Paranormal Investigation of NYC: Fallacies

  Paranormal Investigation of NYC

   Argumentative Fallacies

Family	Fallacy	Definition	Example	Explanation
Week Analogies	Hasty Generalization	A conclusion is drawn from too small a sample of evidence.	“The first is proving the spirit is there in the first place. This is done by electronically or spiritual means.” http://www.paranormal-nyc.com/gh.html	“This is done by…”, suggests that proving ghost exists can be done and this is how you do it.
Red Herrings	Red Herring	The premises of the argument are logically unrelated to the claim.	“The media has coined the term "Ghost Hunter", ghosts cannot be hunted! …Anyway, this is the info on Ghost hunting...” http://www.paranormal-nyc.com/gh.html	Addressing the media’s take on “Ghost Hunting” seemed irrelevant. It is also contradicting how they refer to themselves as ghost hunters
	Wishful Thinking	Something is true because I want it to be.	“Remember that proof is only through observation and belief.”	If you believe that the proof means ghosts are real, then they are.
	Appeal to Force/Fear	The conclusion should be accepted, or I/we will do something bad to you.	“Compass began to spin, Dowsing rods very active. …I believe there is a poltergeist who is very selective when he appears. We are trying to make contact.” http://www.paranormal-nyc.com/504.html	The ghost hunters are quick to believe there is a poltergeist present; they believe this out of fear of the unexplainable activity, this is one of the only investigations that said “CLOSED”.  Obviously, they were not comfortable to go back.
False Cause	Post Hoc	A thing that happens before another thing caused that	“…we picked up on film an image walking back and forth in the living room, low to the ground. In my opinion it is the image of a deceased dog once owned by the owner of the house”	They consistently consider all possible causes of evidence and never have a strong claim saying, “this place is haunted”.
	Texas Sharpshooter	Causal attributions are made about a cluster you analytically create. But the clustering effect make be chance or another cause.	http://www.paranormal-nyc.com/205.html http://www.paranormal-nyc.com/926.html	Overall it is obvious that they believe in ghost but while looking at all of their evidence, it is rarely concluded that they agree that their evidence validates that ghosts are the cause; most of the cases are left “OPEN” and under analysis. They often result to: they don’t know what it is, but it wasn’t one of them.