Ben Franklin Fallacies Paper

One of the most important aspects of effective persuasion is avoiding being caught in the traps of logical fallacies. The word “fallacy” comes from Latin, meaning “deceit,” “trick,” or “fraud.” Although sometimes these types of errors are hard to catch, so learning to recognize logical fallacies can help to be a better writer, listener, student, and voter. Don’t be fooled by the twisted rhetoric of another. Likewise, you need to avoid misleading your own audience when you write persuasively. ("http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/ ," ) I would like to address some fallacies presented throughout Benjamin Franklin’s speech at the 1787 Constitution Convention. After a thorough review of the speech and the statements therein, I realized that the eloquence of Benjamin Franklin could frequently be mistaken for fallacy. So, it was a fairly challenging endeavor to distinguish fallacy from eloquent verbiage. To explain, the first fallacy I want to discuss is when Benjamin Franklin speaks on many men thinking they are infallible and “in possession of all truth”. He goes on to say “Steele, a protestant in a Dedication, tells the Pope that the only difference between our Churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines is, the Church of Rome is infallible and the Church of England is never in the wrong.” This reference demonstrates the ethical fallacy Dogmatism because it shuts down discussion by asserting that the speaker's beliefs are the only acceptable ones. The protestant suggests to the Pope that the Church of Rome is infallible and the Church of England is never wrong, thereby declaring that whatever the Pope thinks isn’t acceptable. The next fallacy I want to discuss is when Benjamin Franklin describes his doubt that any other Convention obtained would be able to make a better Constitution. He goes on to explain the reason