...In politics, the focus, at times, moves away from the issues that are important to voters to the personalities of the people who are running for office. Instead of debating the pros and cons of the issues at hand, politicians revert to personal attacks. In doing so, the focus is often taken off of the important issues in a campaign and instead, placed on the candidates’ beliefs and ideals or events from their past. This is a very effective and often used method in politics today. Politicians use this tactic often in advertising or during debates, calling their opponents names such as “socialists,” or even “scumbags,” or introducing information about a person that has absolutely no bearing on the campaign, in order to confuse the voters and avoid discussing the real issues....
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...James Jackson BCOM/275 Week 2 Assignment Logical Fallacies Analysis 1. Personal attack ad hominem. An ad hominem compares the qualities of the person making a claim to the qualities of the actual claim. It is when it is argued that a claim cannot be true because there is a certain lack of quality in the person providing the claim. With this fallacy, it is not the claim itself being analyzed, but the person making the claim. A “personal attack” ad hominem does exactly that – it attacks the person making a claim in order to set them in a negative light. The thought is that a claim cannot possibly be true if the person making the claim is a “bad person”. We see this in the media all of the time with politics. Often pundits in the media will claim that a politician in the opposing party does not have the “moral authority” to claim something because the politician may have been accused of doing something that the media outlet is reporting as morally wrong. A good example of this was early in Barack Obama’s presidency, and even when he was campaigning. During that time some media outlets would dispute a patriotic statement he may have made. They claimed that he could not be patriotic because there was no proof he was even an American citizen since no one had ever seen his birth certificate. This could also be considered a circumstantial ad hominem, as the media was saying that his claimed circumstances refuted his patriotism. 2. Scare tactics. Scare tactics involve...
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...is anAd hominem fallacy: It attacks the character of the arguer rather than the argument. It is an error in reasoning because you should focus on the argument. 2. A child can be either an athlete or a good student. • This is an Either-or type fallacy: it presents someone with a limited choice when there are more choices. The error is that people will know they have more choices and discredit your argument. 3. Any change in health care will lead to socialism; we don’t want to live in a socialist country, so we can’t reform health care. • Begging the Question: Using circular reasoning to prove a conclusion. This is done in the news a lot and this type of fallacy goes unnoticed. The error is that the claim is false so the conclusion is false and people will notice this. 4. All teenagers text while they drive; therefore, we should raise the driving age to 21. • Hasty generalization: Using a part to make an inaccurate claim about a whole. This is wrong because if any part of the claim is wrong it will make the whole argument wrong. 5. If we don’t all drive hybrid cars, the world will end in the next decade because of environmental damage. • Slippery slope: Suggesting that one event will automatically lead to a chain of other events. This is wrong because the claim that the world will end isn’t supported be any evidence and is far fetched. 6. Senator Range has been seen entering a strip club; therefore, his economic reforms are not plausible. • Ad Hominem:...
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...image about a group of people based on little evidence (Moore &Parker, pg 122). Stereotypes are created based on some idea of abstract familiarity. A stereotype can be deemed 'positive', or 'negative'. Concepts of stereotype are rarely invoked in instances of positive stereotypes. This paper will explore the stereotypes and rhetoric that are associated with four groups of people: politicians, tattooed persons, feminists, and senior citizens. When looking at the one stereotype politicians is the ad hominem fallacy. The ad hominem fallacy is “the confusion between the qualities of the person making a claim and the qualities in the claim itself” (Moore & Parker, pg 173). Politicians are thought of as self-serving, hypocritical and dishonest con-artist. During a political campaign we see on the news how one attacks their opponents. The personal attack ad hominem fallacy is attacking another with negative comment. During campaigning it is bad because of the personal attacks on each other in order to discredit the other person. This is how they want to get voters on their side to vote for them. Politicians are a very unique group of people to explore stereotyping because they are probably the only group who uses stereotyping against each other, lease of which is positive (Green, 2009 ). In many ways, politicians create their own stereotype by announcing on national TV that their opponent possess every negative stereotype given to...
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...be truth. Circular Reasoning The second logical fallacy I am going to define is circular reasoning. This is an argument where your conclusion and premise are the same. It is an argument that asks you to simply accept the conclusion without real evidence. Also it can be an argument that simply ignores an important assumption. So to avoid this fallacy you cannot just assume or use as evidence that very thing you are trying to prove. Here is an example of a circular reasoning fallacy. When people murder they do it because they are ignorant. So this means only ignorant people murder. This argument only shows that you have restated it using different wording. It does not give us any reasons why we feel people murder. Ad Hominem The...
