Fallacy Hunt

Instructions:

A fallacy is a mistake in reasoning. It isn’t just being wrong. It isn’t just being silly. It is where a conclusion has been reached through an incorrect or unfair process.

The wild fallacy is an elusive quarry. The fallacies you will be given in-class as practice have been caught, domesticated, and purposely made easy to identify—finding your own is difficult as they rarely fit neatly into any one category. So, since examples of incorrect reasoning are hard to find and even harder to correctly label, this assignment must be approached as a continual work-in-progress, rather than something to be done the night before: start working on this immediately.

Rules:

• You must find five fallacies
• Your five fallacies must be examples of the following:

1. Ad hominem abusive
2. Ad hominem circumstantial
3. Ad hominem tu quoque
4. Appeal to ignorance
5. Confusion of correlation and cause
6. False analogy
7. False dilemma
8. Hasty generalisation
9. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
10. Slippery slope
11. Straw man

• You can only use a type of fallacy once (and a maximum of two versions of ad hominem).
• Optional: You can identify one (1) example of a fallacy that does not appear on this list (a ‘wildcard’ fallacy) – you will need to describe this fallacy to the class in your presentation before you give your example. (Other fallacies not covered in class can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies)
• Each fallacy must have occurred during this semester (after Jan 1, 2021 is fine).
• Each fallacy must be from a different source, and that source cannot be repeated (e.g.: one from your grandmother, someone from the Gold Coast Bulletin, someone else from the Gold Coast Bulletin, one from a particular politician, one from a particular YouTube video, etc.)
• You can only use a location twice, for example:
  1. 1 or 2 of your fallacies must come from printed sources that are not quoted, e.g.: Letters to the Editor or Reader Opinions in newspapers (including magazines, brochures, pamphlets, and online newspapers but only if it was published in paper – e.g.: Gold Coast Bulletin if you have accessed the digital version, online news websites don’t count). An article quoting someone does not count, e.g. “This afternoon, Donald Trump tweeted that… ‘blah blah blah’” – you can’t use the ‘blah blah blah’ as a written example – it was originally a tweet.
  2. 1 or 2 of your fallacies must be spoken, e.g.: conversations with a relative or friend, speeches made by politicians, mistakes found in YouTube videos, on television, etc. (see Grading on page 2).
• You will be awarded a bonus mark if one of the above fallacies comes (unintentionally) from any of your current teachers at Bond (and is correctly identified).
  1. 1 or 2 of your fallacies can come from online, e.g.: Facebook comments, blogs, online articles, etc.

Valid combinations:

• The fallacy MUST be unintentional. Fallacy websites and memes may not be used. Funny TV shows that have fallacies in them are using them to be funny, not to make a mistake. Fallacies appearing in fiction are not mistakes. Advertisements cannot be used. You cannot use text messages or instant messages.
• The fallacy MUST be serious. If you approached the source, would they say they were only joking or exaggerating, rather than making a legitimate argument?

• Fallacies always occur in a process of reasoning—make sure you actually have a fallacy, and not just a mistake (an easy way to check is to see if there is a conclusion—no conclusion, no fallacy).
• In week 8, for 1% homework, you are to deliver one of your fallacies to your tutorial as a draft – email the PowerPoint slide(s) with the fallacy on a USB to your tutor. You must use your webcam if in a remote class. You will receive feedback on this from your tutor, and this fallacy may be used in your final submission (if the feedback is that it was suitable or could be fixed-up to be suitable).
  

SPEECH AND POWERPOINT PRESENTATION:

The maximum time for your speech is 6 minutes. There is no minimum time, but the speech must contain enough content to meet the requirements above. You will be warned as you approach 6 minutes and stopped if you get there.

You must use your webcam for remote classes. If you are on campus, your tutor will have your PowerPoint downloaded and ready.

Mistakes in reasoning are often found where there is controversy, raised-emotions, anger; and those who often make these comments are the unintelligent, uncouth, and uninformed. As such, it’s possible your fallacies may include colourful language and offensive views. Before you present these to the class, you are to asterisk any swearing found in direct quotes (e.g. “d***” instead of “damn”), and at all times, you should be mindful of the thoughts and opinions of others in the class. The class will understand that you are presenting the example to criticise it, but still be careful to not unnecessarily offend.

The following information must be covered/presented with each fallacy:

• Name of fallacy (e.g.: Hasty Generalisation)
• Context/background (e.g.: What happened? Where did you find this fallacy? Describe the situation, or other relevant arguments/assumptions surrounding the fallacy. Also, you should provide information so that we could find the fallacy if we wanted to look for it in writing or online (or spoken sources if they’re from an online video) sources—e.g.: the date, section and title of the newspaper/hyperlink)
• The direct quote of the fallacy in text
  • For your written/online source(s), you must embed a legible scanned/photographed copy of the fallacy in print and you must also type the relevant section out in the slide
  • For your spoken source(s), type the dialogue in quotes (if a video and it is available online, and if time permits, you can also quickly play it)
  • If you use an online source, embed a screengrab of the fallacy and type out/copy and paste the relevant section
• You must also include a typed-summary where you explain/describe/defend why it is that what you found is an example of the fallacy (“This is a hasty generalisation because…”)
• You will receive most of your marks purely on what is included in your PowerPoint, so if there is no written explanation, or you have not typed the relevant fallacy, you will score poorly