Appeal to Pity

The Appeal to Pity is a fallacious appeal to pity and is also referred to as a sob story. It differs from a legitimate appeal to pity in that it is used to replace logic instead of supporting it. For example, it is a perfectly legitimate argument to ask someone to give you money to buy food because you haven't eaten for days and are very hungry. This is an appeal to pity, and it does not use pity to preclude a logical examination of the issue. The fallacious appeal to pity either greatly exaggerates the problem at hand, or it is used to cover an inappropriate request. The fallacy is most often used in an attempt to substitute emotion for reason in order to persuade (sjsu.edu). In the first presidential debate, George Bush used the

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Approximate Word count = 1041
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)

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