Logical Fallacies
"I met two rude people from Encinitas, so everyone there must be unfriendly."
What is a hasty generalization?
“Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead"
What is simile?
This is the kind of data people tend to look for first when trying to prove a point. While this type of evidence can be persuasive, you must still question data. (How was it collected? What was the sample size? etc.)
What is statistical evidence?
"I enjoy coffee, so I drink it every morning."
What is a compound sentence?
The definition of satire is to “arouse laughter or scorn as a means of ridicule and derision, with the avowed intention of correcting" this.
What are human faults?
"I wore my lucky socks to the basketball game, and our team won. Therefore, my lucky socks caused us to win!"
What is post hoc, ergo propter hoc?
"We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be."
What is parallelism (or anaphora)?
This category of evidence is relevant to lawyers who rely on eyewitness accounts to win a case.
What is testimonial evidence?
"Considering the free health care, the cheap tuition fees, the low crime rate, the comprehensive social programs, and the wonderful winters, I am willing to pay slightly higher taxes for the privilege of living in Canada."
What is a periodic sentence?
This primary effect of the rhetorical devices of satire is also known as a "reversal" or an "incongruity".
What is irony?
"I know Jan is honest because she always tells the truth."
What is circular reasoning?
"Would Cicero have shone so distinguished an orator if he had not been roused, kindled, and inflamed by the tyranny of Catiline, Verres, and Mark Anthony? The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. All history will convince you of this..."
What is allusion?
This category of evidence can be useful for disproving generalizations because all you need is one example that contradicts a claim.
What is anecdotal evidence?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, …”
What is antithesis?
This tool of satire is the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is
What is understatement?
“Either we completely ban social media, or we accept that our society will collapse from misinformation.”
What is either-or (aka false dilemma)?
The following excerpt from Gandhi's letter to Lord Irwin demonstrates this rhetorical appeal:
"For my ambition is no less than to convert the British people through non-violence, and thus to make them see the wrong they have done to India. I do not seek to harm your people. I want to serve them even as I want to serve my own."
What is ethos?
An example of this category of evidence includes the following: "There might be life on Europa because it has an atmosphere that contains oxygen just like the Earth."
What is analogical evidence?
"What education has to impart is an intimate sense for the power of ideas, for the beauty of ideas, and for the structure of ideas."
What is epistrophe?
An example of this device is to say that someone "passed on" instead of the more direct description that they "died".
What is euphemism?
A used car salesman who tells you the car has new tires, a fresh paint job, and great gas mileage — but fails to mention it has been in two major accidents and has a damaged engine.
What is card stacking?
“…in Europe there were as so many useless plants, wanting vegetative mold, and refreshing showers; they withered, and were mowed down by want, hunger, and war: but now, by the power of transplantation, like all other plants, they have taken root and flourished!"
What is metaphor?
The College Board asks you to draw from this source of evidence to craft a response to an argument FRQ. This is the kind of stuff they don't teach you in school!
What is personal experience or observations?
“The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursues him”
What is chiasmus?
This term refers to special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand
What is jargon?