Fallacies Flashcards
A person gives an __________ argument when she claims
to support a conclusion by attacking the person who asserts the opposite
ad hominem
Some people say that the Citizens United decision was wrong. But that’s just
the sort of thing that liberals from the Democratic party say, and they hate
America and are too weak to stand up for real freedom of speech. Therefore,
the Citizens United decision was right.
Von Daniken’s books about ancient astronauts are worthless because he is a
convicted forger and embezzler.
A person gives a __________ argument when
she claims to support a conclusion by criticizing the company kept by the person
who asserts the opposite.
guilt by association
Some Republicans are claiming that Obama did not deserve his Nobel Prize.
Al-Qaeda and Hamas think the same thing, and they hate America and peace.
Obama deserved his prize.
Some Democrats are claiming that Obama actually deserved his Nobel Prize.
The socialists agree. Obama did not deserve his prize.
The United States should not adopt socialist programs such as the government
taking control of vital industries. For, Stalin also endorsed state ownership on
industry. At last count he wiped out millions of his own people.
A person gives a __________ argument when she claims to
support a conclusion by accusing the person who asserts the opposite of hypocrisy
or inconsistency.
tu quoque
Some people argue that Stanford should not invite Donald Rumsfeld to visit.
But these people are the same liberals who talk on and on about diversity, but
they don’t want the kind of political diversity on campus that DR would bring.
Therefore, DR should be invited to campus.
Capital punishment is wrong. The state is trying to kill people because they
have killed people; it is no better than the murderers it wants to put to death.
You claim that it is evident that it is morally wrong to use animals for food
or clothing. But you are wearing a leather jacket and you have a roast beef
sandwich in your hand! So you can’t possibly be correct.
A person commits a ________ argument when she
claims to support a conclusion by alleging that someone who asserts the opposite has
an interest in doing so.
vested interest
Some people argue that the federal government should allow drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But these people are all from oil companies
or are ex-oil company CEOs, and they want the profit from new oil drilling.
So, the federal government should not allow drilling in the ANWR.
People claim that interns should be paid. However, only interns are making
that argument. They are making the argument because they want more money.
Thus, interns should not be paid.
A person gives a _________ argument when she claims to
refute an assertion by attacking a much less plausible position similar to it.
straw man
Our society should not spend more money helping the poor. Studies show
that handouts don’t work; they just create more poverty and humiliate the
recipients. That money could be better spent.
Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I
disagree entirely. I can’t understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like
that.
We should not liberalize the laws on marijuana. Any society with unrestricted
access to drugs loses its work ethic and goes only for immediate gratification
A person gives an ________ when she claims to support a conclusion by citing the opinion of someone
without giving good reason to think that this person is reliable (or without removing
a reason to doubt that the person is reliable).
arguments by authority or “appeals to authority”
My TA says they are the best TA in the world. Therefore, they are the best TA
in the world.
I believe that Gun Appreciation Day honors the legacy of Dr. King. The truth
is, I think Martin Luther King would agree with me if he were alive today…
-Larry Ward
Dr. Dan Shechtman says that abortion is always morally wrong, regardless of
the situation. He has to be right, after all, he is a respected expert in his field.
(Dr. Schectman recently won the Nobel Prize in chemistry)
A person gives an _________ when she claims to
support the truth of a conclusion by arguing that no one can disprove it.
appeal to ignorance
The aliens have come down and put computer chips in all of our brains. The
fact that we cannot find any evidence of those chips just goes to show how
technologically advanced they are.
Before the founder of the school to which you adhere was born, the argument
of the school, which is no doubt sound, was not yet apparent, although it
was really there in nature. In the same way, it is possible that the argument
opposing the one you have just propounded is really there in nature but is not
yet apparent to us; so we should not yet assent to what is now thought to be a
powerful argument.
A person gives a __________ when she claims to show that
something is an instance of a vague predicate by arguing incrementally from a clear
case.
sorites argument
JS is not Bald. If you pluck one hair from a man who isn’t bald, that won’t
make him bald. Therefore, . . . .?
a. her argument uses a phrase with more than one distinct meaning, and
b. the argument seems good only if the phrase is used with one meaning at one
point in the argument, and with another meaning at another point in the
argument.
fallacy of ambiguity
The feather is dark. That means it is not light. Since it is not light, we know
the feather is heavy. Hence, the feather is heavy.
Snow is frozen water. Water is black. Therefore, snow is black.
The U.S. Dept of Labor gave the unemployment rate in October 2009 at 10.1%.
But this figure is misleading, since it does not include people who are not currently
looking for work but who want to work, are able to work, but have
given up looking. When we include those workers, the unemployment figure
jumps to 11.1%. Until then, the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression
was Nov 1982, when the U.S. Dept of Labor reports the unemployment
rate was 10.8%. So this means that the unemployment rate in October
2009 is the highest since the Great Depression.
Everything with bark is a tree. All dogs bark. Therefore, all dogs are trees.
If A then B.
B.
∴ A.
affirming the consequent
If I win the lottery, I will skip work tomorrow. I will skip work tomorrow. So,
I win the lottery.
If the earth orbits the sun, then the nearer stars will show an apparent annual
shift in position relative to more distant stars (stellar parallax). Observations
show conclusively that this parallax shift does occur. This proves that the earth
orbits the sun.
If A then B.
A is false.
∴ B is false.
denying the antecedent
If Pat is a priest, then Pat is a man. Pat is not a priest. Therefore, Pat is not a
man.
A person gives a __________ or
begs the question when one of the premises in her argument assumes the conclusion.
circular argument
Some advocates of apartheid argue that racial segregation is preferable by saying
that it is ordained by nature. Everyone, they claim, prefers to be with their
own kind, and so whites should stay with whites and blacks with blacks.
A person commits a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ when she infers that an entire class of things has some property based only on the fact that some of its members do.
hasty generalization
The less sleep I get before a presentation, the better I do. Therefore, people
should sleep less before presentations.
Neither time I have driven to San Diego have I seen a police car. Therefore, no
one ever monitors the highway for traffic violations.
After treatment with the drug, two-thirds of the mice were cured, and the third
mouse escaped. Therefore, the drug is quite effective.
I have only ever seen one squirrel and it was albino. Therefore, all squirrels
must be white.
A person commits the _________ when she thinks that
an event in a sequence of independent events, like in a series of coin tosses, is more
likely to occur in a certain way because it has not occurred that way recently.
gambler’s fallacy
In the last 100 rolls, the dice have not come up snake eyes. Therefore, snake
eyes are likely to come up soon.
The roulette wheel has landed on black the last 20 spins. Therefore, red must
certainly be next.
A person commits the fallacy of __________
if she concludes that A causes B only because A happens before B, or only because
A and B happen at the same time.
false cause
In the 1960s, drug use exploded. At the same time, male hair length increased
dramatically. So, we can infer that drug use causes long hair.
Every time my brother Bill accompanies me to Fenway Park, the Red Sox are
sure to lose.
