Humans are creatures of lies - Part one || Back to top
I figured my degree requires a lot of reading of current news etc. So i'll start somewhere.
By the way, the title of this post is "Humans are creatures of lies"
Because i was choosing a topic to study for my exam, it was between fallacies (which by the way, is the hot topic because its more interesting) and organisation communication.
Yeah. I chose organization communication.
Back to fallacies, a fallacy is a flaw or fault in the reasoning and logic. I can't seem to bring across how often people create fallacies in their argument.
hah.
Legitimate methods of argument:
Faulty generalisation
Have you ever caught yourself saying:
OMG WTF. DON'T GO TO THAT DENTIST. he sucks. i went to him once and when he was crazily drilling my teeth, it felt like i was the chalk being scratched on a blackboard. HE WOULDN'T STOP EVEN WHEN I RAISED MY HAND!
Well! That is faulty generalisation, it is based on a sample that is too small (just one visit) and unrepresentative (just you being ill-treated and just one type of treatment).
Its also what i call, being very very, suay. Either your dentist was in a bad mood, doesn't like you very much or is just purely insane.
like this one. HAHA.
Faulty analogy
Reasoning from analogy occurs when it is claimed that because such and such is true of X and because Y is like X, such and such must also be true of Y.
Erm, yeah, i didn't really bother to read that because it has a lot of X's and Y's.
The important part is considering whether the things being compared are really similar in terms of the conclusion.
Bill Clinton has no experience of serving in the military. To have Bill Clinton become president, and thus commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, is like electing some passer-by on the street to fly the space shuttle.
Just like most of us, President Clinton did not serve on a military battlefield, but that did not reduce his ability to make important decisions (especially ones that did not involve the military, such as budget negotiations, welfare reform, and health care reform).
Although Commander in Chief is one of the President’s duties, his deficiencies in military knowledge cam be overcome by intelligence and an excellent staff. The author of this analogy suggests that the President is devoid of all essential skills to be a good President, which is not valid.
Would a space shuttle captain be better prepared to be the president? Can Mr. Clinton fly the Atlantis? These occupations and skills are not parallel, thus creating a false analogy, distortion, and slanting.
Woah. that's a chunk of text.
Faulty causal relationship
This is a commonly used method of reaching conclusions, it can be valid.
Just because one event follows another does not necessarily mean that the first event caused the second or even that the first event alone caused the second.
Example: Your boyfriend gets to know a new FEMALE classmate from school, and subsequently he is always engaged on the phone. Therefore he must be two-timing you.
There may be other factors involved, such as school projects, a lot of homework, a heartbroken friend. YEAH RIGHT. hahahaha.
Faulty classification
This occurs when the person putting forward the argument asserts that these are the only two polarised alternatives.
For example: "If you don't go out with me today, it means you don't love me"
What happened to discussion, negotiation, compromise and so on?
Misuse of authority
Using authorities to support an argument becomes a fallacy if the authorities quoted are not recognised authorities within the field of argument.
Sounds familiar right. Advertising is one of the most prominent areas where misuse of authority occurs. What do celebrities know about skincare? But we are so easily sold.
Nick Naylor in Thank you for smoking responds (to a little girl who says her mum used to smoke and also said that cigarettes kill):
"Really? Now, is your mummy a doctor? A scientific researcher? She doesn't really sound like a credible expert, does she?"
OMG SO HILARIOUS. i love that movie. But really, listen to mummy and daddy.
MUMMY IS ALL KNOWING. SHE JUST IS, DON'T QUESTION IT.
Misuse of statistics
Statistics can provide substantiation for a claim. However, there are cases where we get what could be called a censored version.
Dogbert can come live with me any day.
I'll continue part two tomorrow.
ps. Thank you for smoking is on youtube, yes, the entire thing. WATCH IT. pps. Sources: the net & Communication: A foundation course by Shirley Tyler, Chris Kossen & Charmaine Ryan
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Saturday, November 29, 2008 | 12:39 AM
Humans are creatures of lies - Part one || Back to top
I figured my degree requires a lot of reading of current news etc. So i'll start somewhere.
