Logical Fallacies and Occam's Razor Explained

[Crayz9000]

With the amount of misuse of Occam's Razor lately, by both sides of the debate, I think this needs to be cleared up once and for all.

Links for Occam's Razor:
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/OCCAMRAZ.html

http://skepdic.com/occam.html

The Law of Parsimony is derived from Occam's Razor, and in one of its forms it states that the simpler theory is usually the more accurate one.

Links for Law of Parsimony:
http://www.ablongman.com/html/psychplac ... simon.html

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-30-2 ... viewPage=3

The outcomes of any law of parsimony should be successfully subjected to scientific tests. These results should correspond with observations and with predictions yielded by the worldviews fostered by the law of parsimony under scrutiny.

Now, here is a list of the most common informal fallacies and how to spot them. I've noticed that even I'm guilty of using these at times during a debate; if you know, however, it's harder to use them by accident.


35 categories of informal fallacies:

1. Appeal to Pity. Anytime you appeal to a person to feel sorry for another or yourself, rather than to a solid argument, you are appealing to pity. For example: "Vote for the poor and the homeless. Vote Democratic."
2. Appeal to Flattery. A genuine compliment differs from flattery in that the speaker seeks nothing in giving a compliment, while the flatterer always has an ulterior motive.
3. Appeal to Ridicule. It is a common, though unpleasant human characteristic, to build ourselves up by tearing others down, but ridicule is no basis on which to form judgments or make decisions. For example: "The elephant is a good symbol for the Republican Party - long on memory and short on brains."
4. Appeal to Prestige. Anytime the appeal attempts to make you seem to be part of an elite group, the appeal is that of prestige. This fallacy is also known as snob appeal and appeal to pride. For example: "Chablis Lyons is served at luxury hotels."
5. Appeal to Prejudice. Prejudice sets one group against another almost as if the groups are contradictories, in an attempt to bias one's judgments. Any group you are in makes you subject to prejudice against a different group. However, there is an equally bad tendency in our modern society to consider any lack of toleration of a person's ideas or behavior pejoratively. We should be prejudiced toward the good and true and desire laws and rules that would incline people toward perfection.
6. Bargain Appeal. The house is priced at $79,995 instead of $80,000. "We sell for less."
7. Folksy Appeal. The politician kisses babies, eats blintzes with the Jews and pizzas with the Italians, and shows up with his wife and children to appear as "plain folks."
8. Bandwagon. "Everyone else is doing it, why can't I?" Also called the mob appeal.
9. Appeal to Fear. When a child, who is denied an ice cream cone, throws a temper tantrum, he is appealing to his mothers' fear of a scene in public. The Latin name for this fallacy is ad baculum, which means "to the stick."
10. Appeal to Appearance or Manner. Too often we judge on the basis of how someone looks or acts, rather than on the merits of the case. Alger Hiss, a communist spy who was later convicted of perjury, presented himself as suave and well groomed, while Whittaker Chambers, who testified against him, was untidy, nervous and unattractive. "That salesman was so friendly, I just had to buy that jewelry."
11. Statistical Fallacy. We tend to think that if a poll shows the majority in favor of something then it must be right, without stopping to think what is right. Truth is not relative, as many today believe. Statistical Fallacy is related to mob appeal, except numbers are used in statistics. "Statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics."
12. Repetition. "I don't care what you say about me; just spell my name right."- a political adage. "If you tell a lie long enough, people will believe it." Repetition and name recognition are very important in campaigns and advertising.
13. Slogans. The advertising slogan, which makes no logical or factual argument, is effective because of repetition. It predisposes people to buy a product.
14. Technical Jargon. The advertiser uses technical and scientific terms - real or made up for the occasion - to impress the public. It plays upon our curiosity; and we don't want to appear ignorant. For example: "Power-Brite, the only cleanser with chlorinol."
15. Appeal to Generalities. Generalities can either evoke a favorable or a negative response. Each one has a specific name:
    
    1. Glittering generalities are high-sounding phrases that trigger a positive emotional reaction in most people. These phrases have little or no intellectual content, yet make an argument appealing. For example: The brotherhood of man.
    2. Name calling is the opposite of a glittering generality. Words are used that trigger a negative emotional response. For example: bigot, McCarthyism.
16. Appeal to Ignorance: If a person is not doing very well in proving his case in an argument, he simply challenges his opponent to prove the opposite. It the opponent cannot, then a successful appeal to ignorance has been made. Also called, little kid fallacy, since children when wrong will sometimes shout, "Prove it! Prove it!
17. Victory by Definition: "We cannot be the aggressor, because our country, by definition, is a peace-loving nation." When you define your terms so that you cannot possibly lose the argument, you avoid having to use logic in defense of your position.
18. Non Sequitur. This Latin term means "does not follow." This fallacy is sometimes called passing from the acceptable to the dubious. The opening statement is often non-controversial, but is followed by a dubious statement that doesn't follow. For example: Nuclear war would be a horrible tragedy; therefore, we must destroy all nuclear weapons.
19. Transfer and Negative Transfer. These fallacies are very similar to glittering generalities and name calling, differing in that there is an association made with some person or organization that really exists. Positive Transfer: "You can let me go to the party. Susie's going. She's only 15, and you know how careful her parents are." Negative Transfer: I follow the party of John F. Kennedy; but he is a Bircher.
20. Fallacies of Imagination: In our daydreams, we often create a reality that meets our particular needs and desires of the moment. Three categories are listed below:
    
