Links to rhetorical tools:

Here are links to the rhetorical tools used in this class:

Schemes & Tropes -- Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca -- Fallacies -- Burke -- Rhetorical Toolbox -- Conspiracy Rhetorics

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Bigfoot Sighting!


Here is the link to my Bigfoot story:  https://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=3400

Fallacy 
Definition 
Example 
Reason
Slippery Slope
A series of steps in a casual chain and the support/ probabilities for each is omitted in an argument that A basically causes Z.
“80 yards away… I had not taken my eyes off it… "it can't be!"... picks up a rock and throws it at it… it just turned towards the dark timber behind it and walked into the forest… avid hunter...” 
Because of all these things it must have been a bigfoot.
Appeal to Misleading Authority (w/ Appeal to Celebrity & Appeal to Tradition)
Using an authority to affirm a conclusion when the authority is not expert enough, in the context, to assure the conclusion.
“Please note that I am an avid hunter.”
He is trying to convey that he is qualified to tell the difference between anything you might find in the wilderness and a bigfoot.
Unrepresentative Sample
A conclusion is drawn from an insufficiently representative sample.
“Witness very believable.”
We don’t get any real information as to why the witnesses would be believable, it is just stated to us. 
Hasty Generalization
A conclusion is drawn from too small a sample of evidence.
“I am very aware what all the animals look like and I am 100% sure this was a bigfoot.”
He is 100% sure it was a bigfoot when he was on private property looking at the “creature” from 80 yards away without being able to see it’s features well.
Anecdotal Fallacy/
Misleading Vividness
A Hasty Generalization that relies on the availability heuristic (we generalize from vivid stories more readily).
“The news said something like this: "Bigfoot tracks found crossing the Nisqually River near Mt Rainer," and they showed photos of the spot but did not say exactly where, but by the size of the river in the photos they showed it looked very close to where we were.”
He assumes that these tracks are not only from the same thing that he saw but also that they were from the same spot even though it was unspecific about the location.
Post Hoc
A thing that happens before another thing caused that.
“As soon as the rock landed this (and its still hard to say) bigfoot did not jump or run or seem scared at all, it just turned towards the dark timber behind it and walked into the forest.”
This is assuming that they throwing of the rock made the “bigfoot” turn and leave.
Texas Sharpshooter
Causal attributions are made about a cluster you analytically create. But the clustering effect make be chance or another cause.
“I realized it was not a stump, I could see its arms, legs, and even some detail of it face.”


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