Moral Reasoning - Fallacies

11 important questions on Moral Reasoning - Fallacies

What are the classical formal fallacies?

  1. Fallacy of denying the antecendent.
  2. Fallacy of affirming the consequent.

What is the fallacy of denying the antecedent?

1. If P, then Q.
2. P is false.
Therefore
3. Q is false
Example: if gods exists, then abortion is immoral. God doesn't exist, therefor abortion is morally OK.

What is a ad hominem fallacy?

This is an informal fallacie, which occurs when you try to undermine a position by attacking the person who is advancing it.

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What is the fallacy of affirming the consequent?

1. If P, then Q.
2. Q is true
Therefore
3. P is true.
Example: if God exists, then morality is objective. Morality is objective, therefore, God exists.

What are the informal fallacies?

  1. Ad hominem fallacy.
  2. Appeal to authority, involves relying on authority figures.
  3. Appeal to ignorance
    1. when one thinks that a claim is true because it hasn't been proven false.
    2. when one thinks that a claim is false because it hasn't been proven true.
  4. Hasty generalization, which occurs when someone illicitly draws a general lesson from only a small handful of cases.

What is the ad hominem fallacy?

This occurs when you try to undermine a position by attacking the person who is advancing it.

What is the appeal to irrelevant emotions?

When someone tries to convince you of a claim by playing on your emotions, rather than by offering facts and evidence that bear the truth of a claim.

What is the appeal to authority?

This involves relying on authority figures to substantiate a position outside of their area of expertise. Example: 'I am the grown-up here, so what I say goes'.

What is the straw man fallacy?

This occurs when someone avoids engaging with the best arguments for a position one opposes, and instead substitutes  an obviously terrible argument for the one that has actually been offered (which can easily been demolished).

What is the appeal to ignorance?

Latin: ignorantie elenchi. It occurs when one thinks that a claim is true because it hasn't been proven false (or the other way around).

What is a hasty generalization?

This occurs when someone illicitly draws a general lesson from only a small handful of cases. Example: stating that all muslims are terrorists.

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