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...Shee notes that this argument is similar to the ad hominem fallacy, which consists of trying to refute an argument by impeaching the character of its proponent. However, the Argument from Intimidation demands the victim to disregard their idea without further discussion by imposing moral self-doubt, fear, guilt, or ignorance onto them. Rand uses the example of the Emperor’s New Clothes to show how intimidation is used when the conmen sold non-existent clothing to the Emperor claiming that the clothing’s beauty makes it so that only those who are smart, competent, and fit to work can see them. Of course, the clothing did not exist but the Emperor pretended they did in order to seem worthy. Rand also notes that the Argument of Intimidation not only takes place in what is verbally said, but also in what is non-verbally implied. Certain facial cues and even inclinations in the tone of one’s voice can convey the crushing disapproval of others. Rand goes on to point out that this method of argumentation is often used when the debater lacks evidence or any argument at all, which shows that they are actually the ones that lack intelligence although they would like...
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...Frank Zappa’s testimony on the topic of labeling specifically rock music that was seen as explicit by the PMRC was unforgettable. His testimony instead of persuading the senate to not allow explicit labels on rock music showcased his argument as vague and off topic at times. Since most of Frank Zappa’s argument is petty jabs at the PMRC and its founders, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what he did well. Frank Zappa’s testimony was truly a disaster until the very end. He seemed to have almost no interest in the actual topic of the court case about labeling rock music explicit in the future records to come. Instead, he seemed to have his own agenda which included verbal attacks on the founders of the PMRC and their spouses. An example...
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...wonder how this inequality affects our current political system, especially with the focus on Donald Trump and the derogatory things he has said about specific women, including his opponent Hillary Clinton. A study found that the gender of the people running in an election influenced newspaper articles about the candidates and what these newspaper articles focused on. “When only male candidates were running, stories focused on character traits six percent of the time and political issues 55.5 percent of the time. When only female candidates were running, the stories focused on character traits 9.4 percent of the time and political issues 51.7 percent of the time” (Bahadur). Obviously there has been a problem for some time on the equality in politics for women. It appears that women are taken less seriously than men because the media would rather focus on the women’s personal life than their stances on political issues. Instead of reporting coverage on a woman politician’s economic policy, they would rather focus on what she wears and whether or not she has a good relationship with her husband. This campaign advertisement not only sends the message on how some men, like Donald Trump, view women, but also can send an underlying or implicit message on how women are treated in general in today’s society, especially women in...
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...Aaron Mitchell Teacher: Shawn Haake January 18, 2015 PHI101FD0215SP CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Western Philosophy Origins of the word Philosophy: The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom Explain Modes of persuasion Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated. Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. Secondly, persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions. Thirdly, persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question. MYTHOS: a set of beliefs or assumptions about something. LOGOS: Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite. We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough. We'll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis, and look at some of the common logical fallacies, in order to avoid them in your writing. Who was THALES? Was a pre-Socratic...
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...The Evening Signalʻs publication on May 27, 1840 served as the official declaration of a brutal and merciless battle. “Utter scoundrelism” and “venal wretch” were some of the phrases editor Park Benjamin employed as ammunition towards James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald (Copeland, 174). The attack was followed by publications of malicious strikes from other newspapers who also sought to silence the controversial Herald and its bold editor. Vicious remarks detonated throughout the press and the war had erupted. These attempts of ad hominem are now referred to as the “Moral War” of journalism in 1840. It was Bennettʻs relentless criticism of political, financial, and religious institutions in the Herald that ignited this opposition...
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...individual on the other hand may easily point out that the current political climate exemplifies the decline of civic responsibility, and ultimately, the decline of democratic rule. In Washington, politicians are split along partisan lines, battling one another on decisive and controversial issues such as raising the debt limit, balancing the budget, and health care reform. While politicians carefully calculate the potential consequences of their decisions, the same battles are being waged ferociously on other fronts by the media and other self-interested groups. Ultimately, the results of these policy decisions depend on which party could convince the American public of what is in their best collective interest. This is precisely the nature of politics and democracy, and neither one is always fair. In a world where interest groups and lobbies have tremendous sway and influence over those in power, and when media reporting of the issues lacks fairness and accuracy, it should be the citizen's duty and responsibility to ensure that they are politically aware and civically engaged. This paper will argue that an informed citizenry is necessary to the proper functioning of the American political system. Decreasing levels of political knowledge amongst citizens and the manipulation of the facts by the media obfuscate the important issues that affect the public good, while preventing democracy from flourishing. As James...
