Understanding the Appeal to Force Fallacy

The appeal to force fallacy is a rhetorical fallacy that relies on force or intimidation (scare tactics) to persuade an audience to accept a proposition or take a particular course of action. Understanding the Fallacy In Latin, the appeal to force fallacy is referred to as argumentum ad baculum, or, literally, argument to the cudgel. Its also sometimes referred to as the appeal to fear fallacy. Essentially, the argument appeals to the possibility of undesired, negative consequences that are often - though not always - tied to some sort of frightening or violent outcome that listeners will wish to avoid. In arguments that utilize this fallacy, the logic is not sound, nor is it the sole basis of the argument. Instead, there is an appeal to negative emotions and possibilities that have not been proven. Fear and logic become tied together in the argument. The fallacy occurs when a negative consequence is assumed without definitive proof; instead, an appeal is made to the possibility of the consequence and a false or exaggerated assumption is made. This fallacious argument may be made whether or not the person making the argument truly subscribes to their own argument. For instance, consider two factions at war. The leader of Faction A sends a message to their counterpart in Faction B, requesting a parlay to discuss the possibility of negotiating peace. During the war so far, Faction A has treated captives from Faction B reasonably well. Leader B, however, tells their second-in-command that they must not meet with Leader A because Faction A will turn around and brutally kill them all. Here, the evidence is that Faction A conducts themselves with honor and would not break the terms of the temporary truce, but Leader B discredits this because he is afraid of being killed. Instead, he appeals to that shared fear to convince the rest of Faction B that he is correct, despite the fact that his belief and current evidence are in conflict with each other. There is a non-fallacious variation of this argument, however. Lets say that Person X, who is a member of Group Y, lives under an oppressive regime. X knows that, if the regime discovers they are a member of Group Y, they will be put to death. X wants to live. Therefore, X will claim to not be a member of Group Y. This is not a fallacious conclusion, since it only says that X will claim to not be part of Y, not that X is not part of Y. Examples and Observations This kind of appeal is undoubtedly persuasive in certain circumstances. The robber who threatens a persons life will probably win the argument. But there are more subtle appeals to force such as the veiled threat that ones job is on the line.(Winifred Bryan Horner, Rhetoric in the Classical Tradition, St. Martins, 1988)The most obvious sort of force is the physical threat of violence or harm. The argument distracts us from a critical review and evaluation of its premises and conclusion by putting us into a defensive position. . . .But appeals to force are not always physical threats. Appeals to psychological, financial, and social harm can be no less threatening and distracting. (Jon Stratton, Critical Thinking for College Students, Rowman Littlefield, 1999)If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly-enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.And if we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Hussein would be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes his aggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East. He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists. . . .Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.(President George W. Bush, October 8, 2002)

The Death Sentence For Committing A Crime Essay - 1750 Words

In Plato’s Crito and Antigone by Sophocles, both Socrates and Antigone face a dilemma about whether it is worth violating the law no matter how unjust or unfair it can get. Although some may claim that violating the law is wrong because it is our duty as citizens to obey the law, I claim that complying with immoral laws is wrong because it corrupts and defeats the justice system. Antigone, a young girl playing the main character in the play Antigone by Sophocles, faces the death sentence for committing a crime. King Kreon, the prosecutor at the trial and King of the city decides that one of her brothers is a traitor while the other is an honored man, without any real reason. Therefore, when they kill each other in a fight, King Kreon only allows one of them to be buried, and declares that the other one remain untouched. Antigone, in desperation to let her brother Polyneices move on into the afterlife, buries him anyways, knowing full well that the crime is punishable by death. At the trial, Creon asks: Kreon. And yet you dared defy the law Antigone. I dared. It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice That rules the world below makes no such laws. Your edict, King, was strong, But all your strength is weakness itself against The immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be, Operative for ever, beyond man utterly (2.56-64 Sophocles) Antigone knows that she has every right to defy the law in order to do what she thinksShow MoreRelatedThe Deterrence Theory : Deterrence And Punishment831 Words   |  4 Pagesthe severe, certain, and swift punishment was the key to deterrence. A rational person is thought to measure both the gains and losses before committing a crime and would more than likely to be deterred from violating the law, they believed the loss was greater than the gain. Classical philosophers thought that certainty was more efficient in preventing crimes than the severity of punishment. 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Strangers on a train Free Essays

