Chapter 4

Question 1

Formal fallacy

Answer 1

A logical error that occurs in the form or structure of an argument and is restricted to deductive arguments.

Question 2

Informal fallacy

Answer 2

A mistake in reasoning that occurs in ordinary language and concerns the content of the argument rather than its form.

Question 3

Ad hominem abusive:

Answer 3

The fallacy is distinguished by an attack on alleged character flaws of a person instead of the person’s argument.

Question 4

Ad hominem circumstantial:

Answer 4

When someone’s argument is rejected based on the circumstances of the person’s life.

Question 5

Poisoning the well:

Answer 5

The fallacy occurs when a person is attacked before she has a chance to present her case.

Question 6

Tu quoque

Answer 6

The fallacy is distinguished by the specific attempt of one person to avoid the issue at hand by claiming the other person is a hypocrite.

Question 7

Appeal to the people:

Answer 7

The fallacy occurs when an argument manipulates a psychological need or desire, such as the desire to belong to a popular group, or the need for group solidarity, so that the reader or listener will accept the conclusion

Question 8

Appeal to pity:

Answer 8

The fallacy results from an exclusive reliance on a sense of pity or mercy for support of a conclusion.

Question 9

Appeal to fear or force:

Answer 9

A threat of harmful consequences (physical or otherwise) used to force acceptance of a course of action that would otherwise be unacceptable

Question 10

Fallacies Based on Personal Attacks

Answer 10

Occur when an argument is rejected solely on an attack against the person making the argument, not on the merits of the argument itself

Question 11

Fallacies Based on Emotional Appeals

Answer 11

Occur when an argument relies solely on the arousal of a strong emotional or psychological reaction to get a person to accept the conclusion

Question 12

Generalization fallacy:

Answer 12

A fallacy that occurs when an argument relies on a mistaken use of the principles behind making a generalization.

Question 13

Rigid application of a generalization:

Answer 13

When a generalization or rule is inappropriately applied to the case at hand. The fallacy results from the belief that the generalization or rule is universal (meaning it has no exceptions).

Question 14

Hasty generalization:

Answer 14

An argument that relies on a small sample that is unlikely to represent the population.

Question 15

Composition:

Answer 15

There are two forms of the fallacy: (1) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of the individual parts of an object to the object as a whole and (2) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of the individual members of a class to the class itself.

Question 16

Division:

Answer 16

There are two forms of the fallacy: (1) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of an object as a whole to the individual parts of the object and (2) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of a class to the individual members of the class.

Question 17

Biased sample:

Answer 17

An argument that uses a nonrepresentative sample as support for a statistical claim about an entire population.

Question 18

False cause fallacy:

Answer 18

A fallacy that occurs when a causal connection is assumed to exist between two events when none actually exists, or when the assumed causal connection is unlikely to exist.

Question 19

Post hoc

Answer 19

The fallacy occurs from the mistaken assumption that just because one event occurred before another event, the first event must have caused the second event.

Question 20

Slippery slope:

Answer 20

An argument that attempts to connect a series of occurrences such that the first link in a chain leads directly to a second link, and so on, until a final unwanted situation is said to be the inevitable result.