Hi Everyone,
Below is a link to a chapter from Nathan Hill’s novel The Nix. This chapter introduces different types of logical fallacies in a creative and humorous way.
After reading the excerpt, please complete the following:
- Choose two of the fallacies Hill uses in the chapter, and define each of them in your own words.
- Point to the moment in the text that exemplifies the fallacy being represented.
- Find an example of each fallacy you’ve chosen from contemporary news / media / advertisements, and paste the link inside the comments section. We will be reviewing and discussing several in class.
1. A fallacy is a “mistaken belief,” and there are many in this essay. For example, in the slippery slope section there is a common misconception that if one student goes down, everyone else has to go down with them. Additionally, it is “if A then B, if B then C and if C then D.” The second one is that since Student A did something wrong, Student/Teacher B needs to compromise in order to give Student A a better grade.
2. Slippery slope: “I’m just saying,” continues Laura, “that if you fail me you’ll have to fail everyone. Because everyone’s doing it. And then you won’t have no one left to teach.” False compromise: “I’ll tell you what,” says Laura, sitting up straight now and leaning toward him. “I can admit I was wrong about copying the paper, if you can admit you were wrong about giving the quiz.”
3. https://lijohnson365.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/logical-fallacies-in-advertising-advertisement-for-rev-e-f-briggs/ (the picture for Slippery Slope)
https://issuepedia.org/Fallacy_of_moderation (the first picture on the right– false compromise)
1. In the chapter, two fallacies that are used to hilarious effect are “The Loaded Question” and the “Circular Argument”. The Loaded Question is one of unjustified assumption. The circular argument is when one begins with what they’re ending with as a reason.
2. The Loaded Question is used when Laura asks “What is wrong with the software?” Laura uses the circular argument against Samuel when she says “Um, yeeeeahh? You asking me if I cheated? It’s really, like, rude?”
3. Here’s an humorous comic where it starts with “Google it” and ends with “Google it” when it comes to the subjecto life after death (or the lack thereof)
https://enviropaul.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/begging-rat.gif
1) Two fallacies that are used are False Compromise and Slippery Slope. False Compromise is a compromise used to try to solve all problems when the solution you give doesn’t actually solve them. The Slippery Slope is when their is a problem and you say that this problem will lead to many unrelated problems that will start to get really out of hand when it actually wont come to any of that.
2) In the False compromise is when Laura was saying “So as a compromise, I’ll rewrite the paper, and you’ll give me a makeup quiz. In the Slippery Slope Laura said “I’m just saying,” continues Laura, “that if you fail me you’ll have to fail everyone. Because everyone’s doing it. And then you won’t have no one left to teach”
3a) A link that shows a good example of False Compromise https://polination.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/middle-ground-fallacy.jpg
3b) A link that shows an example of a Slippery Slope https://enviropaul.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/slippery_slope.png?w=700
1. Slipper Slope: this fallacy is when in a text one small event/step causes more events to occur eventually leading to one big, sometimes over the top significant result.
Appeal to Pity: this fallacy is when someone tries to win an argument by trying to encourage an emotional response that of pity or guilt from the opposing side.
2. Slippery Slope Example- “I’m just saying,” continues Laura, “that if you fail me you’ll have to fail everyone. Because everyone’s doing it. And then you won’t have no one left to teach.” (pg 7)
Appeal to Pity Example: “So I didn’t know it was wrong. How was I supposed to know it was wrong? Nobody ever taught me it was wrong…But I lie about everything. It’s what I do. I can’t help it.” (Pg. 5)
3. Slippery Slope Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIv3m2gMgUU
Appeal to Pity Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc
1.
One fallacy is the Loaded question. It started off that the student denies any wrongdoing in plagiarizing the paper and questions the software. However the professor then states what website the paper came from and even the location of it, which was her very hometown. Another fallacy is in the circular argument. The argument is being evolved around the fact that the blame and the reason are connected with one another, and the reason will only invite the action of being done again.
2.
“You’re saying it’s a mistake?”
“It’s like so weird. I don’t get it. Why would it say that?”
3.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/209628557630037706/
1. Two fallacies that I enjoyed reading about are the false compromise and the loaded question. The false compromise is sort if like admitting ti be wrong if the other person also admits that they weren’t completely right too. The loaded question is more something that contains a controversial or unjustified assumption.
2. One moment where the false compromise is represented in the reading is when Laura says: “I can admit I was wrong about copying the paper, if you can admit you were wrong about giving the quiz.”A moment where the loaded question is represented in the reading is when Laura says at the very beginning: “I wonder what is wrong with the software?”
