Indentifying Fallacies worksheet

Congressman X cant be guilty of accepting bribes bc hes an honest person

Ad hominem This is an example of Ad hominem because they are focusing more on the person's character instead of the argument

"The research and reasoning that supposedly support (or that supposedly discredits) this intervention.....

Ad hominem This is ad hominem bc it's attacking the people's characters.

My fellow Americans there has been some talk that the government is overstepping its bounds by allowing police to enter peoples homes without the warrants traditionally required by the constitution. However these are dangerous times and dangerous times require appropriate actions. I have in my office thousands of letters from people who let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they hardly endorse the war against crime and these United States. Because of this overwhelming approval, it is evident that the police are doing the right thing

Band wagon This is an example of bandwagon bc it's concluding a proposition to be true because many believe so. In the statement, thousands of letters of people were delivered to the office so they concluded that police are doing the right thing

Free trade will be good for this country, because unrestricted commercial relations will bestow on all sections of this nation the benefits which result when there is an unimpeded flow of goods between countries?

Circluar logic This is circular logic because the statement is going in a cirlcle. He says that free trade will be good for our country because free trade will be good

Dear friend, a man who has studied law to its highest degree is a brilliant lawyer, for a brilliant lawyer has studied law to its highest degree

Circular logic This is circular logic bc the statement goes around in a circle. It's says that man who studied the highest degree in law is a brilliant lawyer because he studied the highest degree in law.

Make love, not war

Either or This is an example of either or bc it only gives 2 choices when in reality there's way more options.

Guns dont kill, people do

Equivocation This is an example of equivocation bc it's not giving the whole truth. Guns can kill to, not just people. A gun can kill of its triggered by a person.

A writer sued (unsuccessfully) Coors, claiming that drinking copious amounts of the companys beer had kept him from writing a novel

False cause This is an example of false cause bc the writer couldn't finish his novel because he drank to much beer, so therefore he sued Coors

The republicans pass a new tax reform law that benefits wealthy americans. Shortly thereafter the economy takes a nosedive. The democrats claim that the tax reform caused the economic woes and they push to get rid of it

False cause This is false cause bc something happened after something, so therefore that something was caused by something. For example, the economy took a nosedive after the new tax reform law was passed so therefore, the economy problem was caused by the new tax reform

A study shows an increase in births during a full moon, so scientists suggest full moons cause birth rates to rise.

False cause This is false cause because this fallacy means that something happened after something, so therefore that something was caused by something. An increate of birth rates increased when there was a full moon so therefore birth rates increase whenever a full moon occurs.

I had been doing pretty poorly this season. Then my girlfriend gave me this neon laces for my spikes and i won my next three races. Those laces must be good luck...if i keep on wearing them i cant help but win!

False cause This is false cause because this fallacy means that something happened after something, so therefore that something was caused by something. He started winning races after wearing the neon laces his girlfriend had bought him, so therefore he'll keep wearing the laces so he wins

Women shouldnt be allowed to drive trucks, because last night i saw on the news that a woman truck driver had a bad accident

Hasty generalization This is a hasty generalization because it's making a conclusion even when there's not enough information to prove it. There's not enough information to prove that all women are bad truck drivers, we can't conclude the premise to be true just because one woman got into a bad accident while driving her truck.

After Will said that we should put more money into health and education, Warren responded by saying that he was suprised that Will hates our country so much that he wants to leave its defenseless by cutting military spending.

Straw man This is straw man because Warren is exaggerating Will's argument so no one would agree with Will. Will wants to put more money into things like health and education, and warren says that because Will said this that he hates our country because he doesn't want us to put money into our military. Even though will didn't say that and he thinks we should start putting money into other things also.