Logical Fallacies

Question 1

You misrepresented someone’s argument to make it easier to attack

Answer 1

Strawman

Question 2

What example is this, After Will said that we should put more money into health and education, Warren responded by saying that he was surprised that Will hates our country so much that he wants to leave it defenceless by cutting military spending.

Answer 2

Strawman

Question 3

You presumed that a real or perceived relationship between things means that one is the cause of the other.

Answer 3

False cause

Question 4

Pointing to a fancy chart, Roger shows how temperatures have been rising over the past few centuries, whilst at the same time the numbers of pirates have been decreasing; thus pirates cool the world and global warming is a hoax.

Answer 4

False cause

Question 5

You attempted to manipulate an emotional response in place of a valid or compelling argument.

Answer 5

appeal to emotion

Question 6

Luke didn’t want to eat his sheep’s brains with chopped liver and brussel sprouts, but his father told him to think about the poor, starving children in a third world country who weren’t fortunate enough to have any food at all.

Answer 6

Appeal to emotion

Question 7

You presumed that because a claim has been poorly argued, or a fallacy has been made, that the claim itself must be wrong

Answer 7

The fallacy fallacy

Question 8

Recognising that Amanda had committed a fallacy in arguing that we should eat healthy food because a nutritionist said it was popular, Alyse said we should therefore eat bacon double cheeseburgers every day.

Answer 8

The fallacy fallacy

Question 9

You said that if we allow A to happen, then Z will eventually happen too, therefore A should not happen

Answer 9

slippery slope

Question 10

Colin Closet asserts that if we allow same-sex couples to marry, then the next thing we know we’ll be allowing people to marry their parents, their cars and even monkeys.

Answer 10

slippery slopE

Question 11

You attacked your opponent’s character or personal traits in an attempt to undermine their argument.

Answer 11

ad hominem

Question 12

After Sally presents an eloquent and compelling case for a more equitable taxation system, Sam asks the audience whether we should believe anything from a woman who isn’t married, was once arrested, and smells a bit weird.

Answer 12

Ad hominem

Question 13

You avoided having to engage with criticism by turning it back on the accuser - you answered criticism with criticism

Answer 13

Tu quoque

Question 14

Nicole identified that Hannah had committed a logical fallacy, but instead of addressing the substance of her claim, Hannah accused Nicole of committing a fallacy earlier on in the conversation.

Answer 14

Tu quoque

Question 15

Because you found something difficult to understand, or are unaware of how it works, you made out like it’s probably not true

Answer 15

Personal incredulity

Question 16

Kirk drew a picture of a fish and a human and with effusive disdain asked Richard if he really thought we were stupid enough to believe that a fish somehow turned into a human through just, like, random things happening over time.

Answer 16

personal incredulity

Question 17

Edward Johns claimed to be psychic, but when his ‘abilities’ were tested under proper scientific conditions, they magically disappeared. Edward explained this saying that one had to have faith in his abilities for them to work.

Answer 17

Special pleading

Question 18

You moved the goalposts or made up an exception when your claim was shown to be false.

Answer 18

Special pleading

Question 19

You asked a question that had a presumption built into it so that it couldn’t be answered without appearing guilty.

Answer 19

Loaded question

Question 20

Grace and Helen were both romantically interested in Brad. One day, with Brad sitting within earshot, Grace asked in an inquisitive tone whether Helen was still having problems with her drug habit

Answer 20

Loaded question

Question 21

You said that the burden of proof lies not with the person making the claim, but with someone else to disprove.

Answer 21

Burden of proof

Question 22

Bertrand declares that a teapot is, at this very moment, in orbit around the Sun between the Earth and Mars, and that because no one can prove him wrong, his claim is therefore a valid one

Answer 22

Burden of proof

Question 23

You used a double meaning or ambiguity of language to mislead or misrepresent the truth.

Answer 23

Ambiguity

Question 24

When the judge asked the defendant why he hadn’t paid his parking fines, he said that he shouldn’t have to pay them because the sign said ‘Fine for parking here’ and so he naturally presumed that it would be fine to park there.

