Critical Thinking Errors

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the major problem with "appeal to force", from a critical thinking standpoint, is that "appeal to force" does not rely on any kind of logic; in the workplace, one important example of the "appeal to force" is sexual harassment. The author points out that "appeal to pity" occurs when someone refers to their sad situation as a reason for someone to make a decision, such as an employee asking for a pay rise because her husband has left her with three small children for whom to care. The paper relates that "two wrongs make a right" is a fallacy in which a person argues that a certain action is justified because someone else does it or because a person imagines that somebody else would do it; for example, an employee may decide to start stealing from the company, justifying this action because he believes the company has been underpaying him, and thus, was "stealing" from him for years.

From the Paper:

"Another example of the appeal to pity can occur in performance reviews. For employees on the lower scale of achieving in the workplace, appeal to pity can sometimes result in them getting a better review than is justified. An employee may describe how they try hard and request that the boss does not make them feel bad by giving them a bad review. This appeal to pity can often work, with managers being more lenient. On the opposite end of the scale, employees that are high achievers can often have more expected of them and this can result in them getting lower reviews that are justified. Kandola and Fullerton note that performance reviews must be done with objectivity and fairness. Appeal to pity can be a reasons that reviews are not as fair as they should be."

More papers on Critical Thinking Errors:

• Case Study # 114626 : "Logic and Perception"
• Analytical Essay # 125802 : "New York Times Article"
• Essay # 97446 : "Group Think"

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