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21.2.1 Problematic Premises
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A problematic premise refers to an argument that, for some reason, fails to fulfill the acceptability requirement. In that case, unacceptable evidence usually results in a claim that is unsuccessful at gaining the support of the audience or the judge.
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A premise is not problematic if it meets any one of the three acceptability requirements discussed earlier. Evidence can be problematic when a debater needs to, but does not, provide further support for the evidence.
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For instance, a debater might argue against the use of airbags and seatbelts by using the evidence that when those devices were introduced in the United States, they had no positive effect on the number of automobile accidents or on the number of deaths associated with those accidents. Such evidence might not be accepted because it is not common knowledge and was not supported by a cogent sub argument or a respectable source or authority.
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So, problematic premises are about evidence. Two variants on problematic premises are discussed below.
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21.2.1.1 Begging the Question Begging the question is a fallacy that occurs in an argument when the evidence is essentially the same as the claim. Because the evidence and the claim are the same, the argument essentially contains no evidence at all.
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Consider, for instance, the argument that “Programs to provide greater access to health care are good because everyone should have access to medical care.” Nothing is substantively different between the statements that “Everyone should have access to medical care” and “Programs to provide greater access to health care are good.” Since the statements are generally the same, one cannot be taken as evidence for the other. If anyone believes one of the statements, they automatically believe the other. As Johnson and Blair (2006: 80) note, “If the conclusion is acceptable, then no argument is needed to support it”.
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21.2.1.2 The Fallacy of Incompatibility The fallacy of incompatibility also is a kind of problematic premise and, as such, is related to the standard of acceptability. Audiences rightfully expect a certain degree of consistency in evidence presented. Incompatibility occurs when evidence lacks, for any reason, that degree of consistency. When one piece of evidence is incompatible with another, the result is that the audience may consider neither piece of evidence as credible, and the claim will probably be unsuccessful.
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For example, when a debater offers a statement as evidence that is at odds with another statement offered by that debater at a different place or time, or when a debater’s argument is incompatible with some action that the debater performed or recommended elsewhere, the argument may be seen as including the fallacy of incompatibility.
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Consider, for instance, the case of a person who maintains that certain government programs are good, but in a different province, asserts that those programs have damaged the nation’s economy. Audiences are unlikely to find either statement acceptable as evidence because the statements are not incompatible with one another.
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Debaters who fail to meet the standard of acceptability may have committed a fallacy that is called a problematic premise. Begging the question and the fallacy of incompatibility are two specific kinds of problematic premises. Now, attention will shift from acceptability to fallacies related to the standards of relevance and sufficiency.
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21.2.2 Irrelevant Reasons
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This category of fallacies sometimes is called by its Latin name, non sequitor, meaning “It does not follow.” An irrelevant reason is one that, in combination with all other evidence offered, fails to minimally satisfy the criteria of relevance.
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Only on rare occasions do debaters present evidence that is clearly irrelevant to their claims. As a result, clear-cut examples of this fallacy are uncommon. However, an example of such a fallacy occurred when an applicant for an engineering position in a job interview was asked to explain his job qualifications. The applicant replied that his parents were elderly, he had two children, he was recently divorced, and had lost his job. Clearly, the evidence that the applicant provided is an example of the fallacy of irrelevant reason. The evidence might have been relevant to a different claim such as “Why do you need this job?” but not to the question of “Why are you qualified for this job?”
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Johnson and Blair present an example of that fallacy in their text:
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A Member of Parliament in Canada once charged, in the House of Commons, that the Federal Department of Health and Welfare had been cooperating with the Kellogg Company in permitting the sale of a cereal (Kellogg’s Corn Flakes) that had “little or no nutritional value.” Marc Lalonde, then the Minister of Health seeking to rebut that charge stated: “As for the nutritional value of Corn Flakes, the milk you have with your Corn Flakes has great nutritional value”.
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Lalonde’s claim (implicit rather than explicit) is that corn flakes have nutritional value. His evidence that milk has great nutritional value is clearly not relevant to the nutritional value of corn flakes. Thus, he has presented a fallacious argument because his evidence provides no support for his claim.
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Even though clear-cut cases of irrelevant reason may be relatively rare, several variants on that fallacy are more common. The three examples of fallacies that follow show instances where an argument is directed toward some issue other than the claim the debater is making. As a result, those fallacies can be classified as irrelevant reasons.
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