Is it good to make an argument based on your emotions? Is it good to make an argument based off of popular opinion?
In Dr. Sadler’s first two videos on fallacies (here and here,) he explains what makes up a fallacious argument. He defines a fallacy as a “bad argument of a certain kind.”
Remembering from yesterday that an argument is a claim made up of supporting claims, fallacies are arguments, but they are poor arguments. Or as defined by Dr. Sadler: “bad arguments of a certain kind.”
In each video, he discusses two kinds of fallacies. Emotional and Popularity fallacies.
In the first video, he explains that while emotions can be good, they often mislead us. The way that this might look in an argument is:
I feel X. If I feel X, then Y is true. Therefore, Y is true.
Or, a real example he gives: I feel angry. If I feel angry, then I am justified in hitting someone with a stick. Therefore, I am justified in hitting someone with a stick.
This is a bad argument because it appeals only from emotion and doesn’t use any outside evidence. When we are emotional, we often become illogical. Because of this, our arguments also become illogical.
In the second video, he talks about the fallacy of popularity.
Many people believe X is true. If many people believe X is true then X is true. Therefore, X is true.
Or a real-life example: Many people believe there is Gravity. If many people believe there is gravity, there is gravity. Therefore, there is gravity.
You see here that even though I have a good conclusion, I have bad claims or arguments supporting that conclusion. There isn’t gravity because many people believe in it. This may be a good supporting argument, but the argument of popularity alone is a fallacious argument. There are much more solid arguments with which to argue.
If whatever most people believed was always true, the sun would be orbiting around the earth since Galileo’s time.
Neither emotions or popularity are bad things, but when used as the sole juice behind an argument, they prove fallacious and unacceptable.