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Fallacy: Critical Thinking and Far-fetched Hypothesis

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Fallacy: Critical Thinking and Far-fetched Hypothesis
three logical fallacies that are used in this paper are Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Far-Fetched Hypothesis, and False Dilemma. What is a fallacy? A fallacy is viewed as an error in reasoning. To be more exact, a fallacy is an "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support. A logical fallacy is an error in logical argument which is independent of the truth of the premises. When there is a fallacy in an argument it is said to be invalid. The presence of a logical fallacy in an argument does not necessarily imply anything about the argument 's premises or its conclusion. Both may actually be true, but the argument is still invalid because the conclusion does not follow.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc is Latin means "after this therefore because of this". What this means is that a fallacy is committed when it is concluded that one event causes another simply because the proposed cause occurred before the proposed effect.
There was an article in The Washington Times about a Florida woman who developed a brain tumor behind the ear where she had customarily placed her cell phone, her husband blamed radiation from the phone and sued its manufacturer. After his 1993 appearance on CNN 's "Larry King Show," other similar lawsuits followed. None succeeded however, and within several months, the controversy was forgotten."
This kind of health scare is an example of the Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (believing that because two events are temporally related, they must be causally related). "Local woman killed by her cell phone" is saying the Florida woman developed cancer from using her cell phone and died.
The second fallacy in the paper is Far-Fetched Hypothesis. This is a fallacy of inductive reasoning that is committed when we accept a particular hypothesis when a more acceptable hypothesis, or one more strongly based in fact, is available.
Doing my research I found that ads from newspapers, television, and magazines



References: What Is Safe, What Isn 't?. (2004, November 5). The Washington Times, p. A19. Retrieved May 10, 2005, from Questia database, http://www.questia.com. Position Statement on Federal Judicial Appointments, March 7, 2005 Focus on Social Issues, Constitution and Government Quick Facts. Retrieved on June 10, 2005 http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/social-security http://www.getnitetrim.com/

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