Recurring Flaws

Question 1

Causal Flaw

Answer 1

assumes correlation indicates causation; no other cause; causality is not reversed

Question 2

Necessary vs. Sufficient Flaw

Answer 2

assumes something required to get a result is enough by itself to guarantee the result; vs. something guaranteed to get a result is requirement of the result

Question 3

Surveys and samples

Answer 3

assumes survey/sample is representative of a larger population; survey/sample is relevant to the conclusion and conducted without flaws in methodology

Question 4

Comparison Flaw

Answer 4

assumes two things or time periods are comparable in all relevant factors; what is true of a part is true of the whole (or vice versa)

Question 5

Percentages/numbers Flaw

Answer 5

assumes percentages or ratios are based on the same quantities

Question 6

Absence of evidence Flaw

Answer 6

lack of evidence for a phenomenon is taken as proof it does not exist; a flaw in evidence attempting to provide a phenomenon is taken as evidence it does not exist

Question 7

Appeals and attacks Flaw

Answer 7

assumes something is true because an (often dubious) authority says so; assumes a personal characteristic is relevant to the substance of that person’s argument

Question 8

Shifting meanings Flaw

Answer 8

switches the meaning of a term in the middle of an argument without acknowledging the shift

Question 9

Circular Flaw

Answer 9

conclusion merely restates the premises

Question 10

Part-to-Whole Flaw

Answer 10

the assumption that what is true of the parts of a whole is also true of the whole, or vice-versa