Question

There are many websites that provide information on both formal and informal fallacies. Three of the most

interesting are the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy   (entry on “Fallacies”), the Nizkor Project http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ , and the Fallacy Files http://www.fallacyfiles.org/index.html . Your assignment is to visit each of these sites and find the fallacies and feel comfortable recognizing fallacies of failed induction and presumption. 

Your assignment is the following:

Find one video or cartoon example of one of these fallacies on the Web. The example must take the form of a video/cartoon (check out YouTube, for instance, or search for the fallacies in cartoon banks). The Cartoon Network, Family Guy, Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart, or even just plain old cartoon websites are good places to look.

Explain why you think this is a good example of the fallacy. Make sure to present the argument that the video or cartoon presents by identifying its implicit premise(s) and conclusion.

Here’s an example. The satirist Stephen Colbert (see the video below) asks Congressman Barney Frank if President Bush was a “… great President, or the greatest President?” Clearly, the question contains an assumption which the Congressman must accept if he answers using the alternatives that Colbert has offered. So this is an example of both a complex question AND a false alternative, since the choices that Colbert offers are neither exclusive nor exhaustive. (Note: click on the link to open it in a separate window, and then move to the 1:15 timestamp to locate the portion of the video where the fallacy occurs. Sorry about the commercial that precedes the video, but there’s no way to remove it!)

Get the idea? Have fun!

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