No matter what career you want to pursue, you'll need to have strong writing skills, so be sure not to over-water your plants.
That's an example of a non sequitur, which is a Latin term meaning, 'it does not follow.' Essentially, a non sequitur is an error in reasoning that occurs when a conclusion doesn't follow logically from what precedes it. If you've laid the groundwork for a good argument, but then at the end you take a sharp turn and present a conclusion that doesn't match what you've just built toward and maybe doesn't even really make sense, you've produced a non sequitur.
If newborn babies came with instructions, we would all be perfect parents. However, babies don't come with instructions. Therefore, my parenting skills can't be any better than they already are.
This non sequitur is a bit sneakier than our earlier example because all of the ideas presented are related, and I've used the basic structure of what might be a legitimate, logical argument. Notice that the final assertion - 'Therefore, my parenting skills can't be any better than they already are' - doesn't follow logically from the preceding reasoning. It may certainly be the case that I could have better parenting skills, but the fact that babies don't come with instructions doesn't mean that I can't brush up on my skills as a parent.
Subtle, sneaky non sequiturs can be quite problematic in persuasive writing because they might seem okay at first glance. But upon looking at the reasoning again, it may become clear that the writer just hasn't connected the dots to arrive at a sound conclusion.
Writers will sometimes squeeze these types of non sequiturs into their writing, either on purpose or accidentally, in order to race past the requirement of arriving at a point logically. If you want to reach a particular conclusion, you could just throw it out there without properly building to it, but it's not a good idea, as your reader will be able to see that you cut corners in your logic, and your conclusion just won't be convincing.
Whenever you present a series of logical steps to reach a conclusion in your persuasive writing, be sure to take a moment and read back through what you've written with a critical eye. Does it make sense how you've gotten from point A to point B? And from point B to point C? If not, go back and shore up your reasoning so that your reader can know that he or she is dealing with a trustworthy source.
Avoid the Either/Or Fallacy
I mentioned earlier that, Either you'll watch this video and decide it's the greatest thing you've ever seen, or you don't care about being a good writer.
You may be thinking that watching this video has made for the greatest, most exciting few minutes of your life, but it's certainly not the case that if you don't feel that way, that you don't care about your writing.
As you can see from this example of an either/or fallacy, writers who use this type of flawed reasoning tend to do so to try to force the reader into a corner - to make the reader feel that he or she has to adopt a certain way of thinking, or else there is a real problem.
As a reader, you'll probably be able to sense that there is a flawed argument when you come across an either/or fallacy because the writer simply hasn't provided enough options. The writer has communicated that things must be either this way or that way, with no in between.
This type of logical fallacy often comes into play around the time of elections, when advocates of certain candidates try to portray things in stark and extreme ways. For example: Either you support candidate X, or you don't believe in the Constitution.
The problem of course is that the either/or fallacy often produces a completely untrue statement, as things are rarely so black and white. Work on avoiding this type of logical problem in your writing, as it's one that's pretty easy for a reader to catch. Again, you don't want to lose credibility with your reader when you're trying to be persuasive.
Lesson Summary
When you write an argumentative essay, your goal should be to present reasoned, logical arguments that are geared to persuade the reader. In order to achieve this type of well-reasoned, logical argument, you'll need to avoid logical fallacies in your writing, including:
Overly broad generalizations, which imply that statements apply in much broader contexts than they actually do; non sequiturs, which occur when conclusions don't follow logically from the statements that precede them; and the either/or fallacy, which presents a false this or that choice to the reader that ignores other reasonable options.
By learning to spot these problems in your writing, and to avoid them altogether, you'll be on your way to crafting sound, convincing arguments.
Lesson Objectives
After watching this lesson, you should be able to:
- Define logical fallacy, overly broad generalization, non sequitur, and either/or fallacy
- Identify these fallacies in arguments and understand how to avoid them