Straw Man Fallacy: What It Consists In and Examples

In the Fallacy of the straw man the argument put forward by an opponent is distorted or exaggerated. Its purpose is to make it vulnerable to refute it or attack it more easily. By misrepresenting, exaggerating or even completely inventing someone else's argument, it is easier to present your own argument as reasonable.

The straw man's argument is not only fallacious, but dishonest because it undermines rational ethical debate. We are faced with a straw man fallacy whenever a person is deliberately deformed to have less credibility, and then this argument is attacked.

The misrepresentation of the opponent's argument is not always deliberate; but if it is, then this kind of fallacy is caused by the lie that is endorsed. An example of this type of fallacy is contained in the following statement:

"After the president said that we should increase the defense budget, the deputy responded with surprise, because in his opinion the president not only supports the war but he is not interested in health and education."

What is the straw man's fallacy?

Fallacies are errors of reasoning, of argument, generated by false beliefs or derived from discursive or rhetorical techniques.

The types of fallacies that exist are innumerable, but generally to simplify their study, they are classified as formal, non-formal or informal objective fallacies.

The fallacy of the straw man is classified among the informal fallacies and belongs to the subgroup of ambiguity fallacies, as well as the fallacies of accent and error.

The name of the fallacy (straw man) was recently coined, but the concept is actually very old. Aristotle already recognized"that in the argument it would be inappropriate to interpret as someone's position an opinion that he did not express or did not commit (...)".

Misrepresentation

A straw man is a kind of logical fallacy that happens when a person intentionally misrepresents his opponent's argument in a debate.

He attributes an inaccurate, incomplete or even totally false version to him, in order to weaken the opponent's position and to be able to refute it more easily. The opponent's real argument is overlapped or altered.

The objective is clear: avoid the debate in honest terms and evade the opponent's real argument. The manipulator knows that he runs the risk of losing the fair debate, because he admits that his argument is weaker.

Then he refutes that version, instead of the genuine argument of his opponent. The opponent's position is diminished, making it look like ridiculous product of the misrepresentation of the content of the argument.

However, misrepresentations are not always deliberate or deliberate. It is possible that they are also involuntary; in this case, the fault of the person who falsely argues is because of ignorance.

If so, the arbiter who commits the straw man's fallacy is at least acquitted of his error.

Other names of this fallacy

In Britain this fallacy is known as Aunt Sally. In other parts of the world it is known by the alternative names of:

- Wood doll.

- Straw dog.

- Scarecrow

- Hollow man.

Fallacious form of straw man

The debate about this fallacy has this form:

"X"raises the argument A1.

"And"confuses the argument A1 with the argument A2, since it is similar (although it differs from this).

"And"refutes argument A2.

"And"then it affirms that the argument A1 has been refuted.

Origin of straw man

The name of this controversial fallacy is taken as a simile of the combat techniques used by knights to practice their skills.

Here the challenger finds a defenseless opponent, because straw men do not defend themselves (can not), they do not wear guards or armor, and they do not bleed either.

Straw men are the opposite of what you would find on a battlefield. Those who argue against a straw man wage an unequal, cheating and fictitious struggle, which is only in the head of the person who establishes it.

Manipulated arguments

Following the previous simile, straw men are relatively easy opponents to build and destroy rhetorically, because their arguments are stretched and manipulated to a point that seems ridiculous or absurd.

When the opponent is neutralized with this semantic ploy, the battle is almost won for the manipulator, because the opponent will have to defend against the distorted argument and explain his true position.

Instead, the manipulator can continue attacking the position of the straw man instead of giving his true arguments. The argument of the straw man is used to distort a discussion or gain time in a debate. It puts something in the mouth of the other person that he has never said.

Examples

Example 1

Political debate about the discovery of America:

Councilman A

Due to the genocide and slavery to which the Indians were subjected after the Conquest of America by Christopher Columbus, the city of Caracas should repeal the Hispanic Day of the festive calendar of our capital.

Councilman B

But what ridiculous, gentlemen, members of the camera! It is false that all Spaniards or immigrants who came to Venezuela came to kill or enslave indigenous people. I vote because the Day of Hispanidad is maintained, because otherwise we will be the mockery of the whole world.

Councilman B distorted what was said by his opponent; he never affirmed or suggested that after the Discovery of America all those who arrived in the new continent were assassins and slavers.

Example 2

Marta says she believes that her friends should not be so derogatory with the new student.

Luisana says she is surprised that Marta has chosen to study with the new student and has set aside her lifelong study group.

There is a clear misrepresentation of what was said by Marta, who was calling attention to the behavior against the new student. She never mentioned that she wanted to be her best friend or that she wanted to stop belonging to the study group.

Example 3

In the first Biology class the professor cited several cases to better illustrate how animals evolve.

The student says that she will protest against the teacher because it is unacceptable to say that humans descend from cockroaches.

Example 4

Abortion is an inhuman form of birth control that is applied to Mexican women, so it should be prohibited.

Pro-choice advocates have never recommended using abortion as a contraceptive method, but in certain cases.

The straw man fallacy is also used to sustain ideological and political arguments.

References

1. Straw Man (Fallacy). Retrieved on March 12, 2018 from thoughtco.com
2. Straw Man. Consulted by rationalwiki.org
3. Straw Man Examples. Consulted by softschools.com
4. Strawman Fallacy Consulted by logicallyfallacious.com
5. Fallacies. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Consulted from plato.stanford.edu
6. Fallacies. Viewed from iep.utm.edu
7. Fallacies. Consulted by writingcenter.unc.edu