Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District Fallacies in Politics Discussion

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snenuunaan89

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Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District

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Module 3: Discussion One, Watch at least two of these videos:

Please watch these video on informal fallacies and discuss these questions. Requires and initial post and two responses to classmates.  Links appear below and in "Files".

  • Were there fallacies that you, yourself, would  have spotted or would not have spotted?
  • Were there fallacies beyond the ones we studied? (You will not be responsible for those on a 
  • Is the average person and other individuals at all aware of how prevalent informal fallacies are, and their power to persuade?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2CxDu7jiyE (Links to an external site.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5QdzqbCxgI (Links to an external site.)

Fallacies in Hillary Clinton's anti-Trump speech PT. 1 (Links to an external site.)Fallacies in Hillary Clinton's anti-Trump speech PT. 1


Samuel Ziegler

1. There are certainly fallacies that I would have spotted, especially in the advertisements, because I suppose I already expect them to be present there, and therefore actively process them in a way that reveals the fallacies. There are also plenty I would not have spotted especially in the political speeches. They go by very quickly in some instances, and there are even multiple at a time, which makes it very difficult to spot them. Also, there are just fallacies I was not aware of beforehand that I am aware of now.

2. I would say there are. The videos make reference to the different types of fallacies that show up, and there are ones brought up that we did not go over (although of course they could also just be referred to with a different name in this case). These include poisoning the well, presupposition, and appeal to accomplishment.

3. I would say that the average person is not aware of how prevalent informal fallacies are in everyday life, or their power to persuade. Part of that is just a lack of education and information, most people will probably never learn about specific fallacies which would help them to spot them. Also, the power to persuade is probably underestimated by those who think that things such as advertisements don't persuade them, when in reality informal fallacies do in fact impact them at some level


Sara Yousif

Were there fallacies that you, yourself, would have spotted or would not have spotted?

As discussed earlier in class, fallacies are errors in reasoning. In an event where a fallacy occurs accidentally, it is referred to as an error of reasoning. On the other hand, in a situation where a writer or a speaker uses a fallacy to manipulate or deceive his audience, it is called a trick of reasoning. The videos in question capture both a number of fallacies that I could have and could not have spotted. For instance, I could have spotted the slippery slope fallacy which appears in the first video. Likewise, I could have spotted the ad hominem fallacy which appears towards the end of the same video. On the other hand, I could not have spotted the black or white fallacy captured in the second video on Trump´s campaign announcement speech.

Were there fallacies beyond the ones we studied?

Not only have the clips captured the fallacies we discussed in class, but also the ones we have not covered. For instance, the first clip has captured the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy which I encountered for the first time. Likewise, the second clip has discussed the anecdotal and the straw man fallacies which were not discussed in class.

The Knowledge of Average People on the Prevalence of Fallacies and their Power to Persuade

Having established that informal fallacies take many forms and are widespread in everyday discourse, it would be difficult for an average person to spot them and acknowledge their prevalence since their perception of statements or phrases is from a face value point of view. They frequently include the introduction of extraneous material into an argument or are founded on assumptions that, when tested, show to be wrong. Additionally, average people do not pay so much attention to the intentions of these statements or phrases, which robs them off the ability to identify the power of persuasion that they hold. 

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Explanation & Answer

View attached explanation and answer. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Module 3: Discussion One

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Module 3: Discussion One
The videos given included different informal fallacies and examples of how they have
been used in various real-life settings. First, a fallacy refers to faulty reasoning or failure to bid
valid reasoning to support an argument when persuading. Informal fallacies are types of fallacies
found in the argument’s content.
There are a number of in...


Anonymous
Awesome! Perfect study aid.

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