FALLACY
Ralphie: "No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder, Carbine-Action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!"
Santa Claus: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."
This is an example of a slippery slope fallacy from A Christmas Story. A slippery slope is an argument that states that one certain action will always have the same disastrous outcome. Every adult that Ralphie meets in A Christmas Story tells him that if he gets an air rifle for Christmas he'll shoot out his eye. This is a slippery slope because shooting his eye out is really only one possible outcome of getting an air rifle (for instance, he could shoot out someone else's eye, or shoot his toe instead). Thus, it is a logical fallacy.
ETHOS, PATHOS, LOGOS
Ethos:
1) "My dear Miss Elizabeth, my situation in life, my connection with the noble family of de Bourgh, are circumstances highly in my favour."
2) "My dear cousin, being, as I am, to inherit all this estate after the death of your father, I could not satisfy myself without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters."
Pathos:
1) " And now nothing remains, but to assure you, in the most animated language, of the violence of my affections!"
2) "Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty adds to your other perfections."
Logos:
1) "First, I think it a right thing for every clergyman to set the example of matrimony in his parish."
2) "Consider that it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may be made to you."
It's interesting how you put the "inheriting the estate" part under ethos and Avarie put it under logos. I think it works in both places. It's kind of like his credibility is part of his logical argument. I find it cool and at times confusing how Aristotle's three proofs can be found alongside each other in a single element of an argument.
ReplyDeleteGreat example of the "slippery slope" fallacy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems like you have a good understanding of ethos/pathos/logos in this specific speech. It would also have been helpful to include a brief description connecting the quote to the specific appeal.
Natalie
Good fallacy that i think many people have dealt with. Nice point with how they never talk about how he could have shot someone else's eye out.
ReplyDeleteI love that movie! This is a very good example of "slippery slope" too. It was cool to see it in a realistic situation that we've all experienced in some way. I think parents use this fallacy a lot with their kids because they don't want to explain how or why it will end that way. But also because they're probably worried about their kids and can see the worst happening to them in everything.
ReplyDeleteI like the layout of how you typed this. It makes it really easy to read. I like the fallacy you used, because of the movie you used. I've been wanting to watch that movie ever since I was born, for some reason I still haven't though. But now I have yet another reason I want to see it.
ReplyDeleteI really like your example of a fallacy! I never noticed that before and I have seen that movie numerous times! That's super cool. I like your examples of e/p/l as well, I think it's neat how several different parts of his speech could fit under 2 or more of the examples of e/p/l.
ReplyDelete