Fallacies

Question 1

Ad hominem

Answer 1

“Against the man” sometimes called name calling or a personal attack.
Someone attacks the person instead of attacking his or her argument.

Example:

Person 1: I am for raising the minimum wage for our state.

Person 2: she is raising mimimim wage, but she is not even smart enough to run a business.

Question 2

Appeal to Authority

Answer 2

Insisting that a claim is true simply because a valid authority or expert on the issue says it was true, without any other supporting evidence offered.

Example:
Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and perhaps the foremost extent in the field, says that evolution is true. Therefore, it is true.

Question 3

Straw-Man

Answer 3

Incorrectly characterizing an opponent’s point of view and then attacking or refuting that version of the argument.

Example:

Those who want to legalize drugs are fine with children taking ecstasy and LSD.

Question 4

Slippery Slope

Answer 4

Occurs when a person asserts that a relatively s all step will lead to a chain of events that result in a drastic change.

Example:

If we legalize same sex marriage, what will stop us from legalizing marriage between humans and robots? Or humans and animals?

Question 5

Hasty Generalization

Answer 5

Drawing a conclusion based on a small simple size, rather than looking at statistics that are much more in line with the typical or average situation.

Example:

My father smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day since age 14 and lived until the age of 69. So smoking really can’t be that bad for you.

Question 6

Red Herring

Answer 6

An attempt to change the subject to divert attention from the original issue.

Example:

Yes, I would absolutely make the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a priority. But with the unemployment rate as high as it is, we really need to concentrate on domestic issues and creating jobs, and under my plan…

Question 7

Appeal to (irrelevant) experience

Answer 7

Happens when a person appeals on irrelevant experiences in order to make the case for something

Example:

I think that I deserve the job as the principle of the new high school. After all I have been teaching middle school for the past 30 years.

Question 8

Appeal to Fear

Answer 8

When a person threatens someone else in order to make that person support (or not support) a specific argument.

Example:

Boss says to employee: you do not want to support the new harassment policy do you? After all, you know I can withhold your bonuses and give you a negative evaluation.

Question 9

Appeal to Popularity

Answer 9

A majority opinion or view is cited as support for a claim.

Example:

Of course you should go to The Rolling Stones concert, almost the whole college is going!!

Question 10

Attacking the Evidence

Answer 10

Underlying evidence for an argument is discredited or attacked.

Example:

The dinosaur fossil record does not show the the earth is really old. It is possible, after all, that dinosaurs existed alongside humans

Question 11

Begging the Question

Answer 11

Someone states a conclusion but the reasoning for this conclusion is assumed in the reasoning itself.

Example:

The new tax law which requires some people to pay more is morally wrong because it is not ethically justified that some people should have to pay more taxes than others.

Question 12

Denying Inconsistencies

Answer 12

Individual denies that there are contradictions in the position that they defend or deny that they have contradicted themselves.

Example:

I did not really mean to imply I was sick and also not sick yesterday. Sometimes the wrong words come out of my mouth.

Question 13

Either-or

Answer 13

2 alternatives are presented as mutually exclusive when they are not.

Example:

Either we start manufacturing a completely new product or we will loose all of our customers.

Question 14

Evading Questions

Answer 14

An individual avoids answering a question in a truthful manner by being vague or providing complex responses that do not address the issue

Example:

Reporter: what will you do to reduce pollution that is obviously being caused by Factory X

Politician: it is obvious that pollution is bad. Pollution has been ongoing since out technology and manufacturing has increased in Western Civilization. All politicians should be against pollution. I am one of those leaders who strongly opposes pollution.

Question 15

Faulty Analogy

Answer 15

A weak or faulty comparison is made in order to support a position or a view. Unwarranted assumption that because 2 things are alike in one way they must also be alike in another way

Example:

Tom’s motorcycle is red and very fast. Since John’s moped is also red it must be fast as well.

Question 16

Hard-Cruel World Argument

Answer 16

Person claims that something unethical or even illegal is justified because of the danger of a greater evil.

Example:

It’s really a shame that the minimum wage is so low and that employees can’t have health care, but that is the only way we can keep prices down in our department sores and food restaurants. We just have to face the fact that life is tough.

Question 17

Search for a Perfect Solution

Answer 17

Someone asserts or implies that a given solution is not worth trying because it does not completely fix the problem or because we can’t come by a perfect solution

Example:

I don’t think we should put much effort into fixing the problems with our existing cell phone model. We will never have a perfect cell phone and people are bound to always complain.

Question 18

Thrown-In Statistics

Answer 18

Committed when irrelevant misleading or questionable statistics are used in order to prove a point.

Example:

90% of the 105 Newtonia residents approve of the current U.S. president’s policies

Question 19

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Answer 19

A person defends a wrong position on the grounds that someone else commits a similar or greater wrong.

Example:

It is OKAY if I cheat on my taxes, after all, corporations evade taxes all the time.

Question 20

Treating Abstracts as Reality

Answer 20

Abstract concept such as freedom, justice, or equality are treated as is they are concrete.

Example:

Justice is at our doorstep. She has been urging us on for a long time. We must do something; this can no longer go on. Justice is asking us to take some action.