Answer 24

Ambiguity

Question 25

You said that ‘runs’ occur to statistically independent phenomena such as roulette wheel spins.

Answer 25

The gambler’s fallacy

Question 26

Red had come up six times in a row on the roulette wheel, so Greg knew that it was close to certain that black would be next up. Suffering an economic form of natural selection with this thinking, he soon lost all of his savings

Answer 26

The gambler’s fallacy

Question 27

You appealed to popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation

Answer 27

Bandwagon

Question 28

Shamus pointed a drunken finger at Sean and asked him to explain how so many people could believe in leprechauns if they’re only a silly old superstition. Sean, however, had had a few too many Guinness himself and fell off his chair.

Answer 28

Bandwagon

Question 29

You said that because an authority thinks something, it must therefore be true.

Answer 29

Appeal to authority

Question 30

Not able to defend his position that evolution ‘isn’t true’ Bob says that he knows a scientist who also questions evolution (and presumably isn’t a primate).

Answer 30

Appeal to authority

Question 31

You assumed that one part of something has to be applied to all, or other, parts of it; or that the whole must apply to its parts.

Answer 31

Composition / Divison

Question 32

Daniel was a precocious child and had a liking for logic. He reasoned that atoms are invisible, and that he was made of atoms and therefore invisible too. Unfortunately, despite his thinky skills, he lost the game of hide and go seek.

Answer 32

composition/division

Question 33

You made what could be called an appeal to purity as a way to dismiss relevant criticisms or flaws of your argument.

Answer 33

No true Scotsman

Question 34

Angus declares that Scotsmen do not put sugar on their porridge, to which Lachlan points out that he is a Scotsman and puts sugar on his porridge. Furious, like a true Scot, Angus yells that no true Scotsman sugars his porridge.

Answer 34

No true Scotsman

Question 35

You judged something as either good or bad on the basis of where it comes from, or from whom it came.

Answer 35

Genetic

Question 36

Accused on the 6 o’clock news of corruption and taking bribes, the senator said that we should all be very wary of the things we hear in the media, because we all know how very unreliable the media can be.

Answer 36

Genetic

Question 37

You presented two alternative states as the only possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist.

Answer 37

Black or white

Question 38

Example: Whilst rallying support for his plan to fundamentally undermine citizens’ rights, the Supreme Leader told the people they were either on his side, or they were on the side of the enemy

Answer 38

Black or white

Question 39

You presented a circular argument in which the conclusion was included in the premise.

Answer 39

Begging the question

Question 40

The word of Zorbo the Great is flawless and perfect. We know this because it says so in The Great and Infallible Book of Zorbo’s Best and Most Truest Things that are Definitely True and Should Not Ever Be Questioned.

Answer 40

Begging the questionn

Question 41

You argued that because something is ‘natural’ it is therefore valid, justified, inevitable, good or ideal.

Answer 41

Appeal to nature

Question 42

medicine man rolled into town on his bandwagon offering various natural remedies, such as very special plain water. He said that it was only natural that people should be wary of ‘artificial’ medicines such as antibiotics.

Answer 42

appeal to nature

Question 43

You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence.

Answer 43

Anecdotal

Question 44

Jason said that that was all cool and everything, but his grandfather smoked, like, 30 cigarettes a day and lived until 97 - so don’t believe everything you read about meta analyses of methodologically sound studies showing proven causal relationships.

Answer 44

Anecdotal

Question 45

You cherry-picked a data cluster to suit your argument, or found a pattern to fit a presumption.

Answer 45

Texas sharpshooter

Question 46

The makers of Sugarette Candy Drinks point to research showing that of the five countries where Sugarette drinks sell the most units, three of them are in the top ten healthiest countries on Earth, therefore Sugarette drinks are healthy.

Answer 46

Texas sharpshooter

Question 47

You claimed that a compromise, or middle point, between two extremes must be the truth.

Answer 47

Middle ground

Question 48

said that vaccinations caused autism in children, but her scientifically well-read friend Caleb said that this claim had been debunked and proven false. Their friend Alice offered a compromise that vaccinations must cause some autism, just not all autism

Answer 48

Middle ground