Big Ben had just struck midnight when Helen and her friends joyfully burst through the doors of the Westminster Academy. ‘What an amazing concert’, she cried. ‘We should definitely go and watch another one soon!’ replied Tom. We will write a custom essay sample on Strangers on a train or any similar topic only for you Order Now ‘Guys, I think we should just forget about the concert for one split second and actually think about our journey home at such a ridiculous hour!’ said Sarah. ‘True, look I’ll go with you Helen and Jim, you go with Sarah’ said Tom. As the couple waited anxiously for the last train to approach, they silently reminisced over what had really been a well and truly, unforgettable night. After a long wait of what felt like an hour, the last train clumsily slid along the rail tracks and hesitantly pulled up to a halt at Westminster station. Its rickety doors, lethargically slid open and wickedly beckoned the two friends into its carriage of mystery. As Helen looked directly in front of her to look through the pane of glass on the other side of the carriage, she caught a glimpse of a strange looking girl sitting in between two puny but psychotic looking boys. Helen always felt uncomfortable making any form of eye contact with strangers as she had heard of various incidents concerning people in the same situation as her. However, it was as if some strong wave of curiosity was encouraging her face to keep on studying these characters and as she did this, she noticed the vibrant blue veins ridged into the girl’s skin and the trembling hands of the boys. All through this, the girl stayed unmoving. ‘Tom look over to the other side but try to make it as discreet as possible’, Helen said to her friend. ‘You mean that dodgy looking bunch opposite us yeah?’ he replied. ‘Yeah, they’re really starting to creep me out; please do something!’ ‘Ok,right I’ve got a plan.’ he said, ‘Now, Helen listen to me very carefully, when I get off at my stop, come with me and pretend that it’s also your stop and just try and cleverly change carriages ok?’ When the train ground to a halt at Paddington station, the two got off and indeed executed the plan of action. ‘Are you sure you’re going to be alright Helen?’ Tom worriedly gasped, ‘you can always come back to mine and then I’ll drive you back home instead.’ ‘Oh come on Tom, when exactly are you going to stop treating me like a baby and realize that I’m a 25 year old grown woman’ she proclaimed, ‘Look, I think I can deal with a couple of freaks who have nothing better to do than put fear into the hearts of innocent people!’ However, as she settled into her new seat, three familiar faces could be made out from the far seats of the carriage and by now it was too late as the sliding doors banged shut. ‘Just keep calm’, she thought but in reality she was extremely hysterical. As she subtly tried to gaze over to the far side of the carriage, the boys suddenly began to shift uncomfortably in their seats and almost seemed nervous. The boys with their eyes bloodshot and their faces flushed gave the impression that they were under the influence of drugs, alcohol or perhaps both. The boy on the right of the girl had on a crumpled white t-shirt that was stained with heavy blotches of brown. A bruise lay on his left eye and his lip had a small cut in it. He seemed the more nervous of the two and was literally trembling. However, the boy on the left of the girl seemed to be quite serene and composed in comparison to his companion who was quite the opposite. He had a severe expression and wore a thick jacket of fur. He had a heavy gash on his right arm and his nose was bleeding. Still. The girl stayed still, unmoving as a statue in a garden. Her face almost death like and as pale as a white sheet of paper. Her bright, vast, ginger bob of curls heavily contrasted with this strange and ghostly complexion. Her eyes, piercing like the rays of a bright sun. Her jaw, fully agape as though it were an opening into a mysterious cavern. Her shirt was slashed across the torso and her underwear lay exposed due to this. Great slashes lay from her upper arm right down to her wrist. The boys had entwined their arms around that of the girl’s and seemed to be making a great effort to sustain her in a sedentary position. At this moment in time, Helen decided to turn her face away from this ghastly, frightening sight towards the other side of the carriage. She really didn’t understand why these strange beings that she was trying to get away from had followed her into the new carriage. However, she then spotted a man that looked officious but overpowering at the same time moving over towards the seat next to her. By now Helen was really starting to lose her calm and collected aura.Suddenly,he started mumbling something but Helen felt that this was just another unfamiliar being that was just trying to get her attention. Nevertheless, he persisted and finally got through to Helen by writing something on the newspaper he was reading and showed it to Helen. ‘GET OFF AT THE NEXT STOP!’ it read, ‘YOU’RE IN SERIOUS DANGER-THAT GIRL YOU SEE IS DEAD-THIS IS NO JOKE-I AM A DOCTOR AND I KNOW THIS FOR SURE, SO HELP YOURSELF WHILE THERE’S STILL TIME!!’ By this time, Helen was well and truly in a hysterical state and it was almost as if her heart was about to leap out of her body. However she still managed to keep a cool cover as the train approached Hammersmith station. She then got up, stood, walked through the sliding doors and made her final exit off the train. As she did all these actions, she made sure that she acted as if she were the most innocent and unsuspecting creature in the whole world. When the train moved slowly away, she first of all turned around to see whether she could spot the man that saved her and give her his thanks, but the station lay empty. Lifeless. Dead. Before she even had time to think her legs had turned into that of a professional sprinter and carried her out of the station at the speed of lightning. Never again would she be so reckless and try to prove herself tough, by encountering such a life threatening ordeal at such a perilous hour. How to cite Strangers on a train, Papers