Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Content Fallacies

Bad appeal to common belief (or practice):
If (almost) everyone else (in this group) believes it (or does it), then it's true (good to do).

This fallacy means to me that if a certain group of people believe in one common idea, belief, or practice and  actually go through and show there belief by doing it that it is more than likely true or good idea to do to this certain belief.

An real world example of a bad appeal to common belief can be religion.  Many religions do many things that alot of people don't understand and because there is a certain group of strong followers, they will do what there group believes and practices.  An certian example of this is in Lent in the Catholic religion.  They practice this belief to give up a certain habit for 40 days even though many people don't believe in it or understand it.

1 comment:

  1. Hey. I have never heard of this fallacy until now. I think this fallacy is used all the time in the real world. I love the example you have provided for this fallacy. I do agree with your example, for the fallacy you have chosen. I agree with your example because, I practice my religion based on beliefs and not facts. This certainly does fall under your fallacy. I am trying to think of something that goes the other way. Where a group of people believe in something and people follow that even though it is not a fact. I like your post. It was well described and easy to follow and understand. :)

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