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Fallacies Of Ambiguities Of A Fallacy In An Argument

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A fallacy occurs in an argument when the premises do not provide the necessary support to derive the conclusion. Three common types of fallacies are fallacies of vagueness, fallacies of ambiguity, and fallacies of equivocation. In fallacies of vagueness, such as slippery slope fallacies, occur when the argument exploits borderline cases caused by vague language. Fallacies of ambiguity occurs when a word or phrase with multiple definitions is used within an argument. Arguments with fallacies of relevance occur when the premises persuade through emotion rather than logic. Fallacies of equivocation, fairness slippery slope fallacies, causal slippery slope fallacies, ad hominem fallacies, and fallacious appeals to authority are all contain premises that illogically support the conclusion by exploiting either vagueness, ambiguity, or relevance. Fallacies of equivocation are arguments that use an expression or work with one meaning in one portion of the argument and then another meaning in another portion of the argument which ruins the argument. An example of a fallacy of equivocation is: All trees have bark. Every dog barks. Therefore, every dog is a tree. In this argument …show more content…

An example of this type of fallacy is: If we teach high school students about sex, it is likely that we will teach middle school students about sex. If we teach middle school students about sex, it is likely that we will teach elementary students about sex. We should not teach about sex in elementary schools. Therefore, we should not teach high school students about sex. This argument is fallacious because it is assuming the transitive property in that if high school students are taught about sex, eventually elementary school students will be taught about sex. Therefore, the premises do not give valid support for the

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