Philisophy. what fallacies and other rhetorical devices are use and why.?

Identify instances of pseudoreasoning in the following passages either by naming them or, where they seem not to conform to any of the patterns described in the text, by giving a brief explanation of why the pseudoreasons are irrelevant to the point at issue. (Be careful, a couple may not have any fallacies!)


Rationalization, argument from popularity, argument from common practice, argument from tradition, subjectivism, relativist fallacy, two wrong make a right, red hearring/smokescreen.


Personal attack ad hominem, circumstantial ad hominem, inconsistency ad hominem, poisoning the well, genetic fallacy, straw man, false dilemma, perfectionist fallacy, line-drawing fallacy, slippery slope, misplacing burden of proof, beginning the question.


1. “People in Hegins, Pennsylvania, hold an annual pigeon shoot in order to control the pigeon population and to raise money for the town. This year, the pigeon shoot was disrupted by animal rights activists who tried to release the pigeons from their cages. I can’t help but think these animal rights activists are the same people who believe in controlling the human population through the use of abortion. Yet, they recoil at a similar means of controlling pigeons. What rank hypocrisy.”


—Rush Limbaugh


2. “The problem isn’t really with banning assault weapons; heck, I personally think it’s stupid to want to own an assault weapon. The problem is that, once the government realizes that an assault weapons ban is not resulting in fewer gunshot victims, it will turn to semi-automatic weapons and require registration of them. But, of course, that won’t reduce the number of victims either. We might finally get to a point where there are no more gunshot victims, but it’ll only be after all guns have been banned and the ones out there now have all turned to rust.”


3. When several people in Harvey’s department get new computers, he is annoyed because he is not among them. “I’ll tell you what,” Harvey says to his wife, “if they want to rip me off by not getting a new computer for me, I’ll just rip them off for extra office supplies. They’ve got a lot of stuff at work we could use around here, and they’ll have no way of knowing that it’s gone. Turnabout’s fair play.”


4. You saw what the former governor of Illinois did: He declared a moratorium on executions in the state. It was a good thing, too, because it turns out that a large number of the inmates on death row had to be turned loose because DNA evidence proved them innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s about time we got serious about the fact that we’ve been convicting innocent people and sentencing them to death.


5. No, I do NOT believe that a murderer ought to be allowed to live. No way! Murderers have forfeited the right to live because anyone who murders another person has lost that right.


6. No, I don’t think I believe in “three strikes and you’re out” for convicted felons. Next thing it will be two strikes, then one strike. Then we’ll be sticking people in jail for life for misdemeanors. It’s not good policy.


7. You show me when a fetus wasn’t a person, just show me! Tell me exactly when it is. When the baby is born? Well, why not just a day before that? Or the day before that? Or the day before that? Where you gonna draw the line? You gotta say life begins with conception.


8. All this talk about secondhand smoke causing cancer, I just don’t get it. How does it happen? WHEN does it happen? The first time you take a breath in a smoky room? The second time? The third? You can never pin it down exactly.


9. Gays in the military? Either let ’em in, or keep out all minorities; take your choice. I’m for letting them in. The alternative is ridiculous.


10. Gays in the military? If we allow that, then next we’ll be letting women into the men’s barracks. And the next thing you know, women, men, gays, everyone—they’ll all be showering together and sleeping in the same bunks. Get real.


11. Gays in the military? Are you familiar with the expression “OVER MY DEAD BODY”?


12. Gays in the military? No way. Clinton promoted the idea just to get the homosexual vote.


13. Gays in the military? Yes. There are no valid grounds for opposing the measure, as can be seen in the fact that policies of nondiscrimination to gays are common practice throughout Western democracies.


14. Gays in the military? Yes. Maybe you favor excluding everyone except for white Anglo-Saxon males with adolescent personalities, but not me.


15. “The second group that has latched on to the environmentalist movement . . . wants to preserve the earth at all costs, even if it means that much of the Third World will be forever condemned to poverty. Rather than elevate the Third World, they want to move us closer to Third World conditions. That’s somehow cleaner, purer. It’s the way things were before Western white people came along and terrorized the earth by inventing things. They want to roll us back, maybe not to the Stone Age, but at least to the horse-and-buggy era.”


—Rush Limbaugh


16. Is the president guilty of sexual harassment, as the Republicans are yelping? Hey, give me a break! What’s important is jobs, health care, welfare reform.


