Understanding what constitutes an ARGUMENT: PREMISE + CONCLUSION Understanding FALLACY i.e. when there exists a disconnect between premises and conclusions Understanding fallacies of IRRELEVANCE and INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.

5. "The opposition says try Pakatan
for 5 years and if you don't like
Pakatan you can go back to BN in
2023.
I say try Islam for 5 years and if you
don't like Islam you can go back to
Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism
in 2023. Does that also make
sense?” ~ Raja Petra

9. Thinking :
Critical & Clear

10. What is not Critical Thinking?

11. Ego-Centric Thinking

12. Group Bias

13. Group Bias

14. Wishful
Thinking

15. What is an argument?

17. Fallacies of
IRRELEVANCE

18. #1 Personal Attack
(Ad Hominem)

19. Are the premises relevant to the
conclusion?
• Mark lives in Penang. So he probably
speaks Italian.
• Bob gave Susan an engagement ring; it
should be safe to say that Bob loves
Susan.
• Most people believe that God doesn’t
exist. Therefore, He probably doesn’t
exist.

20. • You cannot believe John because he is a
drug addict
• He’s only saying that because he’s such a
nice guy…
• “The Border Wall should not be built
because Trump is a racist”

21. #1a Attacking the Motive

22. • Don’t listen to him, he’s just pushing a
liberal agenda
• She’s a Zionist / Communist
• I don’t believe Taylor’s marketing
statistics; they’re just trying to sell their
programs

23. #2 Bandwagon

24. • It’s okay to miss class…everybody does it.
• 70% of my classmates believe that pre-
marital sex is permissible; 80% of my
friend’s classmates also believe it’s fine.
Therefore, I think it’s fine.
• All the famous people smoke; therefore
you should, too.
• Hello! Nobody does assignments on a
Saturday night, okay?!

25. #3 Appeal to
Emotion

26. • I know I missed half your classes and
failed all my exams, but I had a tough
semester. First, my pet snake died. Then
my girlfriend said she wants a sex-change
operation. Then I crashed my car. Really,
could you please change my grade from F
to A?
• I know I’m not the best person for this job.
But if I don’t get it I’m going to be in
trouble.

27. #4 Strawman

28. • He says Wendy’s burger gives value-for-
money, but how can it be? Compared to
McD’s and Burger King, it’s so much more
expensive!
• What Trump did at the U.S.-Mexico border
was wrong because it’s just evil to
separate children from their parents!!

29. #5 Red Herring

30. • Some people say that TGV cinemas are
more uncomfortable than GSC cinemas.
But c’mon TGV was started much earlier
than GSC and they have many famous
people as guests.
• How can you say I’m not doing enough for
the farmers? Do you know that I grew up
on a farm and I know almost every major
farmer?

31. #7 Begging the Question

32. • Voluntary euthanasia is justified because
dying people ought to have the right to
decide whether to live or die.
• Barisan Nasional deserves your vote
because obviously it’s not worth giving
your vote to Pakatan
• Malaysia is a dangerous place to live in.
Can’t you see how many people are
migrating? They’re migrating because it’s
so dangerous!

33. How do you ‘beg the question’?
1. By assuming what you have to prove
(“Marlboro is healthier to smoke than Dunhill
because Marlboro is less dangerous than
Dunhill”)
2. By justifying the premise with the
conclusion (“Taylor is a better college than
Sunway because there are more students.
There are more students in Taylor’s because
it’s better than Sunway”)

34. Fallacies of
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

35. #1 Fallacy of Unqualified Authority

37. The kung-fu expert’s choice?

38. Persuasiveness is NOT everything!

39. When the LACK of evidence is
used to support your
conclusion…!
Fallacy of
Appeal to Ignorance

40. “If Anwar thinks he is innocent of the charges then he
should prove it.” Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, 1998

41. “But how can you prove that Brett
Kavanaugh didn’t sexually assault
Christine Ford?!”

42. The Problem:
You can then argue for
ANYTHING!

44. #3 Fallacy of False Alternatives

45. • Either you support Pakatan OR you
condemn Malaysia to injustice and
oppression!
• Why don’t you, as a Chinese, celebrate
Chinese New Year? Are you anti-
Chinese?
• “It’s us. Or rust” (Advertisement)
• Najib’s approval rating has gone up. Either
the rating is false or the people are stupid!

46. #4 Fallacy of False Cause

48. • I don’t believe I failed. I should’ve used my
lucky pen.
• The SPM results have fallen steeply over
the years. Obviously, the influence of the
Internet is detrimental to studying.
• Air-Asia passengers have dropped a little;
it must be because people are st

49. #5 Fallacy of Generalization

50. • All girls like flowers.
• “Anyone can make a million dollars! I did it
by age 35.”
• SEGi lecturers are all very boring!

51. #6 Fallacy of Slippery Slope

52. • Don’t fire the rocket in these snowy
mountains. The rocket could cause an
avalanche, and the avalanche could
destroy the ski-hotel and the village below.
Hundreds could die.
• If we don’t raise our army spending, soon
Chinese will surpass us as a military
power. Who knows when we’ll all be
speaking Chinese and eating chop suey?

54. #7 Fallacy of Weak Analogy

55. • There’s nothing wrong with separating
bathrooms based on race. After all, don’t
we separate bathrooms based on men
and women?
• Coke is like family. You can never have
enough. Coca-Cola. Always.
• “Sex is like badminton. We should switch
partners until we find the right one.”