Flaws

Question 1

Reads conditionals in premises wrong

Answer 1

Bad Conditional Reasoning

Question 2

1. Conditional premises
2. Concludes something by reading the conditional premises backwards without negating

Answer 2

Bad conditional reasoning

Question 3

1. Conditional premises
2. Concludes something by negating the conditional premises and reading forward

Answer 3

Bad conditional reasoning

Question 4

Loophole: what if we actually have to follow the rules of conditional reasoning?

Answer 4

Bad conditional reasoning

Question 5

1. Sees two things are correlated
2. Concludes that one of those things is causing the other

Answer 5

Bad causal reasoning

Question 6

Omitted options: no relationship, new factor, backwards causation

Answer 6

Bad casual reasoning

Question 7

Correlation ≠ causation

Answer 7

Bad casual reasoning

Question 8

Parts≠whole

Answer 8

Whole to part/ part to whole

Question 9

Loophole: what if wholes don’t necessarily equal parts?

Answer 9

Whole to part/part to whole

Question 10

Loophole: what if one of the omitted options is the case?

Answer 10

Bad causal reasoning

Question 11

1. Member of category has a property
2. Concludes that the category itself also has that property

VICE VERSA

Answer 11

Whole to part / part to whole

Question 12

Part ≠ all the parts

Answer 12

Overgeneralization

Question 13

Loophole: what if we can’t generalize from this one thing to a bunch of other things?

Answer 13

Overgeneralization

Question 14

Liana was quite clever in her paper on shark anatomy. So Liana is a clever person.

Answer 14

Overgeneralization

Question 15

Those economists who claim that consumer prices increases have averaged less than 3 percent over the last year are mistaken. They clearly have not shopped anywhere recently. Gasoline is up 10 percent over the last year; my auto insurance, 12 percent; newspaper, 15 percent; propane, 13 percent; bread, 50 percent.

Answer 15

Overgeneralization

Question 16

Biased samples

Answer 16

Survey problems

Question 17

Biased questions

Answer 17

Survey problems

Question 18

Other contradictory survey: makes up when reality is different

Answer 18

Survey problems

Question 19

Survey liars

Answer 19

Survey problems

Question 20

Small Sample size

Answer 20

Survey problems

Question 21

Loophole: what if the sample was biased, the questions were biased, there are other contradictory surveys, people lie on surveys, or the sample is too small?

Answer 21

Survey problems

Question 22

Assume that two groups are same in all respects except the ones called out as part of study

Answer 22

False Starts

Question 23

Example: possible difference in diet or age

Comparison is two group one exercise and one non exercise. Above might be key difference in groups specified as false starts

Answer 23

False start

Question 24

What if two groups were different in key aspects?

Answer 24

False start

Question 25

Lack of evidence ≠ evidence of lacking It’s not necessarily true, so it cannot be true.

Answer 25

Possibility ≠ Certainty

Question 26

Proof of evidence ≠ evidence of proof It could be true, so it must be true.

Answer 26

Possibility ≠ Certainty

Question 27

1. Belief 2. Mentions a factual implication of belief 3. Claim to believe the implication of belief

Answer 27

Implication

Question 28

Facts ≠ some believing those facts

Answer 28

Implication

Question 29

Loophole: what if the person in question isn’t aware of what their belief implies?

Answer 29

Implication

Question 30

Opinions and facts don’t play well together

Answer 30

Implication

Question 31

Limiting spectrum: 1. eliminates one of the options 2. Concludes the second option must be the case Limiting options: 1. Outline 2 options 2. eliminates one of the options 3. Concludes the second option must be the case

Answer 31

False dichotomy

Question 32

Aka false dilemma

Answer 32

False dichotomy

Question 33

Spectrum Up, down, or same Not more ≠ less Not less ≠ more

Answer 33

False dichotomy

Question 34

Options: pretends there are only 2 options when there could be more

Answer 34

False dichotomy

Question 35

Option loophole: what if there are more than just two options?

Answer 35

False dichotomy

Question 36

1. Claim is made 2. Response to an entirely different claim but pretends they responded to the original claim

Answer 36

Straw man

Question 37

Not always! : “so what you’re really saying is…” or “so what you mean is…”

Answer 37

Straw man

Question 38

Loophole: what if what they said had nothing to do with claim they are pretending to respond to?

Answer 38

Straw man

Question 39

1. Makes claim 2. Talks about how person making claim is awful 3. Concludes that person making claim is false

Answer 39

Ad hominem

Question 40

A proponent bias for/against a position, does not affect the truth or falsity of that position

Answer 40

Ad hominem

Question 41

Premises about character and motivation, only prove claims about character and motivation

Answer 41

Ad hominem

Question 42

Loophole: what if this persons character/motivation doesn’t affect the truth?

Answer 42

Ad hominem

Question 43

Trick: looking for synonyms between the premises and conclusionS

Answer 43

Circular reasoning

Question 44

1. Concludes something 2. Supplies premises that assume the conclusion is already true

Answer 44

Circular reasoning

Question 45

Who is Paul: what if we can’t use the conclusion of evidence for itself?

Answer 45

Circular reasoning

Question 46

Repetition between the premises and conclusion

Answer 46

Circular reasoning

Question 47

1. Uses word or idea, intending one of its possible meanings 2. Concludes something using the other possible meanings of word or idea

Answer 47

Equivocation

Question 48

Happens when the other changes, the meaning of the word throughout an argument

Answer 48

Equivocation

Question 49

Loophole: what if we shouldn’t let words change in meaning?

Answer 49

Equivocation

Question 50

Example: the word exploit used in different meanings 1. to take advantage of someone 2. Used to its fullest extent

Answer 50

Equivocation

Question 51

1. Says that a person or a group believe something 2. Conclude that thing must be true

Answer 51

Appeal fallacies

Question 52

Opinion ≠ fact

Answer 52

Appeal fallacies

Question 53

Only time this works is when that person is an expert in the field

Answer 53

Appeal fallacies

Question 54

Invalid, appeal to authority: author uses a non-expert opinion to support the conclusion Invalid appeal to public opinion: invalid, because people are unreliable. High percentage of random people believe in anything has very little bearing on whether that thing is actually true.

Answer 54

Appeal fallacies

Question 55

Loophole: what is this opinion doesn’t equal evidence of fact?

Answer 55

Appeal fallacies

Question 56

1. Supplies a few premises. 2. Conclude something that is a related to those premises.

Answer 56

Irrelevant

Question 57

Occurs when premises are entirely unrelated to the conclusion

Answer 57

Irrelevant

Question 58

Loophole: what is the premises in the conclusion have nothing to do with one another?

Answer 58

Irrelevant

Question 59

Premises about numbers almost never lied to conclusions about percentages and vice versa

Answer 59

Percentages ≠ numbers

Question 60

When an argument mentions numbers and percentages, there’s one big thing they’re purposely not mentioning: group size

Answer 60

Percentages ≠ numbers

Question 61

Always the same group size remains the same

Answer 61

Percentages ≠ numbers

Question 62

Don’t be afraid to take example 3 sizes this can really help clarify difficult questions

Answer 62

Percentages ≠ numbers

Question 63

TIPS: think of classic flaws as predictable loopholes. They rely on predictably bad assumptions

Answer 63

TIPS