Fallacies

Question 1

Masked Man Fallacy

Answer 1

masked-man fallacy (aka the intensional fallacy and the epistemic fallacy) is committed when one makes an illicit use of Leibniz’s law in an argument.

Leibniz’s law states that, if one object has a certain property, while another object does not have the same property, the two objects cannot be identical.

Basically confused / bad use of Leibniz’ Law On the Identity of Indiscernibles.

So:
1) I know there is a masked man in the room
2) I know my dad is in the room
C) my dad is not the masked man

Question 2

The composition fallacy

Answer 2

Inferring that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole

Question 3

ad hominem fallacy

Answer 3

Inferring that something is wrong because the person who says it is in a certain limiting position:

A: The Government should enact minimum-wage legislation so that workers are not exploited.
B: Nonsense. You say that only because you cannot find a good job.

Question 4

ad ignorantiam (appeal to ignorance)

Answer 4

Arguing something exists because there is no evidence to refute it.

Question 5

petito principii / Circular argument

Answer 5

arguing for a claim, the claim itself is already assumed in the premise. Example: “God exists because this is what the Bible says, and the Bible is reliable because it is the word of God.”
Or “According to my brain, my brain is reliable.”

they start where they finish, and finish where they started.

Question 6

Division fallacy

Answer 6

(opposite of composition)
The parts of a whole is assumed to have the same properties of the whole. It is possible that, on a whole, a company is very effective, while some of its departments are not. It would be inappropriate to assume they all are.

Question 7

Genetic fallacy

Answer 7

Basing the truth claim of an argument on the origin of its claims or premises.

Example:
Lisa was brainwashed as a child into thinking that people are generally good. Therefore, people are not generally good.

Explanation: That fact that Lisa may have been brainwashed as a child, is irrelevant to the claim that people are generally good.

Question 8

Straw man

Answer 8

Attacking an opponent by attributing to him/her an implausible position that is easily defeated when this is not actually the opponent’s position.

Question 9

False Dilemma/False Dichotomy

Answer 9

the false dichotomy fallacy errs by oversimplifying the range of options.

Question 10

The slippery slope fallacy

Answer 10

Assumes a chain of future events without really proving their likelihood

Question 11

Causal fallacy

Answer 11

any logical breakdown when identifying a cause.