Question: It’s never a good idea to allow your teenage kids to have a sip of champagne on New Year’s Eve. Next you know they’ll be drinking beer during TV football games. Then it’ll be wine every night at dinner. Then Bloody Marys every morning. Soon they’ll be raging alcoholics, and the costs for rehab will be enormous.
Answer Choices:
a. Complex question.
b. No fallacy.
c. Slippery slope.
d. False cause.
e. Missing the point.
Answer: c. Slippery slope.
Question: Every component in this boat is made of rust-proof material. Therefore, the entire boat is rust-proof.
Answer Choices:
a. False dichotomy.
b. Weak analogy.
c. Composition.
d. No fallacy.
e. Suppressed evidence.
Answer: c. Composition.
Question: Congressman Baxter, I know you will want to support our application to clear-cut the old growth timber in the Great Northern forest. After all, surely you don’t want the media to find out about that affair you’ve been having with a certain Capitol Hill intern.
Answer Choices:
a. Division.
b. Appeal to the people.
c. No fallacy.
d. Appeal to pity.
e. Appeal to force.
Answer: e. Appeal to force.
Question: There is a lot of talk these days about the need for greater fuel economy in SUVs. But today’s SUVs are really beautiful. The Cadillac Escalade has clean lines, supple leather, and polished hardwood. The Lincoln Navigator features beautiful paint and the feel of strength and security. And the Mercury Mariner has wonderful styling and a great sound system. Who could ask for anything more?
Answer Choices:
a. Begging the question.
b. Red herring.
c. Straw man.
d. Missing the point.
e. No fallacy.
Answer: b. Red herring.
Question: Whatever you do, never accept a date from Ken Bradshaw. The last woman to date Ken broke up with him in just 3 weeks and became a lesbian.
Answer Choices:
a. False cause.
b. Weak analogy.
c. No fallacy.
d. Appeal to unqualified authority.
e. Hasty generalization.
Answer: a. False cause.
Question: Professor Gibson said that he teaches only dead white philosophers. Therefore, it must be the case that all of his students are dead.
Answer Choices:
a. Equivocation.
b. Appeal to ignorance.
c. You, too (tu quoque).
d. No fallacy.
e. Amphiboly.
Answer: e. Amphiboly.
Question: Either you buy me a new Rolls Royce or I’ll have to walk to work in the snow. And I’m sure you don’t want me to do that.
Answer Choices:
a. Straw man.
b. No fallacy.
c. False dichotomy.
d. Appeal to force.
e. Missing the point.
Answer: c. False dichotomy.
Question: Tom Larsen could not have written this fine term paper. Tom is as stupid as the day is long, and he can’t put three words together to form an intelligent sentence.
Answer Choices:
a. Argument against the person, abusive.
b. No fallacy.
c. Appeal to pity.
d. Accident.
e. Argument against the person, circumstantial.
Answer: a. Argument against the person, abusive.
Question: The war in Iraq was justified beyond any question. America was founded in the spirit of freedom and self-determination, and it finds its destiny in liberating the victims of tyranny wherever they languish! America is a beacon of hope for the oppressed, a refuge for the downtrodden, a shining star of freedom for the whole world! The hand of the Almighty points the way! Every true patriot will heed the clarion call of freedom for all humankind!
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Missing the point.
c. Slippery slope.
d. Appeal to the people.
e. Appeal to pity.
Answer: d. Appeal to the people.
Question: William likes to eat. He also likes to make love. It follows that William likes to eat while he’s making love.
Answer Choices:
a. Red herring.
b. Amphiboly.
c. Division.
d. Composition.
Answer: b. Amphiboly.
Question: The new Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan says that interracial marriage is a crime against nature. Therefore, that interracial couple who just moved into the neighborhood must be a pair of criminals.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Complex question.
c. Appeal to unqualified authority.
d. Begging the question.
e. Suppressed evidence.
Answer: c. Appeal to unqualified authority.
Question: Either Thomas Edison or Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph. But it wasn’t Edison. Therefore, Morse invented the telegraph.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Division.
c. False dichotomy.
d. Appeal to ignorance.
e. Appeal to the people.
Answer: a. No fallacy.
Question: Hugo lost an arm in a car accident last year. But surely he will get it back. Most things that are lost turn up sooner or later.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Equivocation.
c. Appeal to unqualified authority.
d. Amphiboly.
e. Composition.
Answer: b. Equivocation.
Question: Judge, surely I’m not obligated to pay $250,000 in back taxes. If you were to decide against me, it would really put a crimp in my finances. I wouldn’t be able to afford that new BMW, and my social status in our upscale neighborhood will drop like a rock.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to pity.
b. Appeal to force.
c. Appeal to unqualified authority.
d. No fallacy.
e. Argument against the person, circumstantial.
Answer: a. Appeal to pity.
Question: During the past 200 years, the U.S. has not recognized same-sex marriage. Therefore the U.S. will not recognize same-sex marriage in the next 200 years.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to the people.
b. False cause.
c. Suppressed evidence.
d. Accident.
e. Hasty generalization.
Answer: c. Suppressed evidence.
Question: Nobody has ever seen Mr. Albie walk without crutches. We conclude that Mr. Albie needs crutches to walk.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to pity.
b. False cause.
c. Appeal to ignorance.
d. Begging the question.
e. No fallacy.
Answer: d. Begging the question.
Question: Floyd Conway has given us his reasons for unrestricted logging in our national forests. But it’s obvious why he says these things. Floyd is a lumberjack, and he just wants to ensure that he’ll have a job in the years ahead.
Answer Choices:
a. Argument against the person, abusive.
b. False dichotomy.
c. Straw man.
d. Argument against the person, circumstantial.
e. No fallacy.
Answer: d. Argument against the person, circumstantial.
Question: All political operatives are disingenuous characters and all clever manipulators are disingenuous characters. Thus, all political operatives are clever manipulators.
Answer Choices:
a. This argument contains a fallacy of weak induction.
b. This argument contains no fallacy.
c. This argument contains a formal fallacy.
d. This argument contains a fallacy of ambiguity.
e. This argument contains a fallacy of relevance.
Answer: c. This argument contains a formal fallacy.