Fallacy

Fallacy Summary & Application Paper

January 24, 2011
MGT/350

Fallacy Summary & Application Paper
Have you ever had conservation with someone one or heard on T.V. a person making a fallacy statement? In order to know what I am talking about you first have to understand what a fallacy is. A fallacy is a false statement or argument that is based on false or invalid inference. In other words a fallacy is mistakes of reasoning (Lau, & Chan, 2011). I have chosen three different fallacies to discuss within this paper, they are beg the question, appeal to pity and appeal to authority. I will explain what these fallacies mean and how they are applied to critical thinking and decision making.
Fallacies
Beg the question is the first fallacy I will explain, beg the question means to prove the point by assuming it in the first place. An example to better explain it would be what kind of teacher you want, one that reads books all day or one that will empower the minds of children. Next is appeal to pity, this means that the person speaking knows how to make others feel sorry for them, when they do not want to take responsibility for what they have done. An example of appeal to pity is, a co-worker not getting their part of the project done they might say, I am having many problems at home, I am unable to pay the bills with one job so when I leave here I go to my second job, what more do you want from me, at least I am here. The last fallacy is appeal to authority, this means that people are mesmerized by someone with power; this could be a celebrity or someone in a group that has a high ranking. An example would be a major celebrity telling the consumers that drinking alcohol is good for your body. They can do this by looking for doctors or other important figures to back their story (Paul & Elder, 2006).
Critical Thinking & Decision Making
Now that I have explained what a fallacy is now I will discuss what they have to do with critical... [continues]

Read full essay