Mastering Logical Fallacies Quotes

“The base rate of cancer remission is 5%; the statistical likelihood is, therefore, that twenty out of four hundred patients will get better naturally. The church’s rate of success doesn’t improve the base rate of remission, and therefore there is no evidence that prayer is effective in treating cancer.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“the base rate of cancer remission is 5%, and the church prayed for 400 patients, then the statistical likelihood is that twenty patients would have gotten better anyway. The results of the church’s activities, that is, have no effect on the actual rate of remission.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“Key Terms A list of the most common terms you’ll encounter in this book ARGUMENT A set of statements (premises) that are given to advance a conclusion. AUDIENCE The people listening to the argument, those to whom the argument is directed. COMMITMENT A proposition that a proponent takes to be true, either implicitly or explicitly. CONCLUSION A statement that follows from the preceding statements (the argument). CONDITIONAL A statement of the form ‘if A, then B,’ where A cannot be true and B false. DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENT An argument whose conclusion follows logically from its premises. FALLACY The use of invalid reasoning in an argument. INDUCTIVE ARGUMENT An argument whose premises give good evidence for its conclusion (e.g., inferring a general law from particular examples of it). INVALID An argument is invalid only when it is not valid. LOGIC The principles and rules that govern valid inferences. MODAL A type of statement that deals with necessity, possibility or impossibility. OPPONENT A person attempting to rebut an argument. PRESUPPOSITION A proposition which an argument, or a proponent, takes for granted. PROPONENT The person putting forward an argument. SAMPLE A subset of a population, studied to make extrapolations that apply to the population as a whole. SOUND An argument is sound only when it is valid and its premises are true. VALID An argument is valid if and only if its premises cannot be true when its conclusion is false. P1,2, ETC.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“This type of argument simply gives no reason to accept the truth of its conclusion: its proponent substitutes evidence or reasoning with a blanket appeal to faith. But cogent arguments require reasoning and logic; an appeal to faith furnishes neither.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“Almost any religious dogma will, almost by definition, rely on this fallacy to some extent. In defending these dogmas, some apologists will also appeal to reason: St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, for instance, is a masterpiece of subtle and profound argumentation in defense of Catholic dogma. Other religious apologists relegate a much greater role to pure faith. For”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“APPEAL TO FAITH Informal Proponent A has faith that P. Therefore, P. Arguing for a conclusion purely on the basis of faith, rather than invoking any reason or evidence for its truth.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“This fallacy is the generic form of which other appeals to emotion—the Appeal to Fear (see here), the Appeal to Pity (see here)—are subspecies. The fallacy is identical in all cases: the proponent tries to argue his case not by appeal to the facts, but on the strength of his and others’ emotional reactions to the facts. It is a fallacy for the very same reason: my feelings about the facts of the matter are simply irrelevant when it comes to their truth or falsity.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“There is no problem with appealing to emotion in pursuit of a pragmatic end (i.e., to motivate your audience to do something)—we frequently need that tug on our heartstrings to goad us into action. The mistake arises when the appeal to emotion is used in lieu of an argument. The facts of the matter may be frightening, disgusting, enraging: but they are still the facts, regardless of how one feels.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic

“APPEAL TO EMOTION Informal Proponent A argues for or against conclusion P by invoking the emotional effects of P. Arguing for the conclusion of an argument by appealing to the emotions of the audience, rather than addressing the matter at hand.”
― Michael Withey, Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic