Major Lessons Learned: Fallacies

fal·la·cy 

n. pl. fal·la·cies

1. A false notion.

2. A statement or an argument based on a false or invalid inference.

3. Incorrectness of reasoning or belief; erroneousness.

4. The quality of being deceptive.

Our midterms mainly revolved around fallacies. We studied at least 14 common logical fallacies and it's sub-fallacies. Studying fallacies sounded boring for me at first but when the examples were given, I started to understand them more and eventually, it brought my spirits high.

I learned a lot from this topic but I will just discuss a few since 14 is just too many.

My Top 5 Fave Fallacies:

1. Fallacy of Amphiboly -> I like this fallacy so much because it is so confusing. It's not supposed to be complicated but such people make it sound coplicated than it's supposed to be. Those people are the "pilosopo" kind. I belong to those people because I'd rather explore everything in a statement than settle for what's served on the plate. Hehe.
   
   
2. Begging the Question -> I also like this fallacy because it backs up it's first statement by restating it again(in a different manner, that is!) I realized that I often use this fallacy when I'm told to write an essay or when asked to report in front spontaneously
   
   
3. Argumentum ad Ignorantiam -> "To see is to believe" is a famous saying that is sort of related to this fallacy. But it is better suited with "Evidence/Proof before belief" or something like that.
   
   
4. Argumentum ad Hominem -> It has 3 sub-fallacies: Poisoning the well, circumstantial and tu quoque. I learned that poisoning the well is a logical fallacy that attacks the opponent by means of a negative trait while circumstantial is a logical fallacy that reveals what the opponent will gain by implying the opponent's statement. Tu Quoque, on the other hand, is when someone tells you not to do something even though that someone is doing it. My favorite argumentum ad hominem is the latter.
5. Argumentum ad Bacculum -> This is done by use of force and/or threats.
   
   

Well, that's only my understanding of the fallacies mentioned above. My understandings are only opinions, some are not really facts.

I think that I got interested with fallacies because I can relate to them, because I often encounter them. And because they're kind of rude - the kind of rude people like me likes, the mean-but-not-to-mean kind. Hehe.