Flawed Enthymeme Examples

Critical Thinking and Communication

Dr. Yount

 

Common issues with flawed enthymemes: 

 

1.  They may contain an unreasonable unstated assumption:

 

All people over the age of 80 should be executed because they serve no useful purpose in society.

 

This is a validly structured enthymeme, but the assumption here is “anyone who serves no useful purpose in society should be executed.”  This is by no means an assumption that most people would accept, making the logic of this argument extremely unsound and flawed.

 

2.  They may have reasons that appeal to motivation:

 

The Supreme Court has made it harder for black citizens to achieve representation in Congress because the Court is inherently racist.

 

This type of reason is highly debatable and nearly impossible to prove.  We can never fully identify and demonstrate definitively what people’s motivations are for their actions.  A better way to argue for the assertion is to develop a reason that can be clearly established.  For example:

 

The Supreme Court has made it harder for black citizens to achieve representation in Congress because the Court has repealed voter’s rights legislation.

 

This kind of reason can be factually established through the presentation of evidence, unlike claims about the workings of people’s psychology. 

**Note: the implication of racism can still be argued in relation to this enthymeme.  However, it would be argued in terms of the unstated assumption and drawing an historical connection between voter’s rights legislation and black citizens.

 

3.  They may employ circular argumentation:

 

(In the positive form)     Bike laws are too strict because they are rigid and

prohibitive.

 

(In the negative form)     Bike laws are too strict because they are not flexible or permissive.

 

The conclusion and the reason must be different.  If the reason is simply a restatement of the conclusion, the thesis is circular.  In the above examples, both the positive and negative versions of the reason simply restate or define what it means for something to be “too strict.”