Tuesday, January 17, 2012

JFK Speech: Fallacy

In John F. Kennedy's inauguration speech, I found an example of a non sequitur fallacy in the last sentence of the eighth paragraph when he says "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich". This is an example of a non sequitur fallacy because the conclusion (a free society that cannot save the few who are rich) does not follow the established premises (a free society that cannot help the many who are poor). The conclusion is irrelevant to the first statement, the logic does not follow, therefore it is non sequitur. However, this example of fallacy is beneficial to the speech as a whole because it implies that Kennedy wants to satisfy the needs of all (the poor and the rich).

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