Test 1: Review Questions
Harvey sent everyone an email giving his reasons for investing in his new start-up company. However, Harvey is completely unreliable, so don't invest in his company.
Ad hominem abusive
My opponent argues for increased reproductive rights, but that's exactly how you would expect her to argue, given that she is an immoral louse. So, nothing she says on this issue can really be taken seriously.
Ad hominem abusive
Our physical education teacher yells at us all the time. He says that based on the results of our physical exams most of us are out of shape. He is going to have us do a strict exercising routine this year. It's obvious that he is a bully who likes to see students suffer, so there's no reason to accept his arguments.
Ad hominem abusive
The speaker tells you why you should vote for her. But she left out some important facts: She was given three citations for speeding, and was audited by the IRS. It should be clear that she is a liar. Therefore, don't vote for her.
Ad hominem abusive
My primary care physician is a female, so she cannot possibly know anything about male health problems.
Ad hominem circumstantial
The scientist argued that the body of scientific knowledge over the past several centuries has eroded the authenticity of the world's major religions. But he is an astrophysicist, and since most scientists are atheists, we can reject his arguments.
Ad hominem circumstantial
You really should give my nephew the contract. But if you're not sure you want to do that, then I'll have to send over some of my guys to discuss it with you. They can be very persuasive.
Appeal to fear or force
If aliens really exist, then we would have undeniable evidence of it by now. But the problem is that we do not have such evidence of it. Thus, aliens do not exist.
Appeal to ignorance
The state legislature has passed a law requiring public school teachers to arrive two hours prior to the start of classes. The House Speaker summed up the thinking of the legislature: "There didn't seem to be any reason we shouldn't have such a law," he said. "No one showed us anything wrong with it, so we concluded it was alright."
Appeal to ignorance
You have to raise my grade from F to D, because if I don't pass this class, I won't be able to get a good job, and I won't be able to help my family pay the bills or support my little brother who's in the hospital. Without my help, he could even die.
Appeal to pity
You should give my son an "A" for this semester. After all, we recently lost most of our wealth because I was indicted for stock fraud, and he is not used to living in a small apartment, and having to walk to school.
Appeal to pity
Most students on campus wear Northface Jackets and Uggs. Therefore, you should, too.
Appeal to the people
The governor is proposing a lot of radical changes. For instance, she wants to raise taxes on those making over $100,000 a year. She wants to expand aid to the poor and build apartments for the homeless. But it's clear that she is just trying to get more taxpayer money so she can give it to those big businesses who supported her. The majority of us citizens will gain nothing from her policies. Therefore, we must impeach her.
Appeal to the people
Take this new herbal medicine to cure your acne. I saw an ad online where your favorite singer recommended its use.
Appeal to unqualified authority
That painting is deserving of an award. At least that's why my uncle, the barber, says.
Appeal to unqualified authority
There is no good reason to believe the dire warnings about global warming. After all, my car mechanic, who has over 30 years experience, says that it is all a hoax.
Appeal to unqualified authority
Godard is the greatest director of all time. We know this because he made the greatest movies of all time. And we can be sure that they were the greatest movies of all time because they were made by the greatest director of all time.
Begging the question
He is shy, so it follows that he is bashful.
Begging the question
It is not right to prejudge the accused, so it is wrong to do so.
Begging the question
U2 is the greatest band ever, because there is no greater band.
Begging the question
A large survey of voters in Boston showed that the Democratic candidate for President of the United States has 68% support. From this, we can safely conclude that the Democratic candidate will win the national election.
Biased Sample
According to one survey, the incumbent senator has a 25% lead over her opponent. I believe that the poll is wrong because I talked to my family and they all are voting against the incumbent senator.
Biased Sample
Ninety percent of a sample of coffee drinkers at the Jolt-One coffee shops around the city said that they enjoy drinking Jolt-One coffee. So, we can expect that roughly ninety percent of coffee drinkers in the city enjoy drinking Jolt-One.
Biased Sample
I won twenty bucks on the lottery today, and yesterday my astrological forecast said that I would come into some unexpected money soon. This shows what I have always said: Astrology works.
Coincidence
How old was Keith when he stopped being a jerk?
Complex question
An individual elephant drinks up to 50 gallons of water a day. It follows that elephants as as a whole drink more water in a day than humans.
Composition
Our football team is better than their team, so each of our players are better than theirs.
Composition
This slice of pizza is wedge-shaped. So it must have come from a wedge-shaped pizza pie.
Composition
A recent study has shown that more than two thirds of Americans are overweight. Kevin is an American, so Kevin must be two-thirds overweight.
