This was from the beginning of our course, but I just never got to type it in our blog. Well here it is now!
What are fallacies? Why should we try to avoid them in our arguments?
Fallacies are mistaken beliefs one based on unsound arguments (Merriam-Webster/The Free Dictionary) We should avoid them in our arguments because it does not follow the main points of what the argument was really for and about. Examples may be the red herring fallacy, bandwagon, and false authority. Red herring focus on irrelevant parts instead of the important parts of the topic or situation. For example, the video showed the US presidential campaign for Obama and McCain. The commercial made us think that McCain was indeed not a good candidate because he owned many homes while real estate was in a major crisis. This was not main argument, but it shifted our thoughts to something that was not the main point of the argument. Another one is bandwagon. Bandwagon is a misconception that something must be true because everyone or most people believe it. Just because someone believes something, does not mean that it is always right or true. False authority is when research is not done and making a statement as a fact. Since a good figure said something, it must be all true. Without doing research, it is not credible and not proven to be something true. We should try to avoid them because it just makes us look bad with our unreliable resources. One may lose the argument.
