John Patrick Stanley Doubt Analysis

Pham 1
Brenda Pham
English 101
Professor Zuidervaart
October 7th, 2014
The Truth about Lying Fallacies are everywhere. When a newspaper is picked up or a radio is turned on, an individual is encountering a certain fallacy. A fallacy is an invalid inference based on erroneousness. It can be incredibly persuasive and create an error in reasoning both intentionally and unintentionally in order to deceive others from the truth. Fallacies affect the outcome of many decision-making processes because it defeats the purpose of argument by blindly offering statements that do not support the conclusion. In the short play “Doubt”, John Patrick Stanley exposes the use of fallacies through his characters in order to leave his readers in awe. Sister Aloysius demonstrates the use of “begging the question” after Father Flynn’s visit to her office in Act V. When Father Flynn leaves her office, Sister Aloysius is still skeptical about his being. Sister James questions her by stating, “How can you be so sure he’s lying?” and sister Aloysius simply replies back, “Experience” (Shanley 35). Rather than answering the question with legit facts, Sister Aloysius proposes a proposition without any proof. She stands firm on her position of Father Flynn’s being, but is unable to persuade Sister James to adopt the same …show more content…
It is a fallacy with extraneous interpretations because it has an absence of evidence to build the foundation of a claim. It begins with the known and concludes with an equally known conclusion, thus justifying nothing. Fallacious reasoning restrains the reader from perceiving the legitimacy, and the inability to critically comprehend makes him or her vulnerable to deception. For example, having sister Aloysius hesitant about Father Flynn’s well-being without supporting it with evidence leaves the reader with uncertainty as to whether or not Father Flynn is who he says he

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