Sunday 10 January 2010

Description of Fallacies


In other to understand what a fallacy is, one must understand what an argument is. Very briefly, an argument consists of one or more premises and one conclusion. A premise is a statement (which is either true or false) that is offered in support of the claim being made, which is the conclusion (which is also a sentence that is either true or false).

A fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning. This differs from a factual error, which is simply being wrong about the facts. To be more specific, a fallacy is an "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support.

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