Logic Final Exam

Front 1

Genetic Fallacy

Back 1

evaluating a thing interms of its earlier context and then carrying over that evaluation to the thing in the present, while ignoring relevant changes that may have altered its character in the interim
-stripping an argument to its origin or genesis and overlooking development, regression or difference in the present situation
Ex. Religious leaders saying that you should not dance because pagans danced

Front 2

Drawing the wrong conclusion

Back 2

drawing a conclusion other than the one supported by the evidence presented in the argument
Argument’s conclusion is reached by missing the main thrust of the evidence provided
Sometimes drawn from a poorly formed argument but often from subtle or unconscious prejudices of the arguer
Ex. I believe in the sanctity of marriage, marriage should be between man and woman

Front 3

Using the Wrong Reasons

Back 3

Attempting to support a claim with reasons other than the reasons appropriate to the claim
When an arguer is trying to defend a particular conclusion and uses evidence that doesn’t support the conclusion

Front 4

Appeal to Irrelevant Authority

Back 4

Attempting to support a claim by appealing to the judgment of one who is not an authority in the field, the judgment of an unidentified authority, or the judgment of an authority who is likely to be biased
Ex.That random Christian guy saying the world is going to end

Front 5

Appeal to Common Opinion

Back 5

Urging the acceptance of a position simply on the grounds that a large number of people accept it or urging the rejection of a position on the grounds that very few people accept it
Uses polls, words like “most people”
Ex. If tanning beds are so dangerous millions of people would not use them every year

Front 6

Appeal to force or threat

Back 6

Attempting to persuade others of a position by threatening them with an undesirable state of affairs instead of presenting evidence for one’s view
Using influence or authority to win an argument and not skill or knowledge
Ex. I want you to have sex with me, I am a professor, I have power over your grades therefore you will have sex with me

Front 7

Appeal to Tradition

Back 7

Attempting to Persuade others of appoint of view by appealing to their feelings of reverence or respect for a tradition instead of to evidence, especially when a more important issue is at stake
Ex. Our family has always been Southern Baptist therefore you should be Southern Baptist

Front 8

Appeal to Self-Interest

Back 8

Urging an opponent to accept or reject a particular position by appealing solely to his or her personal circumstances or self interest, when a more important issue is at stake
Ex. Since you will benefit from the bill you should support it

Front 9

Manipulation of Emotions:

Back 9

Attempting to persuade others to accept a position by exploiting their emotions instead of presenting evidence for the position
Uses emotions and strong feelings and prejudices to sway the public
Ex. Daisy commercial, “the stakes are too high” to not elect Johnson
Five types: pity, guilty by association, flattery, group loyalty and appeal to shame

Front 10

Equivocation

Back 10

Directing another person toward an unwarranted conclusion by making a word or phrase employed in two different senses in an argument appear to have the same meaning throughout
Ex. People gamble (take risks) everyday, gambling is a part of human life and unavoidable, therefore, gambling (playing games of chance) should be legal

Front 11

Ambiguity

Back 11

Directing another person toward an unwarranted conclusion by presenting a claim or argument that uses a word, phrase or grammatical construction that can be interpreted in two or more distinctly different ways, without making clear which meaning is intended
Committed only when the context does not make clear what meaning of the word is intended
Ex. “Pizzas delivered free” are the pizzas free or is the delivery free?

Front 12

Misleading accent

Back 12

directing another person toward an unwarranted conclusion by placing improper or unusual emphasis on a word, phrase or particular aspect of an issue or claim. This fallacy is sometimes committed by taking portions of another’s statement out of their original context in a way that conveys an unintended meaning
Ex. If a father is speaking about his children and says she won’t listen to me, the implication could be that the other children do listen to him

Front 13

Illicit Contrast

Back 13

A listener’s inferring from another’s claim a related but unstated contrasting claim by improperly placing unusual emphasis on a word or phrase in the speaker’s or writer’s statement
Ex. Cynthia’s dress looks good on you and Cynthia implies that to mean it did not look good on her

