Valdimir Lacroix
Professor Alfarone
PHI 2010
12th March 2023 Identifying the Straw Man Fallacy: Understanding The Difference between Disagreement and Misrepresentations
When someone provides a distorted version of another person's argument and then proceeds to disprove it, this is known as the straw man fallacy. And distorts Because it entails making the opposing argument appear weaker than it actually is, it differs from merely disagreeing with someone else's point of view. This is accomplished by oversimplifying, exaggerating, or removing it from its original context. It does not address the pertinent subject and is not a fair and accurate representation of the opposing position.
The Straw Man fallacy is a type of informal fallacy,
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Example 1: Take into account the following justification: "I believe the minimum wage should be increased to $18 an hour." The Straw Man fallacy could be employed by a counterargument by declaring, "You think we should raise the minimum wage to $ 40 an hour!" The initial point is being blown out of proportion, which makes it simpler to challenge. The opponent can then claim that raising the minimum wage to $40 an hour would be too expensive, even though it was never the starting point.
The use of the term "pro-choice" when discussing the topic of abortion is an actual example of the Straw Man fallacy that I will use as my second example. Those who are pro-choice are not necessarily advocating for abortion, but rather they are advocating for the right to choose. However, opponents of abortion will often use the phrase” pro-choice” to misrepresent the argument and make it easier to attack. By oversimplifying the argument as “pro-choice” and implying that it is a defense of abortion, opponents of abortion can more easily discredit the argument without actually addressing the issue of a woman’s right to