A fallacy is a ÃÂgeneral type of appeal (or category of argument) that resembles good reasoning, but that we should not find to be persuasiveÃÂ (Bruce Thompson's, 2005). Fallacies have influenced the way that humans use critical thinking for many years. There are numerous different fallacies thought the academic world. Three fallacies that this paper will focus on are Questionable Cause, Appeal to Emotion, and Non-Sequitur. While each of these fallacies are sometimes used to make decisions, they are not logical in a critical thinking process.
Questionable CauseQuestionable Cause can be described as ÃÂwhen a causal connection is assumed without proof. All too often claims to a causal connection are based on a mere correlationÃÂ (Texas State, 2006). An example of this is ÃÂSix months after Hoover took office in 1929, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. He is therefore responsible for this tragic episode in our historyÃÂ (Texas State, 2006).
English: Picture of Michael Jordan at a basketball...
Appeal to the Great Spirit
Michael Jordan on the golf course in 2007.This fallacy is one of importance in critical thinking. By having no solid evidence that an event was triggered by another event can be dangerous to businesses. This type of fallacy can lead a supervisor to believe in a temporary fix, which ultimately, will only make the problem worse.
Appeal to EmotionÃÂThis fallacy is committed when someone manipulates peoples' emotions in order to get them to accept a claim as being trueÃÂ (The Nikor Project, 2006). An example of this would be a supervisor who asked an employee to finish a task. When the supervisor asks for the results the employee says that his dog died, then his car would not start, and his girlfriend left him last night, so I could not get the task done. A tip to keep in mind to avoid using the Appeal to Pity (Emotion) fallacy is...