17. The next speaker is going to speak in favor of the idea. But she works for the gun lobby. Don’t even bother listening to what she says.


18. Preferential treatment in hiring is something we must support; after all, can you think of a reason why we shouldn’t?


19. George, I speak for the rest of the neighbors on our street. Frankly, your front yard is a mess, and we’d appreciate it if you would do something about it. We put the time and money into making our places look nice, but the effort is largely ruined by one awful looking place right here in the middle of the block. We hope you’ll do something about it.


20. Letter to the editor: “Your food section frequently features recipes with veal, and you say veal is a wholesome, nutritious dish. I disagree. Do you know how veal comes to be on your plate? At birth a newborn calf is separated from its mother, placed in a dark enclosure, and chained by its neck so that it cannot move freely. This limits muscular development so that the animal is tender. It is kept in the dark pen until the day it is cruelly slaughtered.” Cascade News


21. Letter to the editor: “Your food section frequently features recipes with veal, and you say veal is a wholesome, nutritious dish. It may be wholesome and nutritious, but it is produced in a gruesome, inhumane way. At birth a newborn calf is separated from its mother, placed in a dark enclosure, and chained by its neck so that it cannot move freely. This limits muscular development so that the animal is tender. It is kept in the dark pen until the day it is cruelly slaughtered.”


Cascade News


22. Overheard: “When it comes to the issue of growth in this town, you’re either part of the solution, or you’re part of the problem.”


23. John, I just know you would make a wonderful and successful doctor. It’s what your father wanted for you, and I know he would have been very proud if you were to go to medical school.


24. In spite of its hypocritical announcement that North Korea has ceased nuclear testing, it is safe to assume that the North Koreans have done no such thing, for at present we have no means of verifying their so-called moratorium.


25. Ad for a store that sells pianos: “Pianos are our only business. You’ll get the best deal at the piano experts.”


26. You bet I’ll explain why FantasyLand [an adult bookstore] should be closed down! You go in there, and we’ll send your license plate number to the newspaper. You going to like people knowing what kind of stuff you read?


27. Frankly, I don’t think you would be satisfied with anything less than our Model 24, which allows for more expansion than any other personal computer in its class. The way you catch on to things—something I can tell just from the questions you’ve asked here in the store—you’re not going to be happy with a machine whose limits you’ll soon reach.


28. “I say let’s splurge and buy seats on the fifty-yard line. I know a place we can get them for twenty-five dollars apiece.”


“Good grief! Maybe you want to spend every last cent we make on a football game, but not me. Are you nuts?”


29. Well! Finally, after all these years, the telephone company makes an error on my bill in my favor! And I’m surely not going to point it out to them. They’ve been gouging me since telephones first came into existence.


30. Of course they have legal elections in Chicago. They just have to postpone certifying the results sometimes because the ballots get . . . uh . . . lost.


31. Why do I spend so much on clothes? Well, it’s either that or look like a bum, and I know which of those I prefer.


32. Hey, Charley! Get a load of this: Frank thinks the Chargers will make it all the way to the Superbowl next year. Can you beat that?


33. Sure, driving after you’ve been drinking can get you into trouble with the law, but if you’re careful I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. After all, everyone does it, right?


34. I don’t think postmodern expressionism is decent art. It’s another style spawned by the East Coast art establishment, and, frankly, I’m tired of that group’s dictating to the rest of the art world.


35. Getting on Senator Davis’s case about the propriety of some of his financial dealings strikes me as just plain carping. Davis made a considerable economic sacrifice when he left private industry and entered politics; the people of this district are lucky to have him there.

Philisophy. what fallacies and other rhetorical devices are use and why.?
Rather than simply doing your homework for you I'll tell ya what ~ you take a stab at each and every one of these, and say why, and then I'll give you some feedback.
Reply:We have ample proof of the "fallacy of misdirection" in the matter of this question, its length, irregularity, asymmetry, and so on. By calling attention to some fallacies through a device of enumeration, the fundamental fallacy, that of probity, is evaded.
Reply:There are too many fallacies to list. Here are two links


http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skept...


http://www.iep.utm.edu/f/fallacy.htm





Many fallacies are actually more than one fallacy at a time, and I have no idea what list of fallacies your prof. is interested in. What list did he give you? Use that list because i don't have it in front of me.








As for rhetoric, that is a whole linguistic science (and art) in itself, part of the ancient 7 Liberal Arts. You don't expect a lesson on rhetoric here, do you?