#130: Do Emotional Appeals = Logical Fallacies?

Trent Horn, Director of Youth Outreach with Project Defending Life joins the show via phone to discuss whether emotionally appealing arguments are automatically fallacious. Josh and Trent have both recently been countered by debaters who immediately object whenever they make an argument that pulls on peoples heartstrings. Certainly some appeals to emotion are fallacious, but are all of them? What are common fallacious appeals to emotion that pro-lifers and pro-choicers make while debating abortion?

Read the online debate Josh referred to where he was accused of using fallacious appeals to emotion.
http://bit.ly/pRNsuf

Read the story Trent referenced of the parents who's baby starved to death while they raised a 'virtual baby' on the computer. (CNN)
http://bit.ly/uwRstC

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• abortion
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• pro-choice
• life
• report
• josh
• brahm
• trent
• horn
• debate
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• logic
• fallacy

[Cy5208]

Otherwise great clip

[PROLIFEROCKS70X7]

Greek words philos and Sophia mean respectively ‘love of ‘and ‘Wisdom’ and thus the term philosophy primarily means ‘love of wisdom’ in daily action...

More Accurately ~ Knowing that the Greek language has many root words with different meanings to what translates to the word love in english I looked up the word 'philos' and the word 'friend' is associated most often. So to be philosophical is to be a 'friend to wisdom'. What is wisdom? What is knowledge? The Q of what is truth is at the root.

[PROLIFEROCKS70X7]

Is it logical to be emotional?

Emotions based in fallacy are neither logical or illogical, they just are.

Most would universally agree that emotions based upon fallacies are "bad" and that emotions based upon the truth are"good".

Logic is merely the path of reasoning.

I believe that the answer to these questions to a large extent have to do with the quest to base our reasoning in the truth and in the end the proximity to it.

Like the food we eat...It's the ingredients to our thought that matter.

[truthseeker370]

As a seasoned debater, I am glad to see this being discussed in the abortion debate. Emotion is obviously going to come into this topic, and it really is blown aside for all the discussion of the facts. While I think the facts are most definitely important, this needs to be brought more to the surface. Thanks LifeReport, you have come through once again!