Division
RJ lives in a large dormitory. So his dorm room must be large.
Division
Bark makes up a tree trunk. And all dogs bark. So, all dogs make up a tree trunk
Equivocation
Giving money to the homeless is the right thing to do. So, the homeless have a right to our money.
Equivocation
Judy has a small business. That follows from the fact that her business supplies only small sizes of uniforms.
Equivocation
A biased sample fallacy occurs when a generalization is based on a sample size that is too small to represent the population.
False
A complex question contains only overt questions.
False
A poisoning the well fallacy results from an exclusive reliance on a sense of pity or mercy for support of a conclusion.
False
An ad hominem argument cannot have a true conclusion.
False
An appeal to ignorance is an invalid argument.
False
Any argument that presents two choices in one of its premises commits the fallacy of false dichotomy.
False
Any argument that tries to persuade solely by making the audience feel sorry for someone is a fallacious appeal to fear or force.
False
Arguments that beg the question are often convincing because the conclusion is true.
False
If an argument makes an appeal to authority, it commits a fallacy.
False
One form of the division fallacy occurs by the mistaken transfer of an attribute of the individual parts of an object to the object as a whole.
False
Poisoning the well fallacy occurs when a person is attacked after she has presented her case.
False
The fallacy of missing the point occurs when premises use a non-representative sample as evidence.
False
When someone makes an argument about the members of a large group based on the characteristics of a representative sample of that large group, they are committing the fallacy of biased sample.
False
Either you love me or you hate me. You said that you don't hate me, so you must love me.
False dichotomy
Either you support having prayer in public schools or you are an atheist. But clearly, you are not an atheist. So, you must support having prayer in public schools
False dichotomy
I can prove that he committed the crime. It follows from the fact that we are now in court.
Missing the point
Soon you will hear my opponent argue that we need to clean up the environment. She will make some extravagant claims about the health effects of pollution, but don't trust her evidence, even if she cites scientific studies. You must reject her proposals.
Poisoning the well
You are considering Mike for a promotion, and he will soon present to you his reasons for why his should be chosen. However, let me tell you some important facts. Mike is very aggressive and critical of his coworkers. I urge you to reject what he says.
Poisoning the well
Every time I take my cousin to Fenway Park, the Red Sox lose. Clearly, I can't take my cousin with me anymore.
Post hoc
The last time I walked under a ladder, I had a terrible day—I was late to class, I lost my homework, and I got sick in the evening. So I'm going to make it a point to avoid walking under ladders in the future.
Post hoc
Every time I said three Hail Marys before baiting my hook, I caught a fish. So, the prayer must be causing the fish to bite.
Post hoc fallacy
For the last 10 years, whenever the NASDEQ set a new high mark, there was a slight recession within the next two months. Last week, the NASDEQ set a new high mark, so we can expect a slight recession within the next two months.
Post hoc fallacy
Since the tax cuts went into effect in September, the murder rates have gone down by almost 15%. So, that's just one more reason to lower taxes.
Post hoc fallacy
If we allow a ban on any kind of military assault rifles, then before long, we'll be seeing a ban on handguns, and then shotguns and rifles of all kinds. Eventually, all of our Second Amendment rights will be gone.
Slippery slope
You should agree that he is guilty. Letting guilty people go free is destructive to society, and it makes a mockery of the judicial system.
Straw man
A slippery slope argument attempts to connect a series of occurrences such that the first link in a chain leads directly to a second link, and so on, until an unwanted situation is said to be the inevitable result.
True
An appeal to fear or force fallacy is an informal fallacy, not a formal fallacy.
True
An appeal to fear or force occurs when a threat of harmful consequences is used to force acceptance of a course of action that would otherwise be unacceptable.
True
An appeal to the people fallacy can occur by appealing to an individual's desire to belong to a large or popular group, but it also can occur by appealing to an individual's desire to belong to a small or exclusive group.
True
An argument that uses post hoc reasoning confuses correlation with causation.
True
Any argument that uses circular reasoning contains the fallacy of begging the question.
True
Appeals to unqualified authorities are fallacious.
True
False cause fallacies assume a causal link when there is inadequate evidence.
True
One form of the composition fallacy occurs by the mistaken transfer of an attribute of the individual members of the class to the class itself.
True
The fallacy of rigid application of a generalization results from the mistaken belief that a generalization or a rule has no exceptions.
True
The form of the fallacy that draws on an individual's desire to belong to a popular group, appeal to the people, is known as the bandwagon effect.
True
The simplest form of the post hoc fallacy is a coincidence.
True