Front 14

Argument by Innuendo:

Back 14

Directing another person toward a particular, usually derogatory, conclusion by a skillful choice of words that implicitly suggests but does not assert that conclusion
Often depends on the tone of the speaker
Ex. “I often see Professor Iskra but never with his wife” implies that he is often seen with someone who is not his wife

Front 15

Misuse of a vague expression:

Back 15

Attempting to establish a position by means of a vague expression or drawing an unjustified conclusion as a result of assigning a precise meaning to another’s word or phrase that is imprecise in its meaning or range of application
A key term is vague and needs to be defined

Front 16

Distinction with a difference

Back 16

attempting to defend an action or position as different from another one, with which it might be confused, by distinguished means of a careful distinction of language, when the action or position defended is no different in substance from the one from which it is linguistically
Ex. I’m not really a bad driver, I just don’t pay much attention to the road

Front 17

Fallacy of the continuum:

Back 17

assuming the small movements or differences on continuum between a thing and its contrary have a negligible effect and that to make definite distinctions between points on that line is impossible or at least arbitrary
Also known as the “straw on the camel’s back”
Ex. My monthly payment is already $300 and I can’t afford to do more, adding a new plan will add $25, what difference can that really make, therefore I should upgrade the plan

Front 18

Fallacy of the Composition:

Back 18

Assuming that what is true of the parts of a whole is therefore true of the whole
Ex. All star teams, the assumption that the team will do well because there are a few really good players but doesn’t take into account that they may not work well as a team, be trained well together, etc.

Front 19

Fallacy of Division:

Back 19

Assuming that what is true of a whole is therefore true of each of the parts of that whole
Ex. I do not want to go to a college with large classes, UVA is a large college, therefore, I do not want to go to UVA

Front 20

False alternatives:

Back 20

Restricting too severely the number of proposed alternative responses to a problem or situation and assuming that one of the suggested alternatives must be the true or right one
Ex. By using the saying Jesus said “If you are not for me than you are against me” implies that if one is not a theist they are an atheist, doesn’t leave the possibility of a agnostic

Front 21

Is-Ought Fallacy

Back 21

assuming that because something is now the practice, it ought to be the practice. Conversely, assuming that because something is not now the practice, it ought not to be the practice
Maintaining something just because it is the status-quo
Ex. We should go to Paris next year, we go to a different country every year, we’ve already been to France, therefore we should not go to Paris

Front 22

Wishful thinking:

Back 22

Assuming that because one wants something to be true, it is or will be true. Conversely, assuming that because one does not want something to be true, then it is not or will not be true
If you have faith in X then X will be true

Front 23

Misuse of a Principle

Back 23

Misapplying a principle or rule in a particular instance by assuming that it has no exceptions. Conversely, attempting to refute a principle or rule by means of an exceptional case
Ex. Refusing a couple to bring their sleeping infant to an R –rated movie without an ID, the rule was not intended for this case

Front 24

Fallacy of the Mean

Back 24

Assuming that the moderate or middle view between two extremes must be the best or right one simply because it is the middle view
Ex. If I am willing to pay $200 for a refrigerator and it costs $300… then the best price to pay would be $250.

Front 25

Faulty Analogy

Back 25

Assuming that because two things are alike in one or more respects, they necessarily are alike in some other important respect, while failing to recognize the insignificance of their similarities and/or the significance of their dissimilarities
Ex: Variety makes life more interesting, if one ate the same food and heard the same kind of music all the time it would be boring, therefore, having only one sexual partner is boring and I should have multiple ones to give my life variety and make it interesting

Front 26

Attacking the fallacy

Back 26

give a counteranalogy that allows you to draw a conclusion in contradiction with the arguer, for the example: “Just as one might want o maintain throughout one’s life that sense of comfort and good feeling experience with those dependable things that are enjoyable and familiar, such as one’s relationship to a son, daughter or friend, so is that the dependable, enjoyable relationship with one’s partner.”

