Question

You should refuse to accept that bonus you've been awarded. You may be legally entitled to the payment since you fulfilled the obligations that your bonus contract called for, but the economy is terrible right now. A lot of people are really struggling, and it's unseemly that you should appear so fortunate. Surely, we should all be willing to sacrifice while so many are having such a hard time making ends meet.

Above Passage ___________ commit a fallacy; specifically, it ___________ commit an appeal to pity fallacy

Answer 1

Above Passage does commit a fallacy; specifically, it does commit an appeal to pity fallacy.

Step-by-step explanation:

The fallacy usually referred to as an appeal to pity refers to the inclination to establish premises that appeal to psychological motivation to get someone to accept a conclusion, distracting the listener from the irrelevance of the premises provided. Mostly, the appeal to pity fallacy tries to convince someone of accepting a conclusion by appealing to something that could provoke pity from the listener, and not to an objective evaluation of the evidence.

In this example, the speaker is trying to make the listener feel guilty for receiving a bonus, appealing to the idea of others struggling with money as a valid reason for such an argument. The idea of others feeling bad about the bonus is not enough reason for the listener to refuse it, but the feeling of guilt could be enough for him to feel forced to do it.