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Historically, begging the question refers to a fault in a dialectical argument in which the speaker assumes some premise that has not been demonstrated to be true. In modern usage, it has come to refer to an argument in which the premises assume the conclusion without supporting it. This makes it an example of circular reasoning. [1] [2]
Examples of fear appeal include reference to social exclusion, and getting laid-off from one's job, [6] getting cancer from smoking or involvement in car accidents and driving. Fear appeals are nonmonotonic , meaning that the level of persuasion does not always increase when the claimed danger is increased.
This reasoning is a fallacy of relevance: it fails to address the proposition in question by misrepresenting the opposing position. For example: Quoting an opponent's words out of context—i.e., choosing quotations that misrepresent the opponent's intentions (see fallacy of quoting out of context ).
This explains, for example, why arguments that are accidentally valid are still somehow flawed: because the arguer himself lacks a good reason to believe the conclusion. [9] The fallacy of begging the question, on this perspective, is a fallacy because it fails to expand our knowledge by providing independent justification for its conclusion ...
Circular reasoning is closely related to begging the question, and in modern usage the two generally refer to the same thing. [4] Circular reasoning is often of the form: "A is true because B is true; B is true because A is true." Circularity can be difficult to detect if it involves a longer chain of propositions.
Is used to increase a person's latitude of acceptance. For example, if a salesperson wants to sell an item for $100 but the public is only willing to pay $50, the salesperson first offers the item at a higher price (e.g., $200) and subsequently reduces the price to $100 to make it seem like a good deal. Dysphemism
Appeals to popularity are common in commercial advertising that portrays products as desirable because they are used by many people [9] or associated with popular sentiments [18] instead of communicating the merits of the products themselves. The inverse argument, that something that is unpopular must be flawed, is also a form of this fallacy. [6]
Argumentum ad baculum (Latin for "argument to the cudgel" or "appeal to the stick") is the fallacy committed when one makes an appeal to force [1] to bring about the acceptance of a conclusion.