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Fallacies: Examples in Mainstream Media

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Can you give me 3 examples of Fallacies that are in the news today and explain why they are Fallacies?

Also- Can you define fallacy and give me your thoughts on the subject?

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Solution Summary

The solution gives three examples of fallacies and provides a subsequent example of the use of such fallacies or apperance thereof through articles taken from newspapers & magazines (online versions) in the mainstream media. A discussion of the fallacy is provided and the article is analysed to show how the fallacy is used or to present the presence of the fallacy within it. Further references are provided to expand the discussion on the fallacies presented in the solution.

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Dear Student,
The solution below discusses fallacies in general, what they are about and your immediate concern - to pinpoint fallacies 'in the news'. I have decided to use articles from CNN & a foreign paper/webnews site to illustrate samples of fallacies in the news & their nature. I chose to give samples o 3 material fallacies & discussed why they are fallacies according to the rules of the particular fallacy they fall under. Attached is the word form of the solution. Print it as your guide, it is a better version of the solution below.

OTA 105878
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Defining Fallacies

A fallacy is a part of an argument that is logically flawed, rendering the argument invalid. There are various types of fallacies dependent upon the form the argument takes. Fallacies take the informal or formal form in logical arguments. Formal fallacies usually take on a deductive form & are invalid; any other flawed invalid argument is termed as informal fallacies. The source of the fallacy usually dictate what it is about; there are fallacies of relevance, fallacies of causal reasoning, fallacies of ambiguity & fallacies of equivocation. Aristotle observed that politicians and orators in his days used fallacies in their speeches & debates. To this day that still rings true.

Your post asks for help in determining fallacies in the news and determining how they are fallacies in the way their arguments are presented & why they are invalid. To do this, let us first discuss forms of material fallacies & a key theory in logic. To recognize a fallacy within the 'news' is challenging due to the rhetoric used, exploiting emotional & intellectual weakness of interlocutors. Argumentation Theory studies the rules of inference, logic, dialogue & procedural rules in contrived & real-life settings to reach conclusions through logical reasoning based on premises - statements taken as truth being self-evident. This theory is what advises debates & dialogues in the justice system to ascertain truth & guilt. Understand that causality is used in fallacious arguments; power relationships between proposers & interlocutors also influence the outcome with issues like ...

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  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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