Chapter 5

Question 1

Fallacy

Answer 1

Flawed arguments with either (1) irrelevant premises or (2) unacceptable premises; psychologically persuasive but illogical

Question 2

Appeal to the Person (Ad Hominem)

Answer 2

• irrelevant premises

* Reject a claim because of the person who makes it

Question 3

Tu Quoque

Answer 3

• Form of Ad Hominem
• Irrelevant premises
• Implies claim is true/false because it is inconsistent with some aspect of the claimant’s circumstances – i.e. the claimant is a hypocrite

Question 4

Fallacy of Composition

Answer 4

• irrelevant premises
• what is true of the parts must be true of the whole.

(What is true of a member of a group is true of the group as a whole)

Question 5

Fallacy of Division

Answer 5

• irrelevant premise
• what is true of the whole must be true of the parts (opp. Of Fallacy of Composition)

(What is true of the group is true of individuals in the group)

Question 6

Fallacy of Equivocation

Answer 6

• irrelevant premise

• the use of a word in two different senses in an argument.

(A word has one meaning in one premise and another meaning in another premise)

Question 7

Appeal to Popularity (or the masses)

Answer 7

• irrelevant premise

* arguing that a claim is true because a substantial # of people believe it.

Question 8

Appeal to Common Practice

Answer 8

• irrelevant premise

• argues that a claim is true because a substantial # of people do it.

Question 9

Appeal to Tradition

Answer 9

• irrelevant premise

• arguing that a claim must be true just because it’s a part of a tradition. (If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.)

Question 10

Appeal to Ignorance

Answer 10

• irrelevant premise

• arguing that a lack of evidence proves something.

Question 11

Burden of Proof

Answer 11

• part of Appeal to Ignorance

* the weight of evidence or argument required by one side in a debate/disagreement.

Question 12

Appeal to Emotion

Answer 12

• irrelevant premise

* the use of emotions as premises in an argument.

Question 13

Red Herring

Answer 13

• irrelevant premise

* the deliberate raising of an irrelevant issue during an argument

Question 14

Straw Man

Answer 14

• irrelevant premise

* distorting, weakening, or oversimplifying someone’s position so it can be more easily attacked or refuted.

Question 15

Begging the Question

Answer 15

• unacceptable premises
• attempt to establish the conclusion of an argument by using the conclusion as a premise.
  o P. Therefore, P.

Question 16

False Dilemma

Answer 16

• unacceptable premise

o Asserting that there are only two alternatives to consider when there are actually more than two,

or

o Asserting that there are two distinct alternatives that may in fact not be mutually exclusive.

Question 17

Slippery Slope

Answer 17

• unacceptable premise
• to argue, without good reason, that taking a particular step will inevitably lead to a further, undesirable step (or steps).

Question 18

Hasty Generalization

Answer 18

• unacceptable premise

* when we draw a conclusion about a whole group based on an inadequate sample of the group.

Question 19

Faulty Analogy

Answer 19

• unacceptable premise

* when the items being compared are not sufficiently similar in relevant ways.