Five Common Thinking Errors

 

Non sequitor-

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor before WWII, the U.S. forced thousands and thousands of Japanese immigrants into ghettos and many out of the country as well. Their reasoning was that the Japanese bombed us, and they were Japanese, so they were part of the bombing. The same thing happened after 9/11. Many Middle Eastern people were and still are discriminated against because of what a few radicals did to us. Many of them have never even been out of the U.S., but because of their heritage, they are discriminated against. This is an example of a non sequitor thinking mistake because people’s conclusion does not logically follow their two premises to support it.

 

False/Vague Premises-

In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio acts on the false premiss that his soon-to-be wife has been disloyal to him. He thought that he saw her with another man, but in reality, it was not her and it was part of a dirty trick played on him by Don John. He thinks Hero has been disloyal to him and he has to defend his honor, so he has to shame her in public. The false premiss however leads to an untrue conclusion that he has to shame her because she is actually innocent.

 

Ad Hominem-

With the election of our new pope several months ago, there came some controversy along with it. Josef Ratzinger truly was in the Hitler youth as a child, but only because it was required of German males. He managed to drop out because he said it went against his lifestyle as a pre-seminarian. Yet still people attacked the new pope as calling him a Nazi or a Jew hater. How does this have anything to do with the man's faith and devotion toward God and the rest of humanity? Nothing. He was chosen by the Cardinals because they saw him the best man for the job. The fact that he was in the Hitler Youth has nothing to do with his faith. It is an attack at Pope Benedict XVI himself to try to undermine his election instead of talking about his faith and ability to lead the Church.

Source:World Peace Herald

 

Begging the Question-

Begging the question is when a certain point is explained as true, but in the explanation, one assumes that the statement is already true. Circular thinking is a from of begging the question. A good example of begging the question is part of the pro-choice side of abortion's argument on why abortions should be legal. They claim that it is not murder. One might say that abortion is the unjustified killing of a human being therefore it is murder. Murder is illegal. So abortion should be illegal. But this assumes that abortion truly is murder, which is illegal. Many people in favor of abortion use the argument that abrotion isn't really abortion and that Pro-Life supporters are begging the question with abortion.

Source:Huppi.com

 

 

Red Herring-

The other day I had an argument with my brother over who had to mow the lawn. I said that I had done it the week before so now it was his turn. He returned my argument by saying that he already did all his chores inside while i hadn't dont any yet, so i should have to do it. This is a great example of a red herring. He tries to turn my attention away from the fact that it's his week to mow the lawn by telling me he has done a bunch of chores inside, which have nothing to do with mowing the lawn.





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