Chapter 16 Persuasive Speaking 483From the Latin meaning “to the man,”
the ad hominem fallacy is a common
feature of political campaigns. For example,
if a speaker says, “Terry Malone is the better
candidate for district court judge because
she is happily married, whereas her oppo-
nent just kicked his wife out of their house,”
the argument is focused on the individual
and not the person’s particular qualifica-
tions for the job.
Hasty Generalization
A hasty generalization is a reasoning flaw
in which a speaker makes a broad general-
ization based on isolated examples or insuf-
ficient evidence. For example, suppose Jeff notes in his speech that actor and
comedian George Burns smoked for decades and lived to be a hundred years old
and then concludes that smoking can’t really be that bad. Jeff ’s claim would be
unreasonable (and dangerous) to draw a universal conclusion about the health
risks of smoking by the case study of one person. As a speaker, you can avoid this
fallacy by providing sufficient evidence and examples that directly relate to the
topic and that are representative of the arguments you are advancing.
Begging the Question
Speakers who use the fallacy of begging the question present arguments that no
one can verify because they’re not accompanied by valid evidence. For example,
if Amanda notes, “People only watch True Blood because Twilight is so awe-
some,” she’s basing her argument on an unprovable premise (the notion that
Twilight is awesome—which is a subjective opinion rather than a verifiable fact).
If you accept Amanda’s premise, you must accept her conclusion. For this reason,
this fallacy is often referred to as a circular argument.
Either–Or Fallacy
Speakers might try to persuade by using the either–or fallacy (sometimes called
the false dilemma fallacy), presenting only two alternatives on a subject and
failing to acknowledge other alternatives. For example, in a speech about local
sports teams, Charlie notes, “In this town, you’re either a Bears fan or a Packers
fan.” He fails to acknowledge that there might be fans of other football teams liv-
ing in the city or individuals who don’t care about football at all.
Appeal to Tradition
A local community board informs a merchant group that existing “blue laws”
preventing them from doing business on Sundays will continue because they
have been on the books since the town’s founding. This kind of argument is a fal-
lacy known as an appeal to tradition—an argument that uses tradition as proof.
When speakers appeal to tradition, they are suggesting that listeners should agree
with their point because “that’s the way it has always been.”
POLITICAL RACES
take a turn for the worse and
run on logical fallacies when
candidates campaign against
their opponents with personal
attacks. © Mark Makela/In Pictures/
Corbis