Essay on "Fallacies in Fredrick Douglass Speech the Hypocrisy of American Slavery"

Essay 3 pages (1102 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Fallacies in Frederick Douglass' the Hypocrisy of American Slavery

In 1852, at a July 4th celebration in Rochester, New York, former slave Frederick Douglass gave a famous speech arguing against slavery. Douglass began by highlighting the differences between the state of whites and blacks during that time, and focused on the fact that the idea of an American day celebrating independence highlighted the differences between him and his audience, a group of white Americans. His speech remains one of the most famous speeches by an abolitionist, and, in it, he makes some strong arguments against slavery. However, while the speech is strong, persuasive, and moving, it is also a wonderful example of fallacious rhetorical devices. Throughout the speech, Douglas employs several fallacies including: the ad hominem attack, begging the question, and the appeal to belief. These fallacies seem to support his argument, but because they actually leave his claims vulnerable to legitimate challenges, they actually undermine the strength of his argument. However, that does not mean that Douglass' argument was ineffective. While it contained several fallacies, it also contained significant support for the idea that slavery was immoral.

One of the fallacies apparent in Douglas' motion is his use of an ad hominem fallacy. Generally, an ad hominem fallacy is "a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting)" (Nizkor Project, Description of ad hominem, 2011). In Douglass' argument, the interesting twist is that rather than using a negative ad hominem attack, Douglass relies on the reputed goodness of God to make an argument. He states, "Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine" (Douglass, 1852). Clearly, Douglass is trying to suggest that God's inherent goodness means that God could not sanction something like slavery. However, this is a fallacy. "The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is that the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most cases) have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the quality of the argument being made)" (Nizkor Project, Description of ad hominem, 2011). In other words, whether or not God is good has nothing to do with whether or not He established slavery.

Another fallacy that Douglass employed was begging the question, which is also known as circular reasoning. "Begging the Question is a fallacy in which the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly) assume that the conclusion is true

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because simply assuming that the conclusion is true (directly or indirectly) in the premises does not constitute evidence for that conclusion. Obviously, simply assuming a claim is true does not serve… READ MORE

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