Front 27

Insufficient Sample

Back 27

Drawing a conclusion or generalization from too small a sample of cases
Also called ‘hasty generalization’ or ‘fallacy of the lonely fact’, because arguer is too quick to draw a conclusion, given the skimpiness of evidence
Ex. My experience with my ex-wife was such a bad one that I have no intention of every marrying again. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend marriage to anyone.”

Front 28

Unrepresentative Data

Back 28

Drawing a conclusion based on data from an unrepresentative or biased sample
Ex. “It has been concluded from a recent study involving more than one hundred thousand people in the state of Florida that 43 percent of American people now spend at least two hours a day in some form of recreational activity”

Front 29

Arguing from Ignorance:

Back 29

Arguing for the truth (or falsity) of a claim because there is no evidence or proof or the contrary or because of the inability or refusal of an opponent to present convincing evidence to the contrary
Ex. “What’s all this business about equal pay for women? The women who work in my office must be satisfied with their salaries, because not one of them has ever complained or asked for a raise.” There are implicit premises such as ‘if there is no expression of dissatisfaction there is no dissatisfaction… AND because the lack of evidence against satisfaction is evidence for satisfaction’

Front 30

Contrary to Fact Hypothesis

Back 30

Treating a hypothetical claim as if it were a statement of fact by making a claim, without sufficient evidence, about what would have happened in the past if other conditions had been present or about an event that will occur in the future
Ex. “If I hadn’t goofed around my first year of college, I would have been accepted into med school”

Front 31

Fallacy of Popular Wisdom

Back 31

Appealing to insights expressed in aphorisms or clichés, folk wisdom, or so-called common sense instead of to relevant evidence for a claim
Ex. “Since you have a continuing relationship with two different men, and cannot have your cake and eat it too, then you must cut off one of the relationships.”

Front 32

Special Pleading

Back 32

Applying principles, rules, or criteria to another person while failing or refusing to apply them to oneself or to a situation that is of personal interest, without providing sufficient evidence to support such an exception
Jessie: Would you please turn off your music? I want to take a nap.
Katrina: This is my room too, I want to listen to my new CD.
Jessie: Listen to it some other time, I want to take a nap.
Jessie is implying her interest to sleep is more important than katrina’s to listen to music

Front 33

Omission of key evidence

Back 33

Constructing an argument that fails to include key evidence that is critical to the support of the conclusion
Ex. It would be wrong to date my friend’s ex-boyfriend and I don’t want to upset her, therefore, I won’t date him
Though one may not want to upset a friend and for that reason may not date her ex but it does not give an argument as to why it is morally wrong…

Front 34

Confusion of a Necessary with a Sucient Condition

Back 34

Assuming that a necessary condition of an event is also a sufficient one
“This flashlight should work; I just bought new batteries for it. I’m going to take these batteries back and get some different ones.” Even though batteries are necessary for the flashlight to work that doesn’t mean they are all that is needed, the flashlight itself could be broken and not the batteries.

Front 35

Casual oversimplification

Back 35

Oversimplifying the casual antecedents of an event by specifying casual factors that are insufficient to account for the event in question or by overemphasizing the roleof one or more of those factors
Ex. “Children today spend an average of five hours per day watching television- time that used to be spent in physical activity and reading. This explains why young people are fatter and dumber than kids used to be” While these may be factors, other factors may be contributing like diet and environment

Front 36

Post Hoc Fallacy

Back 36

Assuming that a particular event, B, is caused by another event, A, simply because B follows A in time
Ex. “I can’t help but think that you are the cause of this. We never had any problem with the furnace until you moved into the apartment.” This could be a coincidence, there is no evidence that just because that person moved in that they broke the furnace

Front 37

Confusion of Cause and Effect

Back 37

Confusing the cause with the effect of an event
Ex. “It’s no wonder that Natalie makes such good grades. She’s the teacher’s pet.” It is more likely that Natalie is the teacher’s pet because she makes good grades

Front 38

Neglect of a Common Cause

Back 38

Failing to recognize that two seemingly related events may not be casually related at all, but rather are effects of a common cause
Ex. “Suppose that a young college student is both obese and depressed. A typical analysis would be that he is depressed because of his obesity or that because of the depression he tends to overeat. However, a likely explanation is that some underlying psychological or physical problem is causing both effects.”

