Olivia FisherFallacy Assignment

1. The presiding judge of a revolutionary tribunal, on being asked why people were being executed without trial: “Why should we put them on trial when we know that they’re guilty?”Answer: Begging the QuestionExplanation: The statement assumes that the question being argued has already been proven without proper evidence.

2. The government has the right to require the wearing of helmets while operating or riding on a motorcycle because of the high rate of head injuries incurred in motorcycle accidents.Answer: Explanation:

3. Children who watch game shows rather than situational comedies receive higher grades in school. So it must be true that game shows are more educational than situational comediesAnswer: Post Hoc or Doubtful CaseExplanation: Statement assumes that because one event follows another, the first event must be the cause for the second.

4. The meteorologist predicted the wrong amount of rain for May. Obviously the meteorologist is unreliable.Answer: Hasty Generalization Explanation: A generalization is formed from one instance

5. Women ought to be permitted to serve in combat. Why should men be the only ones to face death and danger?Answer: Two Wrongs Make a RightExplanation: The statement suggests that death and danger are unacceptable for men to face, but subjecting women to danger as well does not make death and danger any better

6. If Lady GaGa uses Truvia, it must taste better than SplendaAnswer: False use of AuthorityExplanation: Lady Gaga is not the authority on sweetener. To assume that Truvia is better just because Lady Gaga uses it is illogical

7. People will gamble anyway, so why not legalize gambling?Answer: Two Wrongs Make a RightExplanation: Legalizing gambling just because people do it anyway, doesn’t make gambling right.

8. Because so much money was spent on public education in the last decade while educational achievement declined, more money to improve education can’t be the answer to reversing the decline.Answer: Begging the QuestionExplanation: Makes the assumption that money can’t solve the decline in educational achievement without actual evidence. Uses circular logic.

9. He’s a columnist for a campus newspaper, so he must be a pretty good writer.Answer: Non-SequiturExplanation: The fact that he is a columnist doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good writer

10. We tend to exaggerate the need for Standard English. You don’t need much Standard English for most jobs in this countryAnswer: Begging the QuestionExplanation: Makes a claim without substantial evidence and restates claim.

11. It’s discriminatory to mandate that police officer must conform to a certain height and weightAnswer: Faulty emotional appealExplanation: distorts the truth to make people feel sorry for officers that must conform to regulations

12. A doctor can consult books to make a diagnosis, so a medical student should be able to consult books when being testedAnswer: Non sequitur Explanation: Claim does not logically follow.

13. Because soft drinks contain so many chemicals, it must be unsafeAnswer: Hasty generalizationExplanation: assumes all chemicals are unsafe

14. Core requirements should be eliminated; after all, students are paying for their education, so they should be able to earn a diploma choosing the courses they want.Answer: Begging the QuestionExplanation: presents claim without evidence

15. We should encourage a return to arranged marriages in this country since marriages based on romantic love haven’t been very successfulAnswer: False dilemma Explanation: statement assumes there are only two types of marriages, arranged marriage and marriage based on romantic love.

16. I know three redheads who have terrible tempers, and since Annabel has red air, I’ll bet she has a terrible temper, tooAnswer: Hasty GeneralizationExplanation: generalizes that all red heads have terrible tempers out of only three examples

17. Supreme Court Justice Byron White was an All-American football player while at college, so how can you say that athletes are dumb?Answer: Hasty Generalization Explanation: One example of an intelligent athlete does not prove that athletes are not dumb.

18. .Benjamin H. Sasway, a student at Humboldt State University in California, was indicted for failure to register for possible conscription. Barry Lynn, president of Draft Action, an antidraft group, said, “It is disgraceful that this administration is embarking on an effort to fill the prisons with men of conscience and moral commitmentAnswer: Faulty appeal to emotionExplanation: Makes the assumption that Sasway is a good person and one should feel sorry and angry about his indictment

19. James A Harris, former president of the National Education Association: “Twenty-three percent of schoolchildren are failing to graduate, and another large segment graduate as functional illiterates. If 23% of the buildings fell down or 23% of stuffed ham spoiled, we’d look at the producerAnswer: Faulty analogyExplanation: it’s comparing unlike things

20. A professor at Rutgers University: “The arrest rate for women is rising three times as fast as that of men. Women, inflamed by the doctrines of feminism, are pursuing criminal careers with the same zeal as business and the professionsAnswer: Non-Sequitur Explanation: Tries to connect rising arrest rate of women to the rise in feminism when there is no proof of a connection or the connection does not logically follow.

