Question: New York is located in the United States. Therefore, native-born New Yorkers are native-born Americans.
Answer Choices:
a. Begging the question
b. Weak analogy
c. Composition
d. No fallacy
e. Missing the point
Answer: d. No fallacy
Question: George argues that prize fighting should be outlawed. But many prize fighters have been great athletes—Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Rocky Marciano, and Joe Louis, to name just a few. Clearly George is mistaken.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy
b. Red herring
c. Appeal to unqualified authority
d. False cause
e. Straw man
Answer: b. Red herring
Question: Michelle said she saw a man get run over by a car while standing on her porch. We can only conclude that her porch was severely damaged.
Answer Choices:
a. False dichotomy
b. Straw man
c. No fallacy
d. Equivocation
e