Monday, April 27, 2009
Chapter 15 Topic of Interest
I thought the topic on fallacies in claims was interesting. There are four different types of fallacies in claims, but I thought “begging the question” and “ad ignorantiam” were the most intriguing. Begging the question means something is true because it simply is. When a claim is asserted, the speaker must back it up with reasoning. However, simply saying that it is true without any given reasoning or evidence is unethical. The concept of begging the question reminded me of children arguing. They will usually back up their claims with begging the question type answers because they are more concerned with having their argument being correct rather than logical. Ad ignorantiam means a claim is true because it hasn’t been disproved. I thought that this was very close-minded and no speaker should use this as his or her reason for a claim. It is also unethical and does not let other possibilities be the reasoning for a claim.
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Many use “begging the question” to get someone to agree with them. They would say something like, “We all know that rocks aren’t eatable, am I right?” The person could be wrong but they want you to go with it and agree with them. I find it kind of annoying sometimes, when people are begging for the question. They can just say they’re right instead making me agree with them. When people make me agree with them I tend to want to disagree with them just because I feel like I want to prove them wrong.
ReplyDeleteHello Piper! Can you recall a time where one of these fallacies were used? Do you think you have ever knowingly (or unknowingly) used a fallacy to prove an argument? :) If so, when?
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