By the way, the title of this post is "Humans are creatures of lies"
Because i was choosing a topic to study for my exam, it was between fallacies (which by the way, is the hot topic because its more interesting) and organisation communication.
Yeah. I chose organization communication.
Back to fallacies, a fallacy is a flaw or fault in the reasoning and logic. I can't seem to bring across how often people create fallacies in their argument.
hah.
Legitimate methods of argument:
Faulty generalisation
Have you ever caught yourself saying:
OMG WTF. DON'T GO TO THAT DENTIST. he sucks. i went to him once and when he was crazily drilling my teeth, it felt like i was the chalk being scratched on a blackboard. HE WOULDN'T STOP EVEN WHEN I RAISED MY HAND!
Well! That is faulty generalisation, it is based on a sample that is too small (just one visit) and unrepresentative (just you being ill-treated and just one type of treatment).
Its also what i call, being very very, suay. Either your dentist was in a bad mood, doesn't like you very much or is just purely insane.
like this one. HAHA.
Faulty analogy
Reasoning from analogy occurs when it is claimed that because such and such is true of X and because Y is like X, such and such must also be true of Y.
Erm, yeah, i didn't really bother to read that because it has a lot of X's and Y's.
The important part is considering whether the things being compared are really similar in terms of the conclusion.
Bill Clinton has no experience of serving in the military. To have Bill Clinton become president, and thus commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, is like electing some passer-by on the street to fly the space shuttle.
Just like most of us, President Clinton did not serve on a military battlefield, but that did not reduce his ability to make important decisions (especially ones that did not involve the military, such as budget negotiations, welfare reform, and health care reform).
Although Commander in Chief is one of the President’s duties, his deficiencies in military knowledge cam be overcome by intelligence and an excellent staff. The author of this analogy suggests that the President is devoid of all essential skills to be a good President, which is not valid.
Would a space shuttle captain be better prepared to be the president? Can Mr. Clinton fly the Atlantis? These occupations and skills are not parallel, thus creating a false analogy, distortion, and slanting.
Woah. that's a chunk of text.
Faulty causal relationship
This is a commonly used method of reaching conclusions, it can be valid.
Just because one event follows another does not necessarily mean that the first event caused the second or even that the first event alone caused the second.
Example: Your boyfriend gets to know a new FEMALE classmate from school, and subsequently he is always engaged on the phone. Therefore he must be two-timing you.
There may be other factors involved, such as school projects, a lot of homework, a heartbroken friend. YEAH RIGHT. hahahaha.
Faulty classification
This occurs when the person putting forward the argument asserts that these are the only two polarised alternatives.
For example: "If you don't go out with me today, it means you don't love me"
What happened to discussion, negotiation, compromise and so on?
Misuse of authority
Using authorities to support an argument becomes a fallacy if the authorities quoted are not recognised authorities within the field of argument.
Sounds familiar right. Advertising is one of the most prominent areas where misuse of authority occurs. What do celebrities know about skincare? But we are so easily sold.
Nick Naylor in Thank you for smoking responds (to a little girl who says her mum used to smoke and also said that cigarettes kill):
"Really? Now, is your mummy a doctor? A scientific researcher? She doesn't really sound like a credible expert, does she?"
OMG SO HILARIOUS. i love that movie. But really, listen to mummy and daddy.
MUMMY IS ALL KNOWING. SHE JUST IS, DON'T QUESTION IT.
Misuse of statistics
Statistics can provide substantiation for a claim. However, there are cases where we get what could be called a censored version.
Dogbert can come live with me any day.
I'll continue part two tomorrow.
ps. Thank you for smoking is on youtube, yes, the entire thing. WATCH IT. pps. Sources: the net & Communication: A foundation course by Shirley Tyler, Chris Kossen & Charmaine Ryan
