Question: Mr. Jones, surely you will find me qualified for the open position in your accounting department. I provide the sole support for my aged mother, who is crippled with arthritis, and if I don’t get a job soon I know I’ll have a nervous breakdown.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to ignorance
b. Missing the point
c. Appeal to pity
d. Appeal to ignorance
e. No fallacy
Answer: c. Appeal to pity
Question: The use of contraceptives is immoral, because anything that violates nature is immoral.
Answer Choices:
a. Begging the question
b. Complex question
c. Appeal to the people
d. Weak analogy
e. No fallacy
Answer: a. Begging the question
Question: Smooth, round stones apparently have the power to cure the flu. The last time Harriet got the flu, she put 10 smooth, round stones in her left pocket, and each day she transferred one of them to her right pocket. After all the stones were transferred, the flu was gone! Many others have tried this cure, and it has worked every time.
Answer Choices:
a. Hasty generalization
b. Red herring
c. False cause
d. Missing the point
e. Appeal to unqualified authority
Answer: c. False cause
Question: Ladies and gentlemen, the minds of our children are in jeopardy. Today a reckless band of heathen teachers is shoving Darwinism down our children’s throats. This ridiculous theory holds that human beings, the children of God, developed from mere monkeys. It holds that blind accident accounts for all life. Down with this godless theory! Fire the heathen teachers! Return God to the classroom!
Answer Choices:
a. Red herring
b. Appeal to the people
c. Appeal to force
d. Missing the point
e. Appeal to ignorance
Answer: b. Appeal to the people
Question: Mr. Rankin has just given his argument against affirmative action for women. It seems what he is saying is that women should stay out of the workplace altogether. Just keep them barefoot and pregnant. That’s what Rankin wants. Well, I think we are all smart enough to reject that argument.
Answer Choices:
a. Argument against the person, abusive
b. Argument against the person, circumstantial
c. Red herring
d. Missing the point
e. Straw man
Answer: e. Straw man
Question: The fallacy in which the arguer attempts to create a mob mentality is:
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to authority
b. Appeal to the people
c. Amphiboly
d. False cause
e. Argument against the person
Answer: b. Appeal to the people
Question: In which of the following statements is an attribute predicated distributively?
Answer Choices:
a. Lemons are sour.
b. Cancer fatalities are increasing.
c. Model T Fords are disappearing.
d. Stars are numerous.
e. Bank robberies are frequent.
Answer: a. Lemons are sour.
Question: The fallacy in which the arguer attempts to lead the reader or listener off the track is:
Answer Choices:
a. False cause
b. Division
c. Red herring
d. Argument against the person
e. Amphiboly
Answer: c. Red herring
Question: A fallacy that can be detected through mere inspection of the form of an argument is:
Answer Choices:
a. An informal fallacy
b. A fallacy of weak induction
c. A fallacy of relevance
d. A fallacy of ambiguity
e. A formal fallacy
Answer: e. A formal fallacy
Question: The fallacy in which an arguer attempts to discredit an argument by making its author appear as a hypocrite is:
Answer Choices:
a. Ad hominem circumstantial
b. Ad hominem abusive
c. Red herring
d. Tu quoque (you, too)
e. Straw man
Answer: d. Tu quoque (you, too)
Question: Which of the following is not mentioned in the text as leading to the commission of informal fallacies?
Answer Choices:
a. A careless mental posture.
b. An emotional disposition favoring or opposing something.
c. A failure to distinguish appearance from reality.
d. Presuppositions in the arguer’s worldview.
e. The intentions of the arguer.
Answer: c. A failure to distinguish appearance from reality.
Question: The non causa pro causa variety of the false cause fallacy is committed whenever the arguer:
Answer Choices:
a. concludes that just because X happens before Y, X causes Y.
b. concludes that just because X and Y occur over the same interval of time, X causes Y.
c. concludes that an apparent cause is not really a cause.
d. proceeds from cause to effect.
e. concludes that one of several causes is the sole cause.
Answer: b. concludes that just because X and Y occur over the same interval of time, X causes Y.
Question: If a defense attorney in an American or Canadian criminal trial argues that because the prosecutor has proved nothing beyond a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the defendant, the defendant is innocent, then the defense attorney commits:
Answer Choices:
a. An appeal to ignorance.
b. A false cause.
c. No fallacy.
d. A hasty generalization.
e. A missing the point.
Answer: c. No fallacy
Question: The first rule of good behavior is always be yourself. Therefore, professional actors, who adopt the role of someone other than themselves, are behaving improperly.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Begging the question.
c. Tu quoque (you, too).
d. Weak analogy.
e. Accident.
Answer: e. Accident
Question: Movie star Glitzy Glamour says in magazine ads that Sparkle cosmetics are fabulous. Given Glitzy’s incredible popularity, we must conclude that Sparkle cosmetics are indeed fabulous, just as she says.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Missing the point.
c. Appeal to the people.
d. Appeal to unqualified authority.
e. Appeal to ignorance.
Answer: d. Appeal to unqualified authority.
Question: United States Marshals are allowed to carry loaded guns in the courtroom. But attorneys are officers of the court, no less than U.S. Marshals. Therefore, attorneys are allowed to carry loaded guns in the courtroom.
Answer Choices:
a. Weak analogy.
b. No fallacy.
c. Appeal to unqualified authority.
d. Hasty generalization.
e. Equivocation.
Answer: a. Weak analogy
Question: After getting settled in your new job, you will want to buy a home in the Woodland district. Woodland is true prestige, and all of our upscale employees live there.
Answer Choices:
a. Argument against the person, circumstantial.
b. No fallacy.
c. Appeal to the people.
d. Red herring.
e. Appeal to force.
Answer: c. Appeal to the people.