3. An example of a loaded question from online:
https://www.monroeartist.com/one-time-use.html
1. Two of the fallacies Hill describes is the “loaded question” and “the circular argument”. The loaded question argument is when the person argues by asking questions that cannot be truly answered. The circular argument is when the person arguing takes it personally and tries to switch the blame; going in full circle.
2. “I wonder why it is malfunctioning is it wrong a lot?”
“Plus you shouldn’t punish someone for cheating because then the have to cheat more to pass the class”
3. Loaded- https://theupturnedmicroscope.com/comic/logical-fallacies-loaded-question/
Circular- https://enviropaul.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/logical-fallacies-and-the-environment-circular-reasoning/
1. Two fallacies Hill uses in chapter four is the “argumentum verbosium” and ‘false dilemma’ fallacies. Argumentum verbosium is the creation of a really complex and baffling argument which strays away from the actual conversation. False dilemma is to believe and act as if there is only two choices and you are in an “either/or” situation when more might exist.
2. Argumentum verbrosium is used when Laura hops from one topic to another in her a jumbled spiel “I cannot fail this class because I need it to satisfy a humanities credit so I have room in my fall schedule to take statistics and micro…And my mom wasn’t doing very good post-divorce anyway but now they’ve found a tumor? In her uterus? And they’re operating next week to take it out?” False dilemma appears when the proffessor has to decide whether to laugh or cry as a reaction to Laura crying and makes the terrible choice of laughing, “so his two choices are either to burst out with a naked weeping sob right here in front of Laura Pottsdam— which is just unthinkably awful and embarrassing and exposed—or perform the laughing trick”.
3. Ex. of false dilemma: https://owl.excelsior.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/03/falsedilemmaframe.png
-ARGUMENTUM VERBOSIUM: Going on a long tangent about the problems you have.
FALSE COMPROMISE: A compromise that only benefits one member of the agreement.
-Appeal to emotion
It goes without saying that Laura Pottsdam is now crying.
-https://sites.tufts.edu/seminarinemotion/files/2018/03/quittoday.jpg
1. Two fallacies I choose that Hill uses in this chapter are “The Loaded Question” and “Appeals to Threats”. The loaded question is unsupported speculations being made. It can involve questioning that have single answer and fortify what the questioner wants from the conversation. Appeals to threats is when threat is being used to persuade someone.
2. The Loaded Question- “You’re saying never? It’s never wrong? You’re saying it’s infallible and perfect?”
Appeals to Threats- “I could get you fired for that!”
3. The Loaded Question: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=83229F6AC7FEF9CB2E2875DC6385C8ABEDC2B799&thid=OIP.bedTpK4btI2ORDKK86iGOwHaDl&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstudy.com%2Fcimages%2Fmultimages%2F16%2Fscreen_shot_2018-06-21_at_2.36.26_pm.png&exph=242&expw=500&q=the+loaded+question+fallacy+example&selectedindex=9&adlt=strict&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6
Appeals to Threats: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=C8B4766235569503D0D14D5E345506C581B5F453&thid=OIP.uIeMR9-uhMf2nuQT7nzEugHaE8&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bettercognitions.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FAppeal-To-Force-Fallacy-Examples-01.jpg&exph=400&expw=600&q=appeals+to+threat+fallacy+example&selectedindex=6&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6
1.Circular argument – The use of an interconnected loop to justify doing something to break said loop.
Slippery slope- The use of a slippery slope argument involves using a scenario and describing it in a way that it gets incrementally worse while still retaining a foot in the door of plausibility. Though the main point may seem unlikely, the incremental change and progression spoon feeds the reader the steps towards the end point.
2.“Plus you shouldn’t punish someone for cheating,” Laura says, “because then they have to cheat more. To pass the class? It’s like”—her finger draws a loop into the air—“a vicious circle?”
She uses this circle of failure as justification as to why she shouldn’t be punished for blatantly cheating and plagiarizing a paper.
“I’m just saying,” continues Laura, “that if you fail me you’ll have to fail everyone. Because everyone’s doing it. And then you won’t have no one left to teach.”
Similar to the last one she uses failure as the end goal. She is trying to argue that if she punishes cheating everyone will fail, though I feel her use of the fallacy wasn’t as good as it could have been. Is she’d padded the argument more it may have worked better.
3.Hard times create hard men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times.
If we allow gay marriage, what’s next? Animals? Children? Objects?