Front 39

Domino Fallacy:

Back 39

Assuming, without appropriate evidence, that a particular action or event is just one, usually the first, in a series of steps that will lead inevitably to a specific, usually undesirable, consequence
Aka the Fox News Fallacy…. If we allow gays and lesbians to marry we will have to allow any one to marry

Front 40

Gambler’s Fallacy:

Back 40

Arguing that because a chance event has had a certain run in the past, the probability of its occurrence in the future is significantly altered
Ex. “I never win anything in those mail-in sweepstakes. Since I haven’t won yet my time must be coming.”

Front 41

Denying the Counterevidence:

Back 41

Refusing to consider seriously or unfairly minimizing the evidence that is brought against one’s claim.
Ex. “I don’t really care what your biology textbook says. I know that I didn’t come from some monkey or lower form of life or whatever you call it. The Bible tells me God created man in his own image. And unlike the Bible, your textbook is just some person’s opinion”.
Just denies any possibility that the textbook could be right on the grounds that it is someone’s opinion.

Front 42

Ignoring the Counterevidence:

Back 42

Arguing in a way that ignore or omits any reference to important evidence unfavorable to one’s position, giving the false impression that there is no significant evidence against it.
Ex. “Motorcycles are dangerous’ they are noisy’ only two people can ride at once’ you can’t ride them in cold or rainy weather; and in most states you are required to wear an uncomfortable helmet. I can’t see why anyone would want to buy one.”
Ignores reasons like being a cheaper way of transportation or that people may find it enjoyable

Front 43

Poisoning the Well:

Back 43

Rejecting a criticism or argument presented by another person because of his or her personal circumstances or improper motives
Ex. “You’re not a woman, so anything you might say about abortion is of no significance”

Front 44

Two-Wrongs Fallacy

Back 44

Rejecting a criticism of one’s argument or actions by accusing one’s critic or others of thinking or acting in a similar way
Ex:
Thurman: At your age, you really shouldn’t work so hard, Laura. You’re going to exhaust yourself completely and end up in the hospital.
Laura: You work just as hard as I do and you aren’t one bit younger!
By saying ”you do it too”, Laura is not addressing the argument but is drawing the attention away from herself so she doesn’t have to deal with the issue.

Front 45

Attacking the Straw Man

Back 45

Misrepresenting an opponent’s position or argument, usually for a the purpose of making it easier to attack
Example:
Marcia: Unless we build a power plant in this area we won’t be able to meet the electrical demands for the growing population
David: So you’re saying that you couldn’t care less what happens to the plant or wildlife or even human life that might be dislocated by building this plant.
David drew an inference from Marcia’s argument that is unwarranted. She never said anything about not caring about other effects such as wildlife.

Front 46

Trivial Objections

Back 46

Attacking an opponent’s position by focusing critical attention on a minor point in the argument
Suzanne: Walking is good for you. You should walk to the cafeteria for lunch rather than driving.
Sherrell: But I don’t eat at the cafeteria.
Suzanne is using an illustration to make her point but Sherrell is attacking which is irrelevant to the argument about the benefits of walking.

Front 47

Red Herring

Back 47

Attempting to hide the weakness of a position by drawing attention away from the real issue to a side issue.
Example
Senator Yates: Why won’t you support my anti-abortion bill? Don’t you care about those unborn lives?
Senator Webb: Yes I do. But I don’t understand why those of you who are concerned about those lives taken by abortion don’t have the same feelings for those killed by handguns.
Handguns are irrelevant to abortion. Senator Webb is trying to distract from having to answer the question in the argument.