Week 4, Post 2
A fallacy argument occurs when a false, deceiving, or misleading premise has been made. From the book, "Critical Thinking," a form of a fallacy argument is:
Bad appeal to common belief {or practice)
If (almost) everyone else (in this group) believes it (or does it), then it's true (good to do).
"Bad appeal to common belief" is almost like falling for peer pressure. It is also like "monkey see, monkey do." Often times, when there is an amount of people believing it, then it seems like whatever it is has to be real. My friends in college drink at least a cup of coffee a day. I don't drink coffee and I never thought about how it would affect me if I did start drinking it. "I need a cup of coffee, I'm falling asleep in class," is what my friend would always say to me. One day, I felt like I did not have enough energy to pay attention in class so my friend told me to get a cup of coffee to stay alert. I thought that since coffee keeps her and my other college friends awake, it would help me as well. After drinking the cup of coffee, not only was I still tired but I also had an upset stomach. I realized that coffee does not work for me and my body does not like the caffeine. What works for others may not work for me and just because everyone else does it, it may not be the best.
I liked reading your post on the content fallacy of bad appeal to common belief/practice. And I agree with you on how the fallacy has a similarity to peer pressure.
ReplyDeleteYour coffee example reminds me of the fix gear bike fad going on around San Jose and San Jose State students. I'm not a big fan of the fix gear bikes because many of them do not have breaks and I do not have the option of changing gears. My friend, however, favors fix gears and believes that since almost everyone at SJSU rides a fix gear bike, it must be a good idea to go ride one too. Just because other people are riding fix gear bikes, does not persuade me to follow this fad and it does not mean I will enjoy it either.
Therefore, a bad appeal to common belief is definitely not the best way to justify a reason to give in to an argument, unless the person being persuade does cave in. Nonetheless, it is an unreasonable way to be convinced.