    1. Rationalization: We sometimes create excuses that are easier to live with than the truth. For example: I did not do my homework because my pet ate it.
    2. Wishful Thinking: We can convince ourselves that the future will turn out the way we wish. For example: The test can't be that hard; I don't really need to study.
    3. Hypothesis Contrary to Fact: What might have happened if ... i.e., "If I had gone to college instead of marrying you, I could be a wealthy lawyer now."
21. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: This is from the Latin meaning, "After this therefore because of this." It means that a false clause has been given as the reason for an actual or desired result. Most logicians call this fallacy "post hoc." i.e., When Joe's parents bought him a computer, his grades soared. Shouldn't you buy your child a computer?
22. Concurrence is jumping to the conclusion that because two events occurred at the same time, there must be a connection. For example: Because I didn't receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, my uncle died that night. (Filipino superstition).
23. False Analogy: Analogical terms have related, but not identical meanings. For example: That family is poor. / He may be rich, but he is a poor student.
    A false analogy occurs when one tries to make a comparison between things that have no likeness. e.g., John is a great businessman; he will make a great city councilman. When the comparison is very weak, the fallacy is similar to a non sequitur.
    
    "AVOIDING THE ISSUE" FALLACIES: A group of seven fallacies that gives ways of dodging the issues at hand by shifting the argument to put the defender on the offensive. The argument shifts to something that is not central to the discussion.
24. Inconsequent Argument: "The defendant was a Vietnam Veteran who earned a purple heart; therefore, I ask you to find the defendant innocent of drunk driving."Just because a person is a hero, it doesn't mean that he is perfect and not capable of crime.
25. Disproving a Minor Point: We should not be so scrupulous that we reject an entire argument because we find trivial matters of discrepancy. If a person makes a minor mistake, it doesn't mean that he is a chronic liar. No one is perfect.
26. Diversion: This is simply changing the subject. A subtle form of diversion is launching into a long diatribe about the history of public education when the subject was on vouchers. "In order to understand the harm vouchers can do, we have to talk about the history of American public education..."
27. Tu Quoque: The Latin means: "you also," or "you are another." A person tries to distract attention from problems on their side by accusing the opposition.
28. Irrelevant Extremes: Mother: "I want you to study for one hour before playing football." Son: "All you ever want me to do is study, study, study." Rather than logically debating the issue at hand (one hour of study), he takes it to extremes.
29. Straw Man: A straw man is flimsy and weak. The argument of the opposition is restated so that it is easily defeated. e.g., An anti-gun advocate states, "The pro-NRA people say, 'Let Saturday Night Specials be put in the hands of murderers; if we have a gun we are safe.' What will they say of safety when a loved one falls victim to liberal gun laws?"
30. Ad Hominem: The Latin means "toward the man." Instead of attacking the opponent's arguments, the ad hominem argument attacks him. Ridicule, name-calling and negative transfer are all special types of ad hominem. If the fallacy is clearly one of these three you should classify it accordingly; if it is an attack on the man of another sort, classify it as ad hominem. E.g. "The Pope shouldn't be talking about birth control; he's not married."
    
    ARGUMENTS FROM FALSE AUTHORITIES. Authorities are essential because no one can know everything we need to know about everything. Arguments from authority become fallacious in the following three ways:
31. Unknown Authorities: "They say," "everyone knows," "somebody said," or the famous "reliable source" of the newspapers. These are all unknown authorities. If an authority is not named, you are under no compulsion to accept the argument.
32. Biased Authorities: If someone is paid to advertise a product, you have a right to be suspicious of his authority. If a proposition is on the ballot, check out the sponsors.
33. Incompetent Authorities: We should not assume that persons who hold degrees are competent authorities in all fields of study. A Ph.D. in entomology does not entitle one to speak about human population control.
    
    FALLACIES OF INDUCTION:
    Induction is taking specific examples to reach a general conclusion. The data on which an inductive conclusion is based is called a sample. If the sample size is small, we cannot reach a proper conclusion. The "art" of reaching a conclusion from a limited sample is called an inductive leap. An inductive leap is not a fallacy. Below are two fallacies of induction.
34. Hasty Generalization: We must gather sufficient information to justify our conclusion. For example: Don't tell me about Koreans. I lived next door to a Korean family. Or: Most labor leaders are crooks. Take Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa, for example.
35. Selected Instances: The information used to reach a conclusion inductively should be representative; that is, all factors which might influence the decision should be taken into account. An unrepresentative sample is referred to as the fallacy of selected instances. i.e., Don't select only Ford dealers when trying to decide what car to buy.

[HemlockGrey]

Oddly enough, I find that the more a companies' ad campaigns employ these fallacies, the more predisposed to buying their product I become, even if I am aware of what is happening.

