Title: Unit 5 Fallacies
Kaplan University
February 11, 2014

Unit 5 Fallacies

Part I:
Mom, you know how much I love animals, right? Well, yesterday I just happened to be passing by an animal shelter, and wanted to stop in and take a look at all of those poor dogs that are going to be put to sleep. I know you told me that I couldn’t have any more pets, but there was this one dog; his name is “Butterscotch," and he was scheduled to be executed that same day, and well; I just couldn’t let them stick those huge needles in him, hurting him, and killing him for no reason. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, but I brought him home with me. You know; I remember you telling me when you were a kid; you did the same thing, so I can’t see how this would be any different from what you used to do. Besides, I’ll take care of him, feed him, and you won’t have to do anything; I promise. If you let me keep him, I will promise to do all of my chores and never argue with you again, please!
You know; I was talking to my friend the other day, and she told me that shelters actually like killing dogs, they sell the dog remains to a company that makes dog food out of them. I’m not sure where she heard this, but she loves dogs, so I know she’s right. My friend said they make more money that way, so they really don’t care about these dogs at all; it’s always about people's greed and how much money they can make. If I can save at least one dog from becoming dog food, I would be happy. You never listen to me; you always do what you want to do. You don’t care about my feelings, and you never care about what I want. I am sure you heard that rabbit pelts are sold all the time. They raise these poor defenseless rabbits in cages, just so they can slaughter them and skin them alive. Raising animals just for their hides is horrible; I can’t believe people can be so cruel. I know you don’t care because you like your furs; you would rather keep buying your gross furs, then save the rabbits; you’re such a mean person. If you don’t let me have this dog, I am running away from home, and I’ll call Child-Protective Services on you; I will never talk to you again. I will hate you forever.
Part II: The first fallacy I made was “Ad miserricordiam” or appeal to pity. We see this fallacy all the time on TV, where we see a bunch of poor dogs that are in cages starving, and need a home. Obviously, I used this initial tactic to get my mother to feel sorry for the dogs, trying to appeal to her pathos (emotions). In order to avoid using this fallacy, you would want to stick with facts instead of blowing things completely out of proportion. The next fallacy I used was “Tu Quoque” or you too. In this fallacy, my intent is to make the claim that my mother is being a hypocrite, because she used to do the same thing; save dogs from the SPCA. My argument should not try to turn my mom’s opinion around by telling her that she used to do the same thing; her situation back then is not the same situation we are faced with here and now. For instance, she may have lived on a farm, where they had plenty of room for pets. Whereas, living in an apartment setting is quite a different scenario to consider. If indeed, the apartment setting were the issue, then it would have been more prudent to talk to the manager of the apartment, and get an okay first. In addition, I could have looked up local dog parks in the area, and let her know that I would be willing to take the dog to the dog park each day. The next fallacy I commit is “Appeal to illegitimate authority.” This fallacy is using a friend’s comment that “shelters actually like killing dogs,” is based on her opinion and not her expertise in the field. This tactic was used again to appeal to pathos or the emotional side of things. However, it is still a fallacy of appeal to illegitimate authority, because the person has no authority or expertise about the subject. This can be turned around by using facts taken from legitimate statistics on the number of dogs euthanized in shelters every year. Next, I used a “Red Herring”; this happens to be my favorite fallacy. I was talking to my mom the other day and telling her about how the water bill was going increase because of the drought, and she turned around and said, it’s all Obama’s fault that we are broke. I started laughing and told her, she had just committed a “Red Herring.”
Okay, back to the fallacy of the “Red Herring” in my paper. I completely go off onto a tangent about rabbit pelts and furs, and then I make a remark about the fact that she does not care, because she likes her furs. At this point, I am trying to bring up something worse than owning a dog, so I completely go off track and onto another subject, having nothing to do with the argument at hand. Again, going off track just confuses the issue and does not accomplish anything. Sticking to the facts is always the best plan of action. A final fallacy that I commit is “Ad baculum,” or appeal to force, by threatening her that I will run away and call Child-Protective Services on her. I remember when my son had stolen something when he was about five years old. He had put a stuffed animal in his jacket, and was hiding in the restroom. When I found out what he was doing, I could see that he was scared, and he told me that if I spanked him, he would call someone and tell on me. I had to laugh about that one. I promptly took him to the cashier, sat him up on the counter and told him to hand the stuffed animal to the clerk, and tell her that he was sorry. If he didn’t, I told him that the police would be called, and they would come and take him away, and he would never see me again. I know it was drastic, but he never stole anything else ever again. The fallacy of “Ad baculum” is the fear of force, and in my opinion, is a horrible fallacy to commit. You would expect this from a child, because they have not learned how to communicate and negotiate properly for what they want. Nevertheless, when adults commit this fallacy, they know what they are doing, and are threatening some form of personal or physical damage. In addition, the appeal to force is used to scare someone into doing something, they would otherwise not do. Other ways that appeal to force are used, would be if a person accepts or takes a certain action, then something bad might happen. For instance, my mom had told my sister that if she went motorcycle riding, she would get into an accident and possibly could die. Sadly, this appeal to force came true eight years ago. My point is that this fallacy may or may not be a coercive manner. Fallacies, in effect, weaken one's argument by using faulty reasoning, logic and by using bad assumptions. In order to avoid fallacies, one should use sound reasoning, along with legitimate evidence and facts to give proper weight to the argument. The actual word “fallacy” stems from a Latin term for “deceitful.”

“There's a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons that sound good.” Burton Hills

Reference:
Burton Hillis, cited in Laurence J. Peter, Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977), p. 425
Jackson, D. & Newberry, P. (2012). Critical thinking : a user's manual. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.