What are fallacies?

Question

I just cant seem to understand and I need to understand what they are in the course that I am taking... There is so many!!!

Answer 1

A fallacy is simply a flaw in logic, where the arguement (or answer or result) given does not match the evidence as set out.

For example if i say:

Joe is not a good person because he eats steak and vegetables.

The explaination for why he is not a good person is inadequate, as eating steak and vegetables has nothing to do with morality (vegans and Buddhists morality aside, as that would be an implication and not part of the evidence presented).

If i say that:

The sky is green.

It is a fallacious argument as all common evidence is to the contrary.

or if i give a set of arguments:

The internet is a series of tubes
The tubes are clogged

The evidence presents the case that 'The internet is clogged'
(A=B)+(B=C)=(A=C)

howerver if i say 'Therefore the internet is used for good', it doesnt follow from the evidence:
(A=B)+(B=C)=(A=G)

Therefore, it is a fallacy.

There are tons of specific types of fallacies, but yea, hope this helps.

Answer 2

My logic text defied them as "easy to make intellectual mistakes." An example is the Straw Man Fallacy. This fallacy changes an opponent's argument so that it is easier to attack. Those who say that a fallacy is being mistaken in a belief are wrong. The issue there is the truth of the premise, fallacies deal with the logic - completely different.

Answer 3

Fallacies are just things that people think to be true, but are actually not true. For example, most people think that winter is the cause of the earth moving away from the sun. This is a fallacy because the earth is actually closest to the sun in the winter, it has to do with the tilt of the earth's axis.

Answer 4

they are false beliefs. Depending on the course you're taking, they can be a number of things.