Philosophy Test 2

what does background knowledge affect?

expert testimony

Experts

Fallacy of appeal to authority

Dr. Eddings, a prize-winning physicist, claimed in his latest book thatcancer could be cured through the power of the mind alone. Anyone whohas such impressive physics credentials must be right.

Personal Experience

Gamblers Fallacy

Interpreting Evidence (3 ways)

Resisting Contrary Evidence

Conformation Bias

Avaliablility Error

I think I’m a really great tennis player, but keep losing my matches. Maybe one timeI was sick — another time, the court was all wrong, and some other time, there wassomething wrong with my shoe.

I really want to skip my evening class to go out with my friends, so I ask those friendswhether they think it’s a good idea. (Of course they say yes.)

Your favourite hockey team generally wins 3/4 of their games in the regular season.They are a quarter of the way through the current season, and have lost every game.You decide that they must be due to win the rest of their games.

Tony was once bitten by a dog when he was young. So he sees it as extremelyimportant that he teach his daughter how to approach strange dogs safely.

Genetic Fallacy

Ad Hominem Fallacy (3 Variations)

Abusive Ad Hominem

Circumstantial Ad Hominem

You Too Ad Hominem

Prof. Richardson tells us that Carnap was a very important philosopher.But he’s wrong. He only says that to sell more copies of his book on Carnap.Actually, Carnap was a minor figure.

There was an article in Slate magazine arguing for the benefits of the Af-fordable Care Act in the US. But it’s such a typically left-wing publicationthat you can’t believe what it says about this kind of issue.

I hate my professor, so I’m pretty sure he’s wrong about everything.

How can you say that vegetarianism is a better lifestyle choice than eatingmeat? I’ve seen you eat meat plenty of times.

When do you need to be extremely clear on the conclusion?

Fallacy of composition

Fallacy of division

1. Every hair on my dog is black. Therefore, my dog is black.

2. Sodium is poisonous when eaten. So is chlorine. Salt is sodium chloride,so it must be poisonous to eat.

1. That class is entirely full of philosophy majors. Therefore, everyone takingthat class is a philosophy major.

2. Victoria is over 100 years old. So all of its buildings are over 100 years old.

Fallacy of equivocation

You shouldn’t complain about having to carry that crate of beer. It can’tbe heavy. It’s a light beer.

All men are rational creatures. There are often cognitive differences be-tween women and men. So there’s no reason to expect women to be ratio-nal.

Appeal to Popularity

Appeal to common practise

Appeal to tradition

Cell phone use can’t be harmful for you. Everyone has a cell phone these days.

Provincial polling indicates that many BC residents think BC Ferries shouldbecome a private company. So that’s probably the best thing for the government to do.

The US has had a two-party system for most of its history, which means it must be the right system for them.

Appeal to ignorance

Nobody has ever been able to disprove the existence of extraterrestrial life. So there must be aliens out there.

Nobody has ever been able to prove that there is extraterrestrial life. Sowe must be alone in the universe.

Burden of proof

Appeal of emotion

1. If I don’t make a sale today, I’m going to get fired from this job, and you’rethe only customers I’ve had all day. Surely you agree that this television isthe best TV on the market!

2. If I don’t make a sale today, I’m going to get fired from this job, and you’rethe only customers I’ve had all day. Please help me by buying something!

1. Someone holding a knife: “Give me your wallet!”

2. Someone holding a knife: “I deserve your wallet!”

Red Herring Fallacy

A lot of people say that eating locally is better for the environment, butthey’re wrong. Many imported cheeses are delcious and amazing. Andthere’s so much exotic fruit that only grows in tropical climates. You’d bemissing out if you didn’t try them.

Straw Man Fallacy

Suppose someone is responding to an editorial that says a needle exchange should beopened in downtown Victoria. They say: “I can’t believe what I just read in the paperabout the needle exchange. You can’t hand out drugs and encourage their use amongaddicts and the general population, and expect there to be no bad consequences.What a terrible idea.”

Fallacy of begging the question

That inductive argument is strong, because the premises make the conclusion more likely.

Foucault was the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. All the smartestcontemporary scholars agree that his work was the best this century hasseen. We know they must be the smartest, since they are clever enough tounderstand that Foucault was the greatest.

– Foucault is the greatest, because the smartest scholars say so.

– They are the smartest because they say Foucault is the greatest.

False Dilemma (3 types, all same name)

Either you get an A+ in all your classes, or you’ll be stuck in a dead endjob for the rest of your life. So you’d better get all A+’s, since you don’twant to be stuck in a dead end job.

If you don’t get an A+ in all your classes, you’ll be stuck in a dead endjob. Since you’re not getting straight A+ grades, you’re going to be stuckin a dead end job.

You can support universal healthcare or a balanced government budget. Since youwant a balanced budget, you have to come out against universal healthcare.

Slippery Slope Fallacy

1. The school district should deny the request for bilingual education in French.Because if you provide French programs, you’ll have to provide Spanishones. And then you’d have to provide Portuguese. And then all kinds ofother requests that couldn’t be accommodated.

2. It’s unreasonable for professors to give content warnings for disturbing ma-terial in their classes. Once a few professors start giving these warnings,students will begin to request them from their other professors, and thismay lead to a cascade of caution among the rest of the faculty. Last year,seven humanities professors from seven colleges penned an Inside HigherEd article stating that this movement is already having a chilling effect ontheir teaching and pedagogy.

3. If you get bitten by a wild animal, you should get a tetanus shot. If you don’t get the shot, you might develop the disease, and that can be fatal.

Hasty generalization

The deer around UVic are not afraid of people. So deer as a species mustnot be afraid of people.

Faulty Analogy

Eddie and Skipper are both black and white dogs rescued by the sameorganization. Eddie loves to swim. So Skipper probably loves to swim aswell.

Studying Philosophy in university will never get you anywhere in life. Thatguy who works at McDonalds was a Philosophy major, and look at whathappened to him.

My sister said she read a study saying that a glass of red wine every dayis good for most people. But I don’t believe it. I mean, if people drank toexcess every single day, everyone would be too hung over to get to work inthe mornings.