Appeals
to emotion—pity, fear, popular sentiment, and ad hominem attacks—are commonly used in argumentation. Instead of
dismissing these appeals as fallacious wherever they occur, as many
do, Walton urges that each use be judged on its merits. He distinguished
three main categories of evaluation.
First,
is it reasonable, even if not conclusive, as an argument?
Second,
is it weak and therefore open to critical questioning for argument?
And
third, is it fallacious? The third category is a strong charge that
incurs a critical buren to back it up by citing evidence from the
given text and context of dialogue.
Walton
used fifty-six case studies to demonstrate that the problem of emotional
fallcies is much subtler than has been previously believed. Ranging
over commercial advertisements, political debates, union-management
negotiations, and ethical disputes, the case studies reveal that
these four types of appeals, while based on presumptive reasoning
that it tentative and subject to default, are not always or necessarily
fallacious types of argumentation. |
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