Straw man/Red herring Disagreement

coras · #1 May 16, 2008, 12:27 AM

Hello there,

I'm not seeking help to do a homework but rather find out which is which. My sister and I take CRT 205 classes, we are in different classes with friendly instructors; However... when we turned in our assignments of categorizing fallacies, two instructors claim different choices to be different answers.

My sister and I had a heated discussion about this before we turned in the assignment, here my instructor is in favor of my sister's view, and her instructor is in favor of my view. Its terribly confusing!

My Answer:

Quote:

Sure, I’ve heard that it’s better to not eat cheeseburgers every day, but it’s extra protein and protein is good for you.

Category: Red herring / smokescreen

My Instructor's Response: You got it wrong Corie, it is Straw man fallacy!

Quote:

From a teenager confronted by his parent about breaking curfew: “Why do we have to keep harping on this curfew thing? Let’s talk about that A grade I’m getting in algebra.”

Category: Straw man

My Instructor's Response: It seems you got these two mixed up, this one is apparently Red herring. It is bad Corie, you almost had a perfect assignment!

My Sister's choices in her class:

Quote:

Sure, I’ve heard that it’s better to not eat cheeseburgers every day, but it’s extra protein and protein is good for you.

Category: Straw man

Her Instructor's Response: Kohaku you did so well in class, I can't believe you got this wrong! it's Red herring!

Quote:

From a teenager confronted by his parent about breaking curfew: “Why do we have to keep harping on this curfew thing? Let’s talk about that A grade I’m getting in algebra.”

Category: Red herring

Her Instructor's Response: Opps! this one is actually Straw man. Don't worry about it Kohaku! your grade looks pretty good even without these. Good job!

templelane · May 16, 2008, 01:37 AM

Personally I'd say they were both smokescreen/ red herrings because neither of them have put up a fake argument they are pretending the other side is using - they both seem to be deviating attention away from the argument at hand.

Don't take my word for it thought I learnt about logical fallacies on youtube, I could have missed some of the finer points.

I'd take both assignments to both instructors and ask the what is going on.

I don't know how you cope with the snide little comments in your feed back, "you had almost a perfect assignment" - I'd hate that!

coras · May 16, 2008, 04:42 AM

Well that's a possibility, lets see what others say as well.

About the feedback, yes I was kind of offended at first but she's quite nice once you get to know her, and she means well. Its her way to encourage us it seems ^_^'

Quote:

Originally Posted by templelane

Personally I'd say they were both smokescreen/ red herrings because neither of them have put up a fake argument they are pretending the other side is using - they both seem to be deviating attention away from the argument at hand.

Don't take my word for it thought I learnt about logical fallacies on youtube, I could have missed some of the finer points.

I'd take both assignments to both instructors and ask the what is going on.

I don't know how you cope with the snide little comments in your feed back, "you had almost a perfect assignment" - I'd hate that!



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