[Ender]

I really need to get ahold of my copy of "The Joy of Work". It lists 30 some fallacies under the title of "You are wrong because". It has some that you do not mention here, and presents them in a more humerous way.

[SPOOFE]

Irrelevant Extremes: Mother: "I want you to study for one hour before playing football." Son: "All you ever want me to do is study, study, study." Rather than logically debating the issue at hand (one hour of study), he takes it to extremes.

I've also heard this one described as the "fallacy of the excluded middle"... although that might be slightly different: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

[Crayz9000]

I really need to get ahold of my copy of "The Joy of Work". It lists 30 some fallacies under the title of "You are wrong because". It has some that you do not mention here, and presents them in a more humerous way.

I didn't care for the humor at the moment; these came out of one of my old logic textbooks. As long as everyone can read them, I'm fine.

[XaLEv]

Name calling is the opposite of a glittering generality. Words are used that trigger a negative emotional response. For example: bigot, McCarthyism.

Fnords.

Glittering generalities are high-sounding phrases that trigger a positive emotional reaction in most people. These phrases have little or no intellectual content, yet make an argument appealing. For example: The brotherhood of man.

Anti-Fnords.

[Darth Wong]

Mind you, this forum is unapologetically informal, and most people will gleefully employ all manner of fallacies from time to time as decoration around their main points (the use of insults, for example, is almost universal on this board, regardless of whether they employ the foul language of, well, me, or the smarmy condescension and politely worded put-downs of someone like Darkstar).

This is not, after all, a formal debate forum. But it's true that logic fallacies are not a good thing, and they should definitely be avoided as the primary support system for major points.

[Crayz9000]

Fnords.

Been to alt.discordia, have you?

[XaLEv]

Fnords.

Been to alt.discordia, have you?

Not for a while. Anyway, that fits the description of fnords given in Illuminatus! almost exactly. The only difference is that the fnords there are subliminal (We are taught early in our lives to not notice them but to still have the feelings of dread they produce).

[Ender]

I really need to get ahold of my copy of "The Joy of Work". It lists 30 some fallacies under the title of "You are wrong because". It has some that you do not mention here, and presents them in a more humerous way.

I didn't care for the humor at the moment; these came out of one of my old logic textbooks. As long as everyone can read them, I'm fine.

Stick in the Mud.

[Mr Bean]

Indeed but sometimes when you know the person your talking to is going to ignore your points it helps to throw in a few insults, he's/she's not likley to pay attention to those either so at least you get somthing(feeling better) out of the deal

[CmdrWilkens]

<snip>
<snip>
Statistical Fallacy. We tend to think that if a poll shows the majority in favor of something then it must be right, without stopping to think what is right. Truth is not relative, as many today believe. Statistical Fallacy is related to mob appeal, except numbers are used in statistics. "Statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics."
<snip>

I would caution on the statistical fallacy that as is stated statistics (unless compiled incorectly) don't lie but they are used by liars you need to rememebr that point specifically. The numbers aren't what you need to address but rather the source of the numbers. With any statistic you need to ask how the data was gathered how relevant it is to the overall question and whether there was any bias in the colleciton. Just remember that statistics can shed light on trends and show interesting points about large populations BUT you need to eye them critically. Just because statistics can be used to lie doens't mean they always have to...just be skeptical and ask questions both when others use them and when you yourself use them.

[Crayz9000]

A very good point. Pretty much common sense, but it's amazing how many people seem to lack that today.

[CmdrWilkens]

A very good point. Pretty much common sense, but it's amazing how many people seem to lack that today.

All time appropriate quote: "Common sense isn't"

[Soontir C'boath]

I think it's the parent's fault for those type of ppl. When they are at a young age and tries to ask them about something they either say "Go away i'm busy." or just say "Because IT IS!!!" So they tend to think something is something b/c IT IS.

Cyaround
Jason

[TheDarkOne]

I would like to point out that most of the appeal to ... ones are fallacies of relevence. So you can have a non-fallacous version of an ad micridcordian, ad igrnorantum, and others.

[AdmiralKanos]

I would like to point out that most of the appeal to ... ones are fallacies of relevence. So you can have a non-fallacous version of an ad micridcordian, ad igrnorantum, and others.

True. Even an ad hominem fallacy (attack the man, not the argument) is not a fallacy if the man is the argument (for example, in a debate between two political candidates over their respective credibility to keep their promises, it is perfectly reasonable to attack the man).

[Crayz9000]

Should I move this to the SLM forum?

[Kuroneko]

I really need to get ahold of my copy of "The Joy of Work". It lists 30 some fallacies under the title of "You are wrong because". It has some that you do not mention here, and presents them in a more humerous way.

Heh. In some cases, they even tell you it's fallacious.

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV..."

Thinking about it, it's shouldn't be even remotely funny, but for some reason it cracks me up anyway. Maybe I'm just pervese that way.

[Durandal]

A bit like South Park.

"Are you a doctor?"
"No ... but I watch Quincy."
"Good god man! Why didn't you say so?! Nurse, get this man some scrubs!"