Fallacies Review Flashcards
Personal Attack (ad hominem)
An arguer rejects a person’s argument or claim by attacking the person’s character rather than the person’s argument or claim.
Attacking the motive
An arguer criticizes a person’s motivation for offering a particular argument or claim, rather than examining the worht of the argumen or claim itself.
Look who’s talking
An arger rejects another person’s argument or claim because that person is a hypocrite.
Two wrongs make a right
Arger tries to justify a wrong by citing another wrong.
Scare Tactics
Arguer threathens a areader or listener
Appeal to pity
Arguer tries to evoke pity from a reader or listener
Bandwagon argument
Arguer appeals to a reader’s or listener’s desire to be accepted or valued.
Straw man
Arguer misrepresents an opponent’s position.
Red Herring
Arguer tries to distract the attention of the audience by raising an irrelevant issue.
Equivocation
Aruger uses a key word in two or more different senses.
Begging the question
Arguer assumes the point to be proven.
Inappropriate appeal to authority
Aruger cites an unreliable authority or witness
Appeal to ignorance
Arguer claims that something is true because no one has prove int false or vice versa.
False Alternatives
Arguer poses a false either/ or choice.
Loaded question
Arguer asks a question that contains an unfair or unwarranted assumption.
Questionable cause
Arguer claims , without adequate evidence, that one thing is the cause of something else.
Hasty generlization
Arguer draws a general conclusion from a sample that is biased or too small.
Slippery slope
Arguer claims without adequate evidence, that a seemingly harmless action will lead to a very bad outcome.
Weak Analogy
Arguer compares things that aren’t truly comparable
Inconsistency
Arguer asserts inconsistent claims.
Feliz is a parrot. So Feliz has feathers
Positively relevant
Halle is 15 years old. So, Halle is a senior in high school.
Negatively relavant
Figure X is a triangle. So, figure X is a square.
Negatively relavant
Mel’s nickname is Slim. So, Mel has a slender build
Positively relevant
Pete is an accontant. So, Pete was born in Janurary
Irrelevant relavant
Brad voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. So, Brad is a Republican
Positively relevant
Laura is left-handed. So, Laura aced her calculus test
Irrelevant relavant
Ho is Koren. So, Ho was brown eyes.
Positively relevant
Stan speaks Polish. So, Stan speaks German
Positively relevant
Joe has flipped this coin three times, and each time it has come up heads. So, the next time Joe flips this coin it will come up tails.
Negatively relavant
A fallacy is an argument that contains at least one false premis
FALSE
Fallacies of relevance are fallacies that occur because the premises, though logically relevant to the conlusion, fail to provide sufficient evidence for the conclusion.
FALSE
A statement is positively relevant to another statement if it counts in favor of that statement
TRUE
a statement is negatively relavant to another statement if it counts neither for nor against that statement.,
FALSE
The statement “Josie is a woman” is negatively relevant to the statement “Josie plays proffesional football”
TRUE
The fallacy of begging the question is committed when an arguer states or assumes as a premise the very thing he or she is trying to prove as a conclusion.
TRUE
Emotional appeals are not always fallacious
TRUE
The following argument is a bandwagon argument: “All the cool kids at Middletown Elementary School drink Fizzy soda pop, so you should too.”
TRUE
The fallacy of equivocation is committed when an arguer uses a key word in an argumen in two or more different sense
TRUE
An arguer commits the red herring fallacy when he or she misrepresents another person’s position in order to make it easier to attack
FALSE
The following argument commits the two wrongs make a right fallacy: “Mom, who are you to tell me not to spend so much time on the phone? You spend hours every night in Internet chat rooms.”
FALSE
The fallacy of scare tactics need not involve a threat of physical force
TRUE
The fallacy of personal attack is committed when an aruger critizes a person’s motivation for offereing a particular argument or claim, rather than examining the worth of the argument or claim itself.
FALSE
The following argument commits the fallacy of begging the question: “Socrates must be mortal, because all men are mortal, and Socrates is a man.”
FALSE
Gambling is wrong, because it’s wrong to play at games of chance for stakes.
Begging the question
It would be a mistake to appoint Pete Dobson as Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Dobson has twice been convicted of child endangerment and he was recently charged with embezzlement.
No Fallacy
In a recent issue of Stogey magazine, Julio Fumar argues that Honduran cigars are better than Cuban cigars. But Fumar’s argument isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Fumar is biased against Cuba because the Castro regime imprisoned his parents.
Attacking the Motive
Ricky Henderson, the Hall of Fame baseball player, stole many bases. Stealing is a crime. So, Ricky Henderson committed many crimes.
Equivocation
Bruno: I’m sure that you will want to buy my company’s fire-detection system for your business, Sam: I don’t think so. One of your competitors offers that same level of protection for less money. Bruno: Well, as they say, it’s a free country. But before you make a final decision, keep this in mind: Every business that decided not to buy our system was very quickly plagued with fires and other acts of vandalism
Scare Tactics
Tom: I can lick you/ Huck: What makes you thiknk that you can lick me?/ Tom: Because I’m tougher than you are/ Huck: What makes you think that you’re tougher than I am?/ Tom: Because I can lick you.
Begging the question
Billy-Ray Hoggerty’s book Stoned in Muskogee should be awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for literature. Billy-Ray, as you know, recently lost both his parents, and his favorite coon-dog got run over by a hay-bailer.
Appeal to pity
Mom: Annie, did you break your brother’s model airplane?/ Annie: Well, he put chewing gum in my dolly’s hair
Two wrongs make a right
All the cool kids at Middletown Elementary School drink Fizzy soda pop. So you should too.
Bandwagon
Sneaker City has accused our company of exploitative labor practices. But Sneaker City’s labor practices are much more exploitative than ours are. I happen to know they regularly employ children as young as nine in their overseas factories. Clearly, these accusations are groundless.
Look who’s talking
Sandy Beach has argued for bilingual education. But who is Sandy Beach? Is she a trained educator? No, she’s a high-school dropout who once served time for drug possession. Her argument, therefore, is worthless.
Personal attack
Dipsy O’Neill has recently argued that drinking a little red wine with dinner is good for one’s health. But no one should accept O’Neill’s argument. O’Neill, as you know, is the owner of O’Neill’s Wines and Spirits. Naturally she’d love to see people buy more wine.
Attacking the motive
Police officer:Sir, if you don’t put your clothes on and stop screaming obscenities in public, I’ll be forced to arrest you for disorderly conduct./Drunk N. Disorderly: Blank you, you blankety-blank!/Police officer:That does it. You’re going to jail.
No Fallacy
In a recent judicial decision, District Court Judge Lemuel Featherstone argued that bazookas and flamethrowers are not protected by the Second Amendment. Apparently, Judge Featherstone believes that the U.S. Constitution is obsolete and should be repealed by judicial fiat. But the rights protected in the Constitution lie at the very core of America’s values and traditions. All true Americans must hope that Judge Featherstone’s ruling is swiftly overturned.
Strawman
Everybody is reading Joey Potboiler’s’s new novel, Fighting Vixens of Cell Block D. It must be good.
Bandwagon
We can never be justified in believing that a miracle has occurred, for proof of a miracle requires very strong evidence. But the only evidence we have is the testimony of witnesses; and their testimony is worthless because they believe in such preposterous things as miracles.
Begging the question
Almost all members of the U.S. Congress are opposed to term limits. Well, naturally they are opposed! They do not want to be barred from being returned to office as long as they care to run. But since they are the beneficiaries of the status quo, their arguments against term limits can be dismissed as so much self-serving drivel.
Attacking the Motive
Professor Stanton M. Buttersworth conducted extensive and long-term studies of the television-watching habits of school children. On the basis of these studies, Professor Buttersworth has concluded that children who watch more than two hours of television a day do not perform as well in school as those who watch less than two hours a day. But Professor Buttersworth must be wrong about that. Television is a source of news, entertainment, and information–and all for an extremely modest cost. Life would be much less interesting without television.
Red Herring
Dad, I can’t believe you won’t let me get “I Love Spike” tattooed on my left buttocks. After all, I’m sixteen years old, and you told me you and Mom both got your first tattoo when you were sixteen.
Look who’s talking
Many new software programs have bugs in them. Bugs are insects. So, many new software programs have insects in them.
Equivocation
