Flaws

Question 0

What is conflation?

Answer 0

Conflation means using two different words as if they mean exactly the same

Question 1

What is arguing from one thing to another?

Answer 1

Also known as an unrelated conclusion, its what happens when an argument’s reasons and conclusions aren’t relevant to one another.

Question 2

What does confusing necessary and sufficient conditions mean?

Answer 2

• a necessary condition for something is one that must happen or be true for something else to happen
• a sufficient condition for something is one that is enough for something to happen
• if an argument confuses necessary and sufficient conditions then the reasoning is flawed

Question 3

What is a slippery slope?

Answer 3

Slippery slope reasoning claims that one small event will cause an extreme result, this is flawed because no reason is given for the final result to have been caused by the first event

Question 4

What is a circular argument?

Answer 4

The conclusion repeats one of the reasons

Question 5

What is begging the question?

Answer 5

Its a specific type of circular argument

This means that you have to already accept the conclusion before you can accept the reasons

Question 6

What is a tu quoque?

Answer 6

A tu quoque flaw defends an action by reasoning that the same action has been done by others

Question 7

How is ‘two wrongs dont make a right’ different to a tu quoque?

Answer 7

The difference is that the ‘two wrongs..’ flaw justifies a harmful action by saying other people have behaved badly in a DIFFERENT way.

Question 8

What is a generalisation?

Answer 8

Generalisations use some information about part of a group to make claims about the whole group or one individual in it

Question 9

What is a hasty generalisation?

Answer 9

This is when an argument uses a claim about a few things to support a conclusion about a lot of things or everything

Question 10

What is a sweeping generalisation?

Answer 10

They use a claim about many things to support a conclusion about one individual case

Question 11

What is the straw man flaw?

Answer 11

The straw man argument dismisses a counter argument, when it has been misrepresented or distorted to make it easier for the argument to dismiss

Question 12

What is an ad hominem?

Answer 12

An ad hominem flaw is when an argument tries to dismiss a counter argument by attacking the person arguing, rather than their argument

Question 13

What is restricting the options?

Answer 13

This is when an argument presents its conclusion as the best option by only discussing a limited range of choices.

Question 14

What is a post hoc flaw?

Answer 14

A post hoc argument claims that event A caused event B, but actually event A only happened first and there may not be a causal relation at all

Question 15

What is confusing cause and effect?

Answer 15

This is when an argument gets the cause and effect the wrong way around