equal

Why women should

Not go into combat+ ≠

Here are a few more non sequiturs

If you do not buy your dog Alpo, you do not love your dog.

"Tens of thousands of Americans have seen lights in the night sky which they

could not identify.The existence of life on other planets is fast becoming

certainty !“

All the students like Mrs. Smith. That makes Mrs. Smith a great math teacher.

Last example:

Hitler was a vegetarian

therefore

vegetarianism is wrong

I hope you are scratching your head saying, “What!?

This makes no sense at all.” And you are right. It is

certainly not a logical outcome—this is fuzzy logic

and definitely a non-sequitur.

Image from cripplegate.com

Read the sign on your left. At this

point you should be thinking,

This is a non-sequitur, it is not a

logical outcome. Me plus not loving

bacon does not equal wrong.

I want you to notice one other thing

happening here. It makes it look like

there are only 2 choices. Choice one

is you love bacon and choice two is

your wrong. This is creating a false

dilemma. It is making it look like

either you agree with us or your are

wrong.

Either-Or / False Dilemma Fallacy….

Image from cripplegate.com

By making it seem like there

are only two choices when

there are clearly more, this

sign is demonstrating the

false dilemma fallacy. Also

called the either-or fallacy.

Michelle Obama illustrates the false

dilemma fallacy:

"I get confused when people say there are a lot of choices in this race," she said. "There

are so many more experienced candidates. My response is, no, that’s not true. You’ve

got two choices in this race. You’ve got the same old thing over and over again that

hasn’t worked for regular folks in my lifetime. And then we have Barack Obama.”

One more example of the either-or

fallacy

Anybody who loves this country should be supporting the Attorney

General’s actions. Those who criticize the Attorney General are

really on the side of terror.

So there you have it—four new fallacies.

Either-or / False dilemma

Non-sequitur

Faulty analogy

Circular reasoning / Begging the question.

If you picked

non-sequitur,

your right!

By now you’ve

probably seen this

photo which had

gone viral…

Which fallacy do

you see here?

If you picked

non-sequitur,

your right!