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...Recognition of gay and lesbian marriage and pluralism Word Count: 2024 What does pluralism reveal about the recognition of gay and lesbian marriage? What are the strengths and limitations of this theory in understanding the recognition of gay and lesbian marriage? Power overlaps between interest and political groups and as a result, political decision-making is reached through negotiation and compromise (Manley 1983). Indeed, when examining the progressive debate concerning the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in Australia, the perception that power is bartered through interest groups becomes highly plausible through the lens of classical pluralist theory. There are competing visions of diversity in Australia, and behind the main positions; supportive, neutral, and opposing, there are a multitude of perspectives underlying these umbrella groupings. For some in the community, the concept of gay and lesbian marriage is controversial, and its complexities raise fundamental social, religious, moral and political questions. In analyzing how power has operated in this situation, I will apply classical pluralism to converse sides of the moral argument to reveal how Australian attitudes have changed over time in a progressively consensual political environment. For this issue, the strengths of pluralism lie in its empirical nature; it is an observable and comprehensive view of understanding how power operates in society, with regard to a multitude of perspectives and...
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...George Dvorsky The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations. The lowly calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often less than useless — plus, we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions. Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about. Before we start, it's important to distinguish between cognitive biases and logical fallacies. A logical fallacy is an error in logical argumentation (e.g. ad hominem attacks, slippery slopes, circular arguments, appeal to force, etc.). A cognitive bias, on the other hand, is a genuine deficiency or limitation in our thinking — a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations (such as statistical errors or a false sense of probability). Some social psychologists believe our cognitive biases help us process information more efficiently, especially in dangerous situations. Still, they lead us to make grave mistakes. We may be prone to such errors in judgment, but at least we can be aware of them. Here are some important ones to keep in mind. Confirmation Bias We love to agree with people who agree with us. It's why we only visit websites that express our political...
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...Please work your way through the lecture guide that appears below. During the final week of the course, your knowledge of this material will help you to complete the challenging “Critical Thinking Assignment.” So, carefully work your way through this. Best of wishes! --Prof. Hartog Week #14: Critical Thinking Lecture Guide adapted from Moore/Parker by John Hartog 3 points will be awarded with the assumption that you have worked your way through this Lecture Guide in preparation for the Assignment. A statement is ambiguous when it is subject to more than one interpretation, and which interpretation is the correct one is not clear. Example: “How Therapy Can Help Torture Victims” [a headline in a newspaper]. There are three kinds of ambiguity: (1) semantic, example: “I am a huge Mustang fan.” (2) syntactic, example: “The two suspects fled the scene before the officer arrived in a white Ford.” (3) grouping, example: “College professors make millions of dollars a year.” A statement is vague when it lacks sufficient precision to convey the information appropriate for its use(s). Vagueness is a matter of degree. Examples: (1) Jim is not feeling well. (2) Jim has flu-like symptoms. (3) Jim has an upset stomach and a fever. (4) Jim is nauseated and has a fever of more than 103. In order to think critically, one must think clearly. Some definitions can enable clearer thinking. There are major three kinds of definitions: (1) definition by synonym...
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...REASONING SKILLS SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY REASONING SKILLS SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY 2nd Edition ® NEW YORK Copyright © 2005 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Reasoning skills success in 20 minutes a day.—2nd ed. p. cm. ISBN 1-57685-493-0 1. Reasoning (Psychology) I. Title: Reasoning skills success in twenty minutes a day. II. Title. BF442.C48 2005 153.4'3—dc22 2005047185 Printed in the United States of America 987654321 Second Edition ISBN 1-57685-493-0 For information on LearningExpress, other LearningExpress products, or bulk sales, please write to us at: LearningExpress 55 Broadway 8th Floor New York, NY 10006 Or visit us at: www.learnatest.com Contents HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ix PRETEST 1 LESSON 1 Critical Thinking and Reasoning Skills The importance of critical thinking and reasoning skills, justifying your decisions, the difference between reason and emotion 15 LESSON 2 Problem-Solving Strategies Identifying the main issue of a problem and its parts, prioritizing issues 21 LESSON 3 Thinking vs. Knowing Distinguishing between fact and opinion, determining whether facts are true or tentative truths 27 LESSON 4 Who Makes the Claim? Evaluating credibility: recognizing bias, determining level...
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