First Exam

Question 1

first exam reversed

Accepting the word of alleged authorities when there is not sufficient reason to believe that they have the information we seek.

Answer 1

Appeal To Authority

Question 2

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Accepting the conclusion of an argument that has self-contradictory statements or statements that contradict each other.

Answer 2

Inconsistency

Question 3

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misrepresenting an opponents position or a competitors product to make it easier to attack them or to tout ones own product as superior, or attacking a weaker opponent while ignoring a stronger one.

Answer 3

straw man

Question 4

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a dilemma that can be shown to be false either by “going between the horns” of the dilemma or by “grasping the horns”

Answer 4

false dilemma

Question 5

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assuming without proof the question, or a significant part of the question, that is at issue, or answering a question by rephrasing it as a statement.

Answer 5

beginning the question

Question 6

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accepting a less than believable premise or other statement

Answer 6

questionable premise- questionable statement

Question 7

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failing to bring relevant evidence to bear on an argument

Answer 7

suppressed evidence

Question 8

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accepting a token gesture in lieu of the real thing

Answer 8

tokenism

Question 9

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an irrelevant attack on an opponent rather than on the opponents evidence or arguments

Answer 9

ad hominem

Question 10

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justifying a wrong by pointing to all similar wrong perpetrated by others

Answer 10

2 wrongs make a right

Question 11

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trying to prove something with evidence that is or comes close to being irrelevant

Answer 11

irrelevant reason

Question 12

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using a term or expression in an argument in one sense in one place and another sense in another

Answer 12

equivocation

Question 13

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arguing that the failure to find evidence refuting a claim justifies believing that its true

Answer 13

appeal to ignorance

Question 14

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assuming that an item has a certain property b/c all or most of its parts have that property

Answer 14

composition

Question 15

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accepting a claim that a slope is slippery when no or insufficient reason has been presented to justify that claim

Answer 15

slippery slope

Question 16

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accepting an argument on the basis of relevant but insufficient information or evidence

Answer 16

hasty conclusion

Question 17

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drawing conclusions about a population on the basis of a sample that is too small to be a reliable measure of that population

Answer 17

small sample

Question 18

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reasoning from a sample that is not representative (typical) of the population from which it was drawn

Answer 18

unrepresentative sample

Question 19

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labeling A as the cause of B on evidence that is insufficient, negative, unrepresentative, or in serious conflict with well-established high-level theories

Answer 19

questionable cause

Question 20

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drawing an analogical conclusion when the cases compared are not relevantly alike

Answer 20

questionable analogy

Question 21

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employing statistics that are questionable without further support

Answer 21

questionable statistics

Question 22

first exam reversed

the inability of so many people to understand the significance of this statistic or that, made by worse by the natural tendency in all of us to see statistics as favoring conclusions we already have drawn

Answer 22

questionable use of statistics