Fallacies

Question 1

What is a fallacy?

Answer 1

A type of argument that seems to be correct, but contains a mistake in reasoning.

Question 2

What are the four categories of fallacy?

Answer 2

1. fallacies of relevance
2. fallacies of defective induction
3. fallacies of presumption
4. fallacies of ambiguity

Question 3

What are the seven fallacies of relevance? Give an example of each.

Answer 3

1. the appeal to the populace
2. the appeal to emotion
3. the red herring
4. the straw man
5. the attack on the person
6. the appeal to force
7. missing the point (irrelevant conclusion)

Question 4

What are the four fallacies of defective induction? Give an example of each.

Answer 4

1. the argument from ignorance
2. the appeal to inappropriate authority
3. false cause
4. hasty generalization

Question 5

What are the three fallacies of presumption? Give an example of each.

Answer 5

1. accident
2. complex question
3. begging the question

Question 6

What are the five fallacies of ambiguity?

Answer 6

1. equivocation
2. amphiboly
3. accent
4. composition
5. division

Question 7

What characterizes a fallacy of relevance?

Answer 7

The premises of the argument are not relevant to the conclusion.

Question 8

What characterizes a fallacy of defective induction?

Answer 8

The premises of the argument are relevant but so weak and ineffective that one should not rely on them.

Question 9

What characterizes a fallacy of presumption?

Answer 9

Too much is assumed in the premises.

Question 10

What characterizes a fallacy of ambiguity (or “sophism”)?

Answer 10

Equivocal use of words/phrases.

Question 11

Latin term: appeal to the populace.

Answer 11

Ad populum.

Question 12

Latin term: appeal to pity.

Answer 12

Ad misericordium.

Question 13

Definition: appeal to the populace.

Answer 13

An informal fallacy in which the support given for some conclusion is an appeal to popular belief.

Question 14

Definition: appeal to pity.

Answer 14

A fallacy in which the argument relies on generosity, altruism, or mercy, rather than on reason.

Question 15

Latin term: appeal to envy.

Answer 15

Ad invidiam.

Question 16

Latin term: appeal to fear.

Answer 16

Ad metum.

Question 17

Latin term: appeal to hatred.

Answer 17

Ad odium.

Question 18

Latin term: appeal to pride.

Answer 18

Ad superbium.

Question 19

Definition: the red herring.

Answer 19

A fallacy in which attention is deliberately deflected away from the issue under discussion.

Question 20

Definition: the straw man.

Answer 20

A fallacy in which an opponent’s position is depicted as being more extreme or unreasonable than is justified by what was actually asserted.

Question 21

Latin term: argument against the person.

Answer 21

Ad hominem.

Question 22

Definition: argument against the person.

Answer 22

A fallacy in which the argument relies upon an attack against the person taking a position. Can be abusive or circumstantial (subset).

Question 23

Definition: tu quoque.

Answer 23

“Look who’s talking.” Ad hominem (attack that says “you are just as bad as I am”).

Question 24

Definition: poisoning the well.

Answer 24

A variety of abusive ad hominem argument in which continued rational exchange is undermined by attacking the good faith or intellectual honesty of the opponent.

Question 25

Definition: the appeal to force.

Answer 25

A fallacy in which the argument relies on an open or veiled threat of force.

Question 26

Latin term: appeal to force.

Answer 26

Ad baculum.

Question 27

Latin term: missing the point.

Answer 27

Ignoratio elenchi.

Question 28

Definition: missing the point (or “irrelevant conclusion,” “mistaken refutation”).

Answer 28

A fallacy in which the premises support a different conclusion from the one that is proposed.

Question 29

Definition: non sequitur.

Answer 29

An argument where the conclusion does not follow from the premises (similar to missing the point).

Question 30

Definition: argument from ignorance.

Answer 30

A fallacy in which a proposition is held to be true just because it has not been proven false, or false because it has not been proven true.

Question 31

Latin term: argument from ignorance.

Answer 31

Ad ignorantiam.

Question 32

Definition: appeal to inappropriate authority.

Answer 32

A fallacy in which a conclusion is accepted as true simply because an expert has said that it is true. (This expert has no relevant competence, since it is inappropriate authority.)

Question 33

Latin term: appeal to authority.

Answer 33

Ad verecundiam.

Question 34

Definition: false cause.

Answer 34

A fallacy in which something that is not really the cause of something else is treated as its cause.

Question 35

Latin term: false cause.

Answer 35

Causa pro causa.

Question 36

Definition: post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Answer 36

“After this, therefore because of this.” A species of the fallacy of false cause where temporal succession is thought to indicate causal succession.

Question 37

Definition: slippery slope.

Answer 37

A fallacy in which change in a particular direction is asserted to lead inevitably to further changes (usually undesirable) in the same direction.

Question 38

Definition: hasty generalization (or “converse accident”).

Answer 38

A fallacy of defective induction in which one moves carelessly from a single case, or a very few cases, to a large-scale generalization about all or most cases.

Question 39

Definition: accident.

Answer 39

A fallacy in which a generalization is mistakenly applied to a particular case to which the generalization does not apply.

Question 40

Latin term: complex question.

Answer 40

Plurium interrogationum.

Question 41

Definition: complex question.

Answer 41

An informal fallacy in which a question is asked in such a way as to presuppose the truth of some conclusion buried in that question.

Question 42

Definition: begging the question.

Answer 42

An informal fallacy in which the conclusion of an argument is stated or assumed in any one of the premises.

Question 43

Latin term: begging the question.

Answer 43

Petitio principii.

Question 44

Definition: equivocation.

Answer 44

A fallacy in which two or more meanings of a phrase are used, accidentally or deliberately, in different parts of an argument.

Question 45

Definition: amphiboly.

Answer 45

A fallacy in which a loose or awkward combination of words can be interpreted in more than one way; the argument contains a premise based upon one interpretation, while the conclusion relies upon a different interpretation.

Question 46

Definition: accent.

Answer 46

A fallacy of ambiguity that occurs when an argument contains a premise that relies on one possible emphasis of certain words, but the conclusion relies on a different emphasis that gives those same words a different meaning.

Question 47

Definition: composition.

Answer 47

A fallacy of ambiguity in which an argument erroneously assigns attributes to a whole (or a collection) based on the fact that parts of that whole (or collection) have those attributes.

Question 48

Definition: division.

Answer 48

Reverse of composition. A fallacy of ambiguity in which an argument erroneously assigns attributes to parts of a whole (or members of a collection) based on the fact that the whole (or collection) has those attributes.