Fallacious Arguments
I taught rhetoric at Roosevelt Academy in The Netherlands for a year and found one of the most important things to discuss with students early in the term is how to both be aware of and avoid arguments based on fallacy. Often times individuals recognize the fallacy in the argument but continue to try debate it using reason. Being able to identify and label fallacious arguments when they are first presented saves a great deal of time. My disciplines are Communication and Sociology, and I've found it very beneficial to introduce my students in both courses to this concept.
Ann Marie,
There is an old saying that goes "Good decisions are based upon experience and experience is based upon a lot of bad decisions". The error trail in a class setting is a safe one for students since they have a safety net of you the expert there to direct their thinking as well as help them to move off of the error trail and onto the success trail as they gain more experience.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Ann Marie,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful example. What a moment that must have been when this break through came for this woman. She now can be the critical thinker she wants to be and use her various skills and abilities in all phases of her life. I wish you much success! Your approach is a good one because it slowly moves students along to the point that they start to see that they in fact can become reflective and critical thinkers if they are willing to put forth the effort needed to refine this skill set.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Yes, so true, when students allow themselves the freedom to follow the error trail and begin to redirect their sequence of thought they do come to a conclusion and actually surprises them and they feel so proud that they learned to solve a problem that seemed to them to be unsolvable such as stop using stereotypes and assumptions that are fallacies.
It is very difficult to help students at first to learn that their steretypes, bias, and assumptions that they use as arguments are not factual critical thinking. I use scenario's from the students feedback or newspapers and/or news cast so students can compare what is a fallacy and what is a fact that has been proven. It is particularly draining for students as they try to comprehend how their approaches to using Critical Thinking Questions assists them to remove their emotionally straining arguments and each students grows and learns at their own pace. One example is that one student was so frustated as they tried to just talk in class without using stereotypes of people who argue with her about gender stereotypes that she was taught were/are facts in her family. Then on the first day of the second week, she interrupted class by stating, "Oh my Goodness my Grandma was so wrong, women are not always dummer than men on purpose because they have smaller brains." "No wonder I felt dumb all my life, I thought she said, "that if Grandma said something it had to be the truth. The class applauded her and she cried but a happy cry and she said, "I will now pass Critical thinking!!" because she said, "My brain is now growing:)
Sharon,
Thank you for sharing these approaches to how students can develop skill and refine their approach to problem solving. By understanding how they can be follow an error trail or need to redirect their sequence of thought they can come to a conclusion and solve the presenting problem.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Out of fear of being wrong in front of one’s peers; a student may unfortunately continue to defend a fallacy. In effort to bring this to his/her attention it may be helpful to redirect the students’ attention from arguing the point to explaining their justification for their argument. When helping the student understand the idea of “panning for gold†he/she maybe willing to accept that there are alternatives ways to view what they have heard. Moreover, asking the question “Is it possible that you may be wrong?†may help the student to rethink his position.
Christina,
Thank you for these good points. You made me smile with your sentence that individuals recognize the fallacy in the argument but continue to try and debate it using reason. This is a tough one to get them off of. If you know it is fallacy let it go. I would call this beating a dead horse. The horse is dead so move onto something else that is a know as you explore possible options. Easier said than done with many of my students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