21. Physical education should be required because physical activity is healthfulAnswer: Non-SequiturExplanation: Claim does not logically follow. Just because something is healthful doesn’t mean it should be required

22. George Meany, a former president of the AFL-CIO, in 1968: “To these people who constantly say you have got to listen to these younger people, they have got something to say, I just don’t buy that at all. They smoke more pot than we do; and if the younger generation are the hundred thousand kids that lay around a field up in Woodstock, New York, I am not going to trust the destiny of the country to that group.”Answer: Ad Hominem Explanation: Statement is attacking the actions of a group rather than their views

23. That candidate was poor as a child, so he will certainly be sympathetic to the poor if he’s elected.Answer: Hasty Generalization Explanation: Jumps to conclusion to generalize that a past poor person would support the poor.

24. When the federal government sent troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce integration of the public school system, the governor of Arkansas attacked the action, saying that it was as brutal an act of intervention as Russia’s sending troops into Hungary to squelch the Hungarians’ rebellion. In both cases, the governor said, the rights of a freedom-loving, independent people were being violatedAnswer: Faulty appeal to emotion Explanation: Russian and US relations weren’t great, so comparing the act of federal troops to the act of an enemy unjustly uses people’s emotions.

25. Governor Jones was elected two years ago. Since that time constant examples of corruption and subversion have been unearthed. It is time to get rid of the man responsible for this kind of corrupt government.Answer: Post HocExplanation: There isn’t evidence that supports that Jones’ election lead to corruption.

26. Are we going to vote a pay increase for our teachers, or are we going to allow our schools to deteriorate into substandard custodial institutions?

Answer: Slippery SlopeExplanation: Statement predicts tragedy without evidence. If you don’t increase pay for teacher, schools will deteriorate

27. You see, the priests were right. After we threw those virgins into the volcano, it quit eruptingAnswer: Post HocExplanation: Assumes that the volcano’s ceasing to erupt was directly related to sacrificing virgins. There isn’t sufficient evidence of this.

28. The people of Rome lost their vitality and desire for freedom when their emperors decided that the way to keep them happy was to provide them with bread and circuses. What can we expect of our own country now that the government gives people free food and there is a constant round of entertainment provided by television?Answer: faulty analogyExplanation: Assumes all things are similar when they aren’t really related at all

29. From Mark Clifton, “The Dread Tomato Affliction” (proving that eating tomatoes is dangerous and even deadly): “Ninety-two point four percent of juvenile delinquents have eaten tomatoes. Fifty-seven point one percent of the adult criminals in penitentiaries throughout the United States have eaten tomatoes. Eighty-four percent of all people killed in automobile accidents during the year have eaten tomatoesAnswer: Non-Sequitur Explanation: Tries to relate bad thing to eating tomatoes when that logic doesn’t at all follow

30. From Galileo, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences: “But can you doubt that air has weight when you have the clear testimony of Aristotle affirming that all elements have weight, including air, and excepting only fire?Answer: Faulty Authority Explanation: Relies on statement from one well known person rather than substantial evidence.

31. Robert Brustein, artist director of the American Repertory Theatre, commenting on a threat by Congress in 1989 to withhold funding from an offensive art show: “Once we allow lawmakers to become art critics, we take the first step into the world of Ayatollah Khomeini, whose murderous review of The Satanic Verses still chills the heart of everyone committed to free expression.” (The Ayatollah Khomeini called for the death of the author, Salman Rushdie, because he had allegedly committed blasphemy against Islam in his novel.)Answer: Slippery SlopeExplanation: Assumes that the result will be tragedy without evidence.