Logical Fallacies
...rying to introduce their religious teachings into the classroom" (Thompson, 2005). This argument states that the creationists are simply trying teach some form of religion in school. This argument assumes all creationists are religious, and that all creationist want religion to be taught in school when this is more than likely not true at all. This statement is trying to refute that creationists are trying to teach a scientific theory by taking a common belief that most creationist share; religion. It is very important to recognize the straw man fallacy when making a decision in any walk of life. Politicians may use this technique, knowingly, to try to sway your vote their way. In the workplace using this fallacy could be very dangerous resulting in a bad decision and loss of profit. Anytime someone presents an argument and states an opponent’s position on that argument a red flag should be raised. Further research may be required to investigate the validity of the argument. The Straw Man fallacy is usually fairly easy to spot and easy to refute. False Dilemma is when the arguer presents two possibilities to a problem. The possibilities in a False Dilemma are usually contradictory to each other or they are extremes of each other. An example of a False Dilemma is; “Your grades show you just aren’t trying. Either study more, or drop out of school” (False Dilemma, 2005). This states that the person only has two options to solve their problem when there are many other solutions one could look at. In the workplace a team member or manager may give someone only two options to solve a given problem. Sometimes there are only two options, but when the options seem extreme or unreasonable, and other options exist, the False Dilemma fallacy has been used. People use this fallacy to try to persuade someone to choose their solution to a problem. They will first state the solution they wish to be chosen then give a second choice which is clearly undesirable or illogical. Their solution, next to the extreme one, looks like the right choice. Post Hoc Propter Hoc is a fallacy which states that one event is the cause of the second event. It assumes that if event A occurred before event B then event A is inevitably the cause of event B. An example of this is; “Joan is scratched by a cat while visiting her friend. Two days later she comes down with a fever. Joan concludes that the cat's scratch must be the cause of her illness” (Fallacy, 2005). Joan assumes that her illness is caused by the cat scratch when her illness could have been caused by one of many reasons. This fallacy often occurs when one tries to figure out the root or solution to a problem. The first, and often easie...