Logical Fallacies
Did you know I was a Toastmaster?
I’ve been in Toastmasters for 6 years now and have gotten a lot from the experience. One of the regular pluses to being a Toastmaster is getting the magazine each month. Sometimes, like any magazine, the articles lack appeal but most of the time the articles have some value to my work, my life, or my speaking.
This month’s magazine came with many articles on persuasion and one focused on logical fallacies. As a doctoral learner, the logical fallacy is a mine field of critical thought. One is always on guard for these persuasion pitfalls and then looks for logical reasoning to side step the pitfalls. I’d link you to it but Toastmasters holds onto some archaic tenets of play for pay and gives little in terms of members-level insights into the organization for visitors. This should not detract you from joining though.
Logical fallacies are easily defined as arguments that make logic mistakes. Many times these slip up the target audience and that person enters into agreement under some false pretense. It isn’t always tragically negative but it does happen. The article talks about 5 key fallacies.
- Slippery slope arguments. If we make this school budget cut the children will all drop out and begin taking drugs. It is an argument that draws alludes to some chain of events that has no real proof or reasonableness that the final event will occur.
- False dichotomy. Either you let me go out or I will just die right here. This is an either-or argument that implies that doing both are impossible or that there is no option (like the example given above).
- Appeal to ignorance. No one saw Elvis lowered into the grave (in the coffin) so he could still be alive. This is an argument that suggests because there is no definitive proof supporting one side then the other cannot be discounted.
- Appeal to emotions. You need to finish your food; there are starving children in Africa dying because you have extra food. This is an argument that has no real rationale but draws that the emotional strings of the intended target.
- Red herring. How can George be good at balancing the books; he can’t even drive a car. This argument diverts the audience with another issue and attempts to draw a conclusion based on the information in that diversion.
- Thanks to Dave Zielinski for the summary article in Toastmasters magazine
These are a few examples of logical fallacies and obviously some extreme arguments made to illustrate the point. Many times the fallacies are more subtle. Picture a fast food commercial showing happy/healthy children playing after having some of that restaurant’s food. Subtle, right? Who doesn’t want happy and healthy children? Who doesn’t like the idea of children playing? No one, that’s who. But the reality is that those images conjure up an emotional charge within us and so we fall into the fast food must not be bad for kids, look at those kids pitfall. It is an appeal to emotion.
These fallacies happen all around us in the media, our working worlds, our school worlds, our interactions with others. At work it happens often in a simple and common argument: Yanni is not a team player; he won’t do what I tell him to do. False dichotomy.
Critical thinking and logical reasoning are two really important skills to have. Here is a warning for you though. Punching holes in arguments will make you slightly less popular and could be viewed as argumentative or actively disengaged. Suggesting that you either become persuaded or you are a bad seed is a false dichotomy.
What logical fallacies do you see?
How can you overcome the pitfalls of illogical arguments and people?
What benefit can you gain from thinking more critically about the things you see and hear?
For me, this helps me read articles for my dissertation, tackle tough work issues, and build a stronger learning leader mindset.
Image Source: gutter
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