Fallacies Essay - 1313 Words

Fallacies The use of critical thinking requires one to understand how to comprehend an argument. Part of this comprehension includes the ability to recognize a logical fallacy in an argument. The understanding of logical fallacies will help one become a better critical thinker by enabling them to break apart an argument from an opponent and debate the argument by pointing out the flaws. In this paper I will be discussing the Straw Man fallacy, the Red Herring Fallacy, and the Weak Analogy fallacy and how they relate to critical thinking. One must understand what an argument is and how it is constructed to understand when and why a logical fallacy is used. As defined in by Bassham et al (2002), â€Å"Arguments are composed of one or more†¦show more content†¦I and an instance at work where I had recognized a design flaw in a smoke purge system for a building. I went to the mechanical coordinator of the general contractor and explained what the issue was and what should be done to fix the issue. At the weekly construction meeting my manager asked what was the status of the decision to fix the issue I had brought up. He was told that the engineer who designed the system had a creditable background in engineering and that I was only a technician so I had no idea about what I was speaking of. The issue was not resolved till testing of the smoke purge system was done and the design flaw I found was proven. The general contractor then issued a change to fix the situation. The rework of the system cost the general contractor more then if the issue was fixed when I mentioned it. This extra cost could have been avoided if my manager recognized that the general contractor’s argument was flawed and corrected them at the time of the argument. An organizational example would be a current ad that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been running which states â€Å"This week President Bush brought his risky plan for Social Security to South Bend — a plan that would end Social Securitys guaranteed benefits and tie our retirement savings to the ups and downs of the stock market. How does President Bush plan to pay for this risky scheme you ask. First, hell borrow $4.5 trillion from foreign countries. ThenShow MoreRelatedFallacies And Fallacies Of Fallacies1006 Words   |  5 PagesWade brueggeman Professor Mcginty English 1301 9 July 2015 Logical Fallacies Have you ever wondered if something is actually making you genuinely laugh or if it is just always laughed at so you feel like you must laugh at at? Sometimes people are so accustomed to the things around them that they are just going through the motions. Now fallacies are common errors within reasoning that will ruin the logic of your argument. 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