Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Common Fallacies/... Mein Kampf by Hitler

So In Class today we went over the most common fallacies which include.....
*Hasty Generalization
*False use of Authority
*Post Hoc or Doubtful Cause
* False Analogy
*Ad Hominem
*False Dilemma
*Slippery Slope
*Begging the Question...and lastly
*Straw Man

Basically a Fallacy is not true yet can easily be mistakened as so. We really have to pay attention when we read things or study arguments because fallacies can be hidden within them and can often times go on undetected!

A great (but poorly written) example of Common fallacies can be seen in Hitler's Mein Kampf.

One of the common fallacies that immidiately stuck out to me was this one.
" There are some truths which are so obvious that for this very reason nthey are not seen, or at least not recognized by ordinary people."

hmmmmm.... well first off this quote is known as an Ad Hominem and secondly to the reader this should make absolutely no sense at all. So to make it simpler Hitler basically called all common people stupid which seems a bit odd since he himself at this time was simple.....very messed up but still simple. Hes basically calling all people stupid by saying that the answer or truth is right in front of our eyes but we are too low/ idiotic to see it.

Another example of a fallacy from this text would be.......

"Every animal mates with a member of the same species"

Well first things first...this would be classified as a False analogy. This is because a false analogy is descriptive but does not offer proof of a connection between the two things being compared.
Here Hitler is referring to animals and giving examples using animals yet this has nothing to do with humans. Hes saying that a lion breeds witha lion, a dog breeds with a dog, etc etc etc but he always goes on to say how humans of a certain backround cannot breed with humans of another background. I dont know about anyone else but this doesnt make any sense whatsoever!. He is stating that dogs go with dogs and etc but that humans cannot breed with certain humans......?? its confusing because according to his logic humans should be able to breed with all other humans no matter what their background or race or skin color and so on. Its almost as if he was contradicting what he was saying. No matter what though, this argument of his is still a fallacy because of the definition of false analogy.

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