Class and Virtue: Fallacies and Arguments - Essay Example

As much as the statements might attempt to give some sort of sense, there are many fallacies to be found and argued about in the article. It would be considered both unfair and unethical to judge individuals’ virtues based on their cultural, social, or racial background. Besides that, it would also be considered illogical and fallacious to judge others without understanding the matter in its proper perspective. This paper will serve as an argument with regards to the issue of stereotyping and the fallacies in it.

One of the first fallacies to be found in the article would be called the stereotype fallacy. This fallacy is committed when someone associates a certain quirk or trait of an individual from his or her ethnic or racial background. For example, the people West Virginia region of the United States have been merely understood throughout much of American history merely as mountain miners who are hardy, rural and socially backwards. An excerpt from sociologist Jack Weber’s book, Yesterday’s People, is a perfect example of biased research.

In Weber’s book, he coined the term, “mountain man” to collectively define people living in Appalachia, which states that “The second-generation mountaineer, however, cannot experience this break with the old culture of his parents, since he may still live enmeshed in the traditional patterns that have molded his ancestors” (qtd. in Sole). . Another fallacy that could be found is that of non sequitur. This fallacy is made when a conclusion does not follow or connect with the premise statement.

The article Class and Virtue shows this fallacy by assuming that appearance of higher class makes an individual more virtuous. As said by Parenti in his essay, “Virtue is visually measured by one's approximation to proper class appearances” (406). The problem here is that people judge based on one’s appearance and financial capacity. The belief that people from the upper class are more decent and well mannered than those uneducated people who grew up from the slums is a fallacy. Also, humans are born with a functioning brain, so a Caucasian is not always more intellectual than an African.

In the same way that it is false to think that a prostitute is only a gold digging individual with no moral values. People should know that some prostitutes slave away their body because they do not have a choice. A classic example is the growing number of those who are victimized by child prostitution. Lester, in his article Images and Stereotypes, also cited and example which professional boxing promoter complained Ben Sternberg complained that "the use of inflammatory graphics . falsely implied .

that he was a racist and somewhat of a Mafia figure." His complaint was maintained that ". a photograph of Sternberg at ringside wearing dark glasses created the impression that he was some sort of a sinister 'Mafia figure.'". Also, one could notice as well the fallacy of is that of hasty generalizations. This fallacy is done when a conclusion is made about a group with an insufficient amount of data or information for an accurate judgment. This type