BUSINESS LOGIC he/she commits the fallacy of argumentum ad

MODULE 6: FALLACY verecundiam. The use of prominent

ENDTERM personalities to promote certain products, ideas
or programs is another form of this fallacy.
Fallacy
- A kind of argument that seems to be correct Examples: Coronavirus originated from China as
or valid but is not so if examined carefully. what George Bush has theorized.
- An erroneous or false reasoning.
- An argument that tries to persuade Argumentum Ad Baculum (Appeal to force)
psychologically but logically incorrect. This fallacy is an appeal to the “stick” or force. It
disregards the issue and resorts to using moral
Argumentum Ad Populum (Appeal to popular pressure or physical force when evidence and
opinion) rational argument fail. The use of gun and moral
This is an argument directed to the people, it is blackmail is a power struggle in politics and
called appeal to the people. It consists in corporation is a good example.
ignoring the issue and in appealing, instead, to
passions or prejudices of the people. Politicians, Examples: Drink beer! If not, we will not
propagandists and demagogues are often consider you our friend and if something
culprits of this fallacy. A politician aspiring for happens to you, we will not help you.
the highest political office of his land resorted to
this strategy in winning votes. His father was a Argumentum Ad Misericordiam (Appeal to
known collaborator of his country’s invaders pity).
who caused sufferings to his countrymen. His This fallacy is an appeal to pity. It disregards the
political opponents took advantage of this dark issue at hand and appeals to man’s basic instinct
aspect of his family’s history; they took turn in to have pity and sympathy for the unfortunate.
reminding the people of the misdeeds of his Lawyers of defendants may resort to this fallacy
father and the hardships and humiliations the as a strategy to have their client acquitted from
people suffered, appealing to their prejudices legal charges. This was true in a case where the
and passion so as to deprive him of people’s defense counsel paraded the wife and children
votes. of the accused before the court and, in a broken
voice, declared the loneliness, impoverishment
Example: “Don’t vote for him because he is the and agony that the family of the accused will
son of a dictator.” suffer if ever the accused will be convicted and
imprisoned, all the time ignoring the merits of
Argumentum Ad Vericundiam (Appeal to the case.
authority).
The fallacy is an appeal to unqualified authority. Examples:
It ignores the issue at hand and resorts to the - Give me money please. What I only have is
use of authority to silence any opposition to an empty stomach and I can’t do anything
points or claims and to back up his/her except to beg.
arguments. Appealing to legitimate authority of - Boss, why fire me? I’m the only one
the person is not necessarily fallacious; supporting my family. We have 10 children
however, when one uses the authority of great and 7 of them are in school. Please have
names on issues outside their competence, mercy.
Argumentum Ad Hominem (Against the
Person). Examples:
- I had eaten ice cream before I took the
This fallacy is an argument against the person. It
exam and I passed it. Therefore, ice cream is
is committed when a person disregards the
the key for academic success.
issue and attacks, he records or character of his
- I had a headache the other day and I can’t
opponent instead. This fallacy is often
understand our lesson now. Headache then
committed in court hearings and in political
must be the key to academic failure.
campaigns. In a court hearing, the prosecuting
attorney may ignore the evidence which have
bearings on the defendant’s guilt or innocence Superstition Beliefs (False Cause)
and resort to question the character of the man - If a person bites his fingers, it means
so as to discredit his testimony. In political somebody is thinking of him.
campaign, a candidate, instead of presenting his - There should be pansit or noodles in a
qualifications and party platform so as to get birthday party so that the celebrant will
people’s support, resorts to “character have a long life.
assassination” by pointing out the flaws in the - If you want to be remembered by a friend,
character of the other candidates. you should put his picture under your pillow
when you sleep at night.
Example: It was illogical when he said that
- If one points his finger at a rainbow, his
teaching is a noble profession. In the first place,
finger will be cut off.
he is not a teacher.
- If a picture falls from a wall, it also means
False Analogy. bad luck.
This fallacy is committed when a person uses a - If a pregnant woman eats a red star apple,
thing or situation which has no similarity with she will give birth to a child who will look
the thing or situation compared with. like a star apple.

Example: Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam (Arguing from

That person will not account to anything. Look, lack of proof)
his father is a drunkard and a gambler. A This fallacy is an appeal to ignorance. It consists
jackfruit tree will not bear mango fruits; so is in inferring that there is no truth to the
the case of this son and his father. statement because it cannot be proved, or it is
true because it cannot be refuted.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (False Cause).
The fallacy of false cause stems from false - There is no hell. Until now, no one has
assumption that an event immediately ever proved that there is hell.
preceding another is the cause of the latter. - There is no life in Saturn.”
Some superstitious beliefs provided good
examples for the fallacy, such as believing that Non-Sequitur (The argument does not follow)
the black cat which causes one’s path is the Examples:
cause of the accident which happen to him/her - My friend is a scholar. Therefore, I will let
later. Traditionally, the fallacy of false cause is him solve my assignment in Calculus
the result of drawing an absurd conclusion from because I’m sure he can solve this.
an assumption wrongly assumed to underlie
one’s premise.
- My classmate knows how to play basketball. The word fallacy originated from the Latin word
Therefore, he knows the history of the fallo which means “I deceive.” Searles defined it
game. as “any process of reasoning or arguing which
fails to satisfy the requirements of logical
Fallacy of Division. validity, whether formal, semantic, or material.
The fallacy of division is the opposite of the To Bachhuber it is “a deceptive argument”
fallacy of composition and results from taking because it is designed to mislead as it appears
ideas or things separately when they should be to be conclusive and valid but, in reality, it is
taken collectively or as one unit. not.

Examples: A fallacy is committed either intentionally or un-

- Every man is a person. But a woman is not a intentionally. A fallacy committed intentionally
man. Therefore, a woman is not a person. is called a sophimism, a term derived from the
- The Philippines is a rich country. Juan lives sophists of Ancient Greece who took pride in
in the Philippines. Therefore, Juan is a rich calling themselves “the wise”. The sophists were
man. not genuine philosophers but pretenders who
used fallacy as a device in making an impression
Hasty Generalization/Illicit Generalization. of presumed wisdom among common folks.
This fallacy occurs when someone makes a
generalization on the basis of a sample which is Uses
not sufficient and representative of the group
from which the sample was drawn. The sample The study of fallacies has been an integral part
is either too small or does not represent all the in the study of logic. Its contribution in
sectors of the group. systematizing and improving one’s thinking and
reasoning has been acknowledged since the
Examples: birth of logic in ancient Greece. Its importance
- I have been to the homes of five Filipinos in this modern age does not diminish; rather, it
and they were so hospitable. I can, increases due to the complexity in modern
therefore, say that Filipinos are hospitable language and fallacies-both intended and un-
people. intended-in reasoning and communication.
- “All politicians are corrupt.” “All young
people are lazy.” “All Filipinos are The study of fallacy has many good uses. One
hospitable.” reason is based on the principle that one will
not know what is right if he does not know what
NOTE: is wrong. It would be easier for a person to
The list of fallacies just presented is not know the correct reasoning if he/she is taught
complete; what were discussed are the to identify the incorrect one. Knowing the
common ones. It is hoped that the exposure of features of incorrect reasoning will help the
the learners to fallacies will make them logical in person not only in identifying errors in other
their own thinking and reasoning, and critical in people’s reasoning but also in avoiding
analyzing the statements or arguments of commission of the same.
others.
Another reason is that the study of fallacies
Origin of Fallacy provides the student of logic an opportunity to
review much of what he/she had learned about In the first place, correct forms of inference are
systematic thinking and correct reasoning. It will often best illustrated and explained by
be an effective approach systematic to bring contrasting them with more incorrect forms.
back to mind the rules of correct reasoning that Indeed, you cannot know the correct forms of
were violated when he/she studies the different thought without simultaneously knowing the
types of fallacies. incorrect forms; you necessarily know both of
them together. A physician aims at procuring
Still another reason for the study of fallacies is health but nevertheless studies diseases; so,
that a person who is adept in recognizing too, a logician, who aims at attaining
fallacies can guard himself/herself well from correctness of thought, must also study the
getting deceived. Fallacies proliferate many pathology of thought. You cannot think correctly
discourses-both written and oral. Books, unless you avoid thinking incorrectly; and you
magazines, newspapers, (commercials/ can neither avoid incorrect thinking yourself nor
advertisements) are full of them; debates and detect incorrect thinking in others unless you
even everyday conversations are plagued by are skilled in recognizing incorrect forms of
them. thought.

Knowledge of fallacies by name gives the person No classification of fallacies is entirely

greater advantage over his/her opponent in satisfactory. In the first place, no classification is
debates and discussions. He/she can point out exhaustive. Indeed, it is probably impossible to
the error readily and even give the name of the draw up a complete list of fallacies; all we hope
fallacy committed by his/her opponent. In the to do is to list the more common and more
process he/she also protects himself/herself important types. In the second place, the
from getting embarrassed or bullied by the members of the classification overlap, because
deceptive approach that his/her opponent will the same fallacious argument can generally be
use against him/her. referred to various headings as it is considered
from different points of view. The difficulty of
Should logic treat fallacies? Logic is the science classification springs from the very nature of
and art of correct thinking. Fallacies are bad fallacies. Fallacies are error, and error is
thinking; consequently, you might suppose that multiple; the same argument can labor under
the treatment of fallacies has no place in logic. manifold defects.
Moreover, logic treats primarily of the formal
conditions of valid inference. Many fallacies, on
the other hand, arise from the matter of
inference rather than from defective from and
might consequently seem to lie outside the
scope of logic.

Yet, in spite of these objections, ever since the

time of Aristotle, treatises on logic have always
included a discussion of fallacies, and many
good reasons can be advanced in support of this
traditional practice.