QUIZ 4

Which of the following arguments is an ad hominem? Honest Abe, Lying Lary, Vague Vinny, Raspy Ralph, Screaming Sam

Lying Lary told me that it will rain today, therefore, it probably will not rain today.

A reductio ad absurdum is

an attempt to show that the argument is unsuccessful by showing that its conclusion is obviously false

Consider the following dialogue: Argle: You shouldn't walk on the grass, because if everybody did that, the grass would die from trampling. Bargle: That's just like arguing that I shouldn't go to the theatre now, because if everyone did that, the theatre would be packed so tightly that people would suffocate. In this exchange, Bargle is attempting to

refute Argle's reasoning by parallel reasoning

Consider the following dialogue: Hansel: The recent spate of mass shootings by deranged individuals shows that is is much too easy for the wrong people to obtain guns in our country. Gretel: Oh, so you want us to live in a tightly controlled police state where individuals have no power and the central authority controls everything? Well, that was how things were down in the Soviet Union - and look what happened to them. In this exchange, Gretel

refutes a straw man

To refute an argument is to

show that the argument is unsuccessful in meeting its aims

To refute an argument by parallel reasoning is to

show that the argument of the argument is invalid, by producing another invalid argument of the same form

A dismisser is an argument in which

the premises are about the person making a point, and the conclusion is that they did not have enough evidence to make that point in the context in which they did, so you should not believe them.

An expression is vague if

there is no precise boundary between the cases in which it applies and the class in which it does not apply.

An argument begs the questions when

you have no reason to believe the premises unless you already have a reason to believe the conclusion

Which of the following expression is semantically ambiguous? Bank, river, North Carolina, the Atlantic Ocean, the International Monetary Fund

Bank

Which of the following sentences is syntactically ambiguous? Close doors and open windows, Please turn off your cell phones, The speed limit on this road is 100 Kilometers per hour, The conference will be held next week, I need to deposit some money at the bank

Close doors and open windows

Which of these following expressions is vague? 33, =, acceleration, mass, hill

Hill

Which of the following arguments is an appeal to authority? Honest Abe, Lying Lary, Vague Vinny, Raspy Ralph, Screaming Sam

Honest Abe told me that it will rain today, therefore, it will probably rain today.

Consider the following argument: "Every climate scientist I've talked to says that global warming is occurring. But of course they would say that! they are scientists whose work is funded by the Obama administration, and so they need to advance the leftist agenda of that administration. Naturally, therefore, we should not take their view all that seriously." This argument is a(n)...

ad hominen dismisser

Consider the following argument: "Every single on e of Ken's ex-girlfriends claims that he is a cad. And yet his current girlfriend Barbie claims that Ken is a true gentleman. Clearly, Barbie would know better than any of Ken's ex-girlfriends. since she is currently dating Ken. Therefore, we should take Barbie's word for it." This argument is a(n)...

appeal to authority

Consider the following argument: Capital punishment is clearly wrong. Every death row inmate I've ever spoken to says so. And who would know better than a death row inmate about how wrong capital punishment is?" This argument is a(n)...

appeal to authority

Consider the following argument: "If you smoke one cigarette today, then you will end up smoking another one tomorrow, and more the day after that, and before you know it you will be smoking two packs a day and shortening your life expectancy by decades. So you should not even smoke one cigarette today." This argument contains a

causal slippery slope fallacy

Consider the following argument: "Every time I've been in car accidents, it has not been my fault. Of course, some other drivers say that too, even though they are wrong. But you can trust me on this one: after all, would a faultless driver like me lie about this? Clearly not!" This argument is a(n)...

fallacy of begging the question

An expression is ambiguous if

it is misleading to others.

Consider the following dialogue: Andy: Since the supply of fresh milk has diminished significantly, milk drinkers have been turning to powder. Sandy: That's impossible! People cannot turn to powder. In this exchange, Sandy

misunderstands Andy's claim because of a syntactic ambiguity in the expression "turn to powder"

Consider the headline: "Police squad helps dos bite victim" This headline is an example of

syntactic ambiguity

An argument is circular if

the conclusion is one of the premises

An ad hominen argument is one which

the premises are about the person making a point and the conclusion tell against their making that point.

An appeal to authority occurs when:

the premises are about the person making a point and the conclusion tells in favor of their making that point.

A denier is an argument in which

the premises are about the person making a point, and the conclusion is that the point that they are making is false.

A silencer argument is an argument in which

the premises are about the person making a point, and the conclusion is that they are not entitled to make that point in the context in which they did, so you should not listen to them.

To refute a straw man is

to show that a particular argument is not sounds, but in the course of doing so to misrepresent one's target argument