Critical Thinking Part 2 Fallacys The poet Matthew Prior said “In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.” It always comes down to how you construct your argument not necessarily the facts in the argument. There are literally tons of devices we use to structure our arguments sometimes to make them stronger and sometimes to make one favor a particular side. We convey information for an argument through statements or propositions. Often times how we construct these statements and propositions will define the winner of the argument. A proposition holds some sort of matter of fact, whereas statements can be direct or in direct. Most cases for arguments sake are rather direct. People don’t tend to approach …show more content…
Sometimes this fallacy can be called the “bait and switch” and is used in common advertising. It works because it starts out sound like a sound idea and gets you to agree at one point. The meanings of the words are changed leaving you committed to something you never intended. The receiver should always be aware of the definitions of the key terms of the statement given, if they are not understood always ask. Ben Franklin had a great famous saying that uses this fallacy in an acceptable way “If we don’t hang together, we will hang …show more content…
This is a mistake in an argument because why try and prove the point of something you already assume to be true. That being said fallacies of presumption are still used often in arguments. There are three main fallacies in this group begging the question, complex question and false dilemma. Begging the question also known as a circular argument this is the most classic representation of a fallacy of presumption. The conclusion of the argument is always the same in the beginning of the argument as it is at the end. The argument can go on and on without a solution therefore being a fallacious argument. They are not usually very obvious but rather take a stance like “A is true because B is true, and B is true because C is true, and C is true because A is true.” As you can see the argument comes around full