A fallacy or fallacies, is a statement based on false claims. The book mentions several types of fallacies, including: the straw man, begging the question, shifting the burden proof, relevance, slanders, and ridicule. The straw man is a fallacy where someone criticize an augment by changing the "image"of the argument. The straw mans misrepresent an argument, giving it a different meaning. The main purpose is to create a different illusion to an argument, so the attacker can be distracted on the "straw man."
An example of the straw man fallacy would be:
Person 1: This album has a good rating because of the great track list of songs.
Person 2: The album is not good, just look at that bad album cover art.
This is an example of a straw man fallacy because it draws the attention away from the argument. The attention went from the "great track list of songs" to the "bad album cover." The fallacy created a false attention of argument.
Good explanation! I only got a solid grasp on the begging the question fallacy. I had no idea what the book meant by straw man. You provide a clear example to go with your definition. Person 2 does not support Person 1 so you can’t tell what the argument is. Good or bad album? The bad cover art reason takes you away from the original argument, the good track list. I do not know if you noticed this but part of you first paragraph is in black font and you can’t really see it unless you highlight the text. Thanks for clearing things up!
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