An Introduction to Critical Thinking

3

EVALUATING ARGUMENTS: INFERENCES AND FALLACIES

Fallacious reasoning keeps us from knowing the truth, and the inability to think critically makes us vulnerable to manipulation by those skilled in the art of rhetoric.

 

—Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies

3.1 Introduction

We have discussed in the previous chapter what an argument or inference is and how we may recognise them. We have also discussed briefly what constitutes a valid argument. We shall now discuss how we may go wrong in our arguments, that is, what causes fallacies or errors in arguments.

We must, at the outset, remember that logical fallacies should be distinguished from factual errors. When we make a fallacious argument, we are not necessarily factually wrong but rather we have ...