Fallacious Reasoning

Author’s Note
This paper is being submitted on January 19, 2014 for Carly Hearn’s G224 Introduction to Critical Thinking class. The following paper identifies fallacious reasoning used is Mark Twain’s The Dangers of Lying in Bed.

Fallacious Reasoning Mark Twains The Dangers of Lying in Bed contains many fallacies and I’d like to go into detail on at least 1 example of each type of fallacy that is used. I will quote lines from his story and follow it with a fallacy title and description on that fallacies applicability. In the beginning of the story the man in the ticket office says, “But it is for accident insurance, and if you are going to travel by rail… (Twain, 1871)” Construed in this way, the ad does contain an argument, but the argument is defective because it contains an invalid inference (Cavendar, 2013). Just because you travel by railroad doesn’t mean you need insurance. Invalid inference is seen in another section of the story shortly after when the author states, “Now I have escaped thus far, and so the chances are just that much increased that I shall catch it this time (Twain, 1871).” Probability is real but not profoundly cogent enough to base a conclusion off of. At the end of the seventh paragraph the author states, “A man can’t buy thirty blanks in one bundle (Twain, 1871).” This sentence uses the equivocation fallacy. The word “blanks” means something that should have worked for its intended purpose but didn’t. So by calling the tickets blanks he’s saying that one should definitely work in this quantity or there is a problem. Just because one increases their insurance, their chances of accidence won’t increase. It’s funny when the author speaks out about how the newspapers always report accidents and the reality is accident’s pale in comparison to safe travels. Newspapers want to intrigue