Have you ever heard about fallacies? The basic meaning of fallacy is a logical or rhetorical mistake caused by an invalid argument or even an argument that doesn’t make sense. Now, let’s talk about the argument based on its philosophy. Argument means a paragraph that consists of a few statements of fact in a declaration sentence that is meant to support the opinion.
What is a Formal Fallacy?
A formal fallacy exists due to a mistake in the design of the argument. As such, the end doesn’t follow from the premises. All formal fallacies are explicit sorts of fallacies or contentions in which the ends don’t follow from the premises. Formal fallacies are distinguished by basically looking at the design of the contention select of the individual assertions.
Talking about the argument, argument formed by three segments, which are the premise, inference, and conclusion. Each of the segments must be true and not contradictory to each other to be considered valid. However, a conclusion from an invalid argument could be true or false, and that makes the argument can’t be used as a reference.
So, by fulfilling the linkages of three points in the segment that I have mentioned before, an argument can be considered valid. A formal fallacy, also called a deductive fallacy, is a mistake in an argument because of its reasonings that are invalid and that happen because there is a misplaced logical structure in the argument.
Let’s discuss the four types of formal fallacies:
1. Anecdotal Fallacy (misleading vividness)
Misleading vividness is when the compelling details of an event are used to argue that such events are common, that is rather than establishing that such occurrences are actually frequent, the emotional impact of such events is used as proof of their likelihood. So basically, the premise and conclusion of the argument aren’t coherent.
P1 : Amy wants to buy a new hair dryer.
P2 : Her friend, Jasmine tells her that she buys a Brand A hair dryer, and the hair dryer didn’t last that long.
C : Amy says she will definitely not buy Brand A.
2. Conjunction Fallacy
Conjunction fallacy is when we assume that a certain condition tends to be more true than the common condition.
Jason is a soccer athlete at his young age, he plays soccer very well and he practices everyday. Which one is more likely to happen now?
- Jason is an accountant
- Jason is an accountant of football management
Maybe, you’ll assume that option B tends to be true. But actually option A is the one, because we don’t know the truth, and by choosing option A, there are more possibilities.
3. Masked – Man Fallacy
This happens when the Leibniz rule isn’t applied in understanding an argument. The rules themselves contain a statement that if some object has a specific property when the others do not, there is no way that those objects are the same.
P1 : Brenda is a smart and diligent student
P2 : There are a few students that failed the test
C : Brenda is definitely not one of those students.
4. Propositional Fallacy
Proportional fallacy is a formal fallacy due to misinterpretation of conjunctions, disjunctions, or implications of the premises that are used.
P1 : I can’t cook and dance together at the same time
P2 : I am not dancing
C : I am cooking
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