Week 4

Question 1

“Eating chocolate is unhealthy because all doctors say so.”

Answer 1

Appeal to Authority

Question 2

“It’s much better to treat illness using natural herbs than with pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals are full of artifcial chemicals!”

Answer 2

Appeal to Nature

Question 3

“The city has strict environmental laws so every individual must be environmentally conscious.”

Answer 3

Division

Question 4

“PERSON 1: This salesman is trustworthy; he’s not going to try to sell me something I don’t need just to get the commission. PERSON 2: How do you know? PERSON 1: He told me that all he wants is to help me find the best deal.”

Answer 4

Circular Reasoning

Question 5

“PERSON 1: This country should implement stricter gun control laws because they’d reduce the number of gun deaths. PERSON 2: Nonsense! Universal background checks wouldn’t eliminate gun deaths so there’s no point in imposing them on law-abiding citizens.”

Answer 5

Strawman

Question 6

“If we allow students to use calculators in math class next they’ll want to use them in every subject

Answer 6

Slippery Slope

Question 7

“My grandfather lived to 100 years old and he never exercised. Therefore, exercise isn’t necessary for a long life.”

Answer 7

Anecdotal Fallacy

Question 8

“Only one of my friends was enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton for president. Therefore very few Americans were enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton for president.”

Answer 8

Hasty Generalization

Question 9

“The new school lunch menu was introduced, and then student test scores improved. Therefore, the new menu caused the improvement.”

Answer 9

Post Hoc Fallacy

Question 10

“This school is a drug-free zone. Caffeine is a drug, and coffee has caffeine in it. Therefore, coffee isn’t allowed in this school.”

Answer 10

Equivocation

Question 11

“Many people believe that fast food is bad for health so it must be true.”

Answer 11

Appeal to Popularity

Question 12

“You’re either for having a longer school day or you’re against improving education altogether.”

Answer 12

False Dichotomy

Question 13

“The new law is bad because it’s proposed by a politician I dislike.”

Answer 13

Genetic Fallacy

Question 14

“You can’t prove that ghosts don’t exist so they must be real.”

Answer 14

Appeal to Ignorance

Question 15

“My greenhouse gas emissions don’t make any difference to the climate. Nor does my neighbor’s, or my friend’s, or any other individual’s emissions. Therefore, humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions don’t make any difference to the climate.”

Answer 15

Composition

Question 16

“You shouldn’t trust what she says about exercise; she’s not even in shape herself.”

Answer 16

Ad Hominem

Question 17

What is a fallacy?

Answer 17

A pattern of reasoning that is logically flawed and unreliable.

Question 18

Which of the following is an example of ambiguity

Answer 18

“Police kill man with ax” due to unclear grammar.

Question 19

What does the fallacy of equivocation involve?

Answer 19

Using the same word in different senses to lead to a flawed conclusion.

Question 20

True or False: Vagueness occurs when a term or phrase has multiple meanings.

Answer 20

False

Question 21

Which fallacy involves arguing that a conclusion must be true because it is believed by many?

Answer 21

Appeal to Popularity

Question 22

What type of argument is a “slippery slope” argument?

Answer 22

An argument that assumes one event will lead to a specific chain of events.

Question 23

In which scenario is vagueness most likely to cause confusion?

Answer 23

When terms lack sufficient precision for the context.

Question 24

True or False: The fallacy of equivocation can be resolved by clarifying the different meanings of an ambiguous term.

Answer 24

True

Question 25

What is an example of a conceptual slippery slope argument?

Answer 25

Suggesting that if a child’s age cannot be precisely defined, then they are never truly a child.