Faulty Arguments in the Field of Herbalism, “Natural” Cures and Plant Medicine 

It is time for you to dive into this vast mountain of literature! You will be searching for examples of the faulty arguments and poor reasoning types listed below. Make sure you have studied the PowerPoint on this subject before attempting this assignment!

Some great places to start: Google any of the following or find your own sources:

• Mercola
• Oz
• Natural cures
• Herbs are better than pills
• Wild claims for herbs

You will find a huge array of information, ranging from the credible to the fantastic. Scan for the following faulty arguments and write down the example of what you found and the source and exactly WHY you think the reasoning is poor. Some of them will be easier to find than others.  In total, you should have at least 10 different faulty argument from the literature, labeled and including the reference citations. The remaining 10 (different) faulty arguments can  be either from the literature or made up using the field of plant medicine as your platform. You must do all 20 of the faulty arguments and repeats do not count! Please label them 1-20 and bold the name or underline them or put them in red for ease in grading. There is no specific word count and you may use as many literature sources as you need. Make sure you label the ones you create as your own.

This is a tough assignment- good luck!

1. Poor Logic
2. Emotional Appeal
3. Ad Hominem
4. Ad Populum
5. Appeal to Authority
6. Faulty Statistics
7. Research by Exegesis
8. Slippery Slope
9. Red Herring
10. Testimonial
11. Circular Reasoning
12. Equivocation
13. False Dichotomy
14. Hasty Generalization
15. Glittering Generality
16. Prejudice and Stereotypes
17. Faulty Analogy
18. Dogmatism
19. Post Hoc
20. Jargon

Here is an example:

Dr. Perlmutter is a board-certified neurologist and a fellow of the American College of Nutrition (ACN). He also has a clinic in Naples, Florida, and he’s been very active in publishing his findings in peer-reviewed medical journals. He says, “We’re now recognizing from research at our most well-respected institutions from around the globe that the gut bacteriaare wielding this very powerful sword of Damocles,” he says.

They determine whether we’re going to have a healthy brain or not, whether our brain is going to function well or not, and whether our brain is going to become diseased or not. Who knew that we’d be referring back to the gut?”

The source is Dr. Mercola http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/17/gut-bacteria-brain-health.aspx

This is an example of slippery slope, appeal to authority and false dichotomy.The reasoning is poor because it is an over-stretched analogy that is unproven scientifically and no literature studies are cited. Its also an oversimplification that relies on jargon to confuse non-medically trained desperately ill people.

 Important Note: There has been a growing tendency among students to share work with friends who take the same class after them. Please do not give your work to others! I do keep student papers and it is likely I will recognize the work which can result in a F in the class for your friend. Besides the grade issue, you are also depriving your friends of the learning experience. Thank you for your honesty!