lecture 9 (reasoning)

Question 1

What is a fallacy? 2

Answer 1

• a mistake in reasoning, where there is an inappropriate connection between premises and conclusion
• an argument that is logically flawed

Question 2

Can a fallacious argument have true premises?

Answer 2

Yes, a fallacious argument can have true or false premises, but the reasoning process that connects them to the conclusion is flawed

Question 3

What are the two main types of fallacies? 2

Answer 3

• formal fallacies: involve failures in logical connection, leading to invalid conclusions
• substantive fallacies: rely on unjustified assumptions or inferences, expose the fallacy by making explicit the hidden assumption that generates the illegitimate inference

Question 4

misleading arguments?

Answer 4

can use sound arguments, but in a misleading way

Question 5

What is the fallacy of affirming the consequent?

Answer 5

• when one argues that if P then Q, and since Q is true, P must also be true
• example:
  P1: if it rains, it’s cloudy
  P2: it’s cloudy
  C: it’s raining

Question 6

What is the fallacy of denying the antecedent?

Answer 6

• when one argues that if P then Q, and since P is not true, Q must also not be true
• example:
  P1: If someone is from the U.S., they are bad at geography.
  P2: Henry is not from the U.S.
  C: Henry is not bad at geography.

Question 7

What is the fallacy of deriving ‘ought’ from ‘is’?

Answer 7

• when an argument moves from a purely descriptive premise to a prescriptive conclusion without proper reasoning
• example:
  P1: Community is the funniest show
  C: There should be a Community movie

Question 8

base rate fallacy?

Answer 8

• when someone ignores the general information (base rate) about a situation and focuses only on specific details
• example: party with 90% doctors and 10% engineers where you assume someone is an enginner based on their apparence even tho is more probable that they are a doctor given the propotions (given the base rate)

Question 9

What is the fallacy of majority belief?

Answer 9

• the fallacy of concluding that a proposition is true simply because the majority believes it

Question 10

What is the fallacy of common practice?

Answer 10

It is the tactic of persuading someone to do something wrong by justifying it with “everyone does it.”

Question 11

What is the gambler’s fallacy?

Answer 11

• It is the mistaken belief that past events influence the probability of future independent events

Question 12

What is the ad hominem fallacy?

Answer 12

It occurs when someone attacks a person instead of addressing their argument or rejects a claim due to disliking the person who made it

Question 13

What is the ad hominem circumstantial fallacy?

Answer 13

It occurs when someone’s argument is rejected on the grounds that they would benefit from it

Question 14

What is the tu quoque fallacy?

Answer 14

when someone rejects a claim or proposal because the person making it does not follow it themselves

Question 15

What is the appeal to authority fallacy?

Answer 15

• when an argument makes an unjustified appeal to an alleged authority
• Hidden Assumption: “If someone is an expert on a subject, their opinion on that subject must be accepted.”

Question 16

What is the perfectionist fallacy?

Answer 16

when an idea or proposal is rejected purely because it won’t completely solve a problem

Question 17

What is the fallacy of conflating morality with legality?

Answer 17

when one assumes that anything legal is moral or that anything illegal is immoral

Question 18

What is the fallacy of weak analogy?

Answer 18

when an argument based on analogy fails because the analogy is too weak or unsupported

Question 19

What is the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy?

Answer 19

when it is mistakenly inferred that event X caused event Y merely because Y happened after X

Question 20

What is the fallacy of mistaking correlation for causation?

Answer 20

when a statistical correlation is assumed to establish a causal relationship without further justification

Question 21

What is the fallacy of inversion of cause and effect?

Answer 21

when one mistakenly infers that if X causes Y, an absence of X will prevent Y

Question 22

What is the appeal to ignorance fallacy?

Answer 22

when someone concludes that a claim is false because it hasn’t been proven, or that it’s true because it hasn’t been disproven

Question 23

What is the epistemic fallacy?

Answer 23

when it’s assumed that if someone believes in P, they must also believe in Q, simply because P and Q are about the same thing, even though they refer to it differently

Question 24

What is equivocation in faulty argument techniques?

Answer 24

the technique of deliberately using a word with multiple meanings to confuse the audience, hoping they conflate the different interpretations

Question 25

What is the red herring technique?

Answer 25

A red herring is used to distract someone from the original argument by introducing irrelevant information

Question 26

What is the slippery slope argument technique?

Answer 26

The slippery slope assumes that allowing or forbidding a certain action will inevitably lead to further undesirable events without good evidence that they will follow

Question 27

What is the straw target technique?

Answer 27

used when an arguer misrepresents or exaggerates their opponent’s position, making it easier to attack

Question 28

What is a false dilemma?

Answer 28

limits the available options to fewer alternatives than actually exist, often presenting a choice between two extremes when other options are available

Question 29

What does begging the question involve?

Answer 29

occurs when an argument assumes the truth of its conclusion in the premises, with the premises relying on the truth of the conclusion

Question 30

What is confusing absolute and relative difference in statistics?

Answer 30

when people mix up relative risk (a percentage difference) and absolute risk (the actual difference in outcomes), often due to unclear explanations

Question 31

What is the margin of error in polling?

Answer 31

the range within which the true percentage of a poll result is expected to fall, usually with a 95% probability