3 0 8
C H A P T E R 1 5 ■ F a l l a c i e s o f R e l e v a n c e
Itisclearwhatisgoingonhere.Whenyouoffersomethingasareason,itis
conversationallyimpliedthatthereissomeconnectionbetweenitandthe
thingyouarearguingfor.Inmostcases,theconnectionisobvious,andthere
isnoneedtospellitout.Inothercases,theconnectionisnotobvious,but
inthespiritofcooperationothersarewillingtoassumethattheconnection
exists.Inthepresentcase,thereseemstobenoconnectionbetweenhaving
abadlegandsittinginoneparticularchair.Why,then,doestheelevator
operatornotchallengethisstatement?Partofthereasonisthatitisnot
easytochallengewhatpeoplesay;amongotherthings,itisnotpolite.But
politenessdoesnotseemtoholdtheelevatoroperatorback;instead,hedoes
notwanttoappearstupid.Thepersonwhooffersareasonconversationally
impliesaconnection,andwedonotliketoadmitthatwefailtoseethis
connection.Thiscombinationofgenerosityandfearoflookingstupidleads
ustoacceptallsortsofirrelevantstatementsasreasons.
Fallaciesofrelevancearesurprisinglycommonineverydaylife.People
oftenintroduceirrelevantdetailsortangentsinordertomisleadbydivert-
ingattentionfromtherealissue.Theirrelevantdistractionissometimes
describedasared herring(reportedlyafteramanwhodraggedaredherring
acrosshistrailinordertothrowpursuinghoundsoffhisscent).Thebest
strategyfordealingwithsuchtricksissimplytocrossoutallirrelevant
claimsandthenseewhatisleft.Sometimesnothingisleft.
Ontheotherhand,weshouldnotbeheavy-handedinmakingcharges
ofirrelevance.Sometimestheoccurrenceofirrelevanceisinnocent;good
argumentsoftencontainirrelevantasides(aswesawinChapter5).More
important,relevanceisoftensecuredbywayofaconversationalimplica-
tion,sowereallyhavetoknowwhatisgoingoninagivencontexttodecide
whetheraremarkisrelevantornot.Wecanillustratethislastpointby
examiningtwokindsofargumentsthatofteninvolvefallaciesofirrelevance:
arguments ad hominemand appeals to authority.
Ad Hominem Arguments
Literally,anargumentadhominemisanargumentdirectedagainstaperson
whoismakingaclaimratherthanagainstthatperson’sclaimorargument
forit.Onthefaceofit,thismoveseemstoinvolveirrelevance,forthecharac-
ter,socialposition,orstatusofapersonshouldhavenothingtodowiththe
truthofwhatthatpersonsaysorwiththesoundnessorstrengthofthatper-
son’sarguments.Evenwhenprotestersdressshabbilyorfailtobathe,their
clothingandhygieneshownothingaboutthelegitimacyoftheirprotest.
Aspeaker ’sethnicity,race,sex,orsexualorientationalmostnevergiveus
anygoodreasontochallengethetruthofwhatthatpersonsaysorthesound-
nessofhisorherargument.Andthefactthatajudgewasappointedbya
liberal(orbyaconservative)doesnotshowthatthejudge’slegaldecisions
97364_ch15_ptg01_307-322.indd 308 15/11/13 11:04 AM
some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materiallyCopyright 201^3 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights,
affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.