The Fallacy Detective: Lesson 20 - Whole-to-part

"Everybody's going to see the new movie The Day of the Spatulas. It has been the most popular movie for weeks. It must be a movie with a good plot, strong characters, and strong moral values."

Appeal to the people

Man: It is well known that men are more intelligent than women since their head size is correlated with intelligence, since the evidence shoes that people with larger brains are also more intelligent.

Circular reasoning

"Those are my reasons for doing it, but since you never listen to reason, you'll ignore them."

Equivoction on the word "reason"

"The first lady thinks everyone should learn to read and learn to read well. It must be very important."

Faulty appeal to authority

Farmer to his family: Which one of you left the pasture gate open and let all the cows out?

Loaded question

A desperate little ax, looking for the woodsman who lost it in the woods: If I just poke part of my handle up a little higher, my master might see me. Oh! he's looking this way!

None

Scientists have discovered something they call the butterly effect. The idea is that a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa will make tiny changes in air currents, and this may ultimately change the path a tornado might take in Oklahoma.

None

Woodsman hunting for his lost axe: If I keep searching in this part of the forest, I might never find what I'm looking for.

None

Newspaper columnist: If each American resolves to be more aware of the dengers around us, then we as a society will be able to feel safer in our daily lives.

Part-to-whole

Politician: If each individual person is the best at managing his own interests, then won't society become the most efficient when we maximize individual liberty?

Part-to-whole

Parent: If we let Central College raise tuition, pretty soon our children will have to spend $50,000 a semester!

Slippery slope

Son: Can I borrow the car to go to the store? Father: If I let you, you'll come back and ask to borrow it for th weekend! No way!

Slippery slope

Businessman: I don't think I can go wrong to invest in Pffizt-Hickup Amalgamted Tweezer Factory. Everybody knowns the whole economy is booming.

Whole-to-part

Farmer: I know from experience that this farm can produce about two hundred bushels of corn per acre. I think this area on the side of this hill will be fertile place to plant our garden.

Whole-to-part

Inept guy trying to fix his car in his backyard: My car is a General Motors car, so every part must be made by GM.

Whole-to-part

President of Stohl-And-Deleigh, Attorneys at Law: Harvard Law School is very prestigious school. I'm sure this new lawyer must be a prestisious person since he graduated from Harvard.

Whole-to-part

Shopkeeper: The Smith family has always been hardworking and creative; I don't doubt that Bubba Smith will make a good employee.

Whole-to-part

new report: Over the past hundred years, the residents of Ikabiki have torn down the royal palace and have taken little parts of it to their homes. They do this in the hope that they can make their homes more elegant with the timbers, hunks of stone, and pieces of iron banister which once made up the most magnificent architectural accomplishment of the Ikabiki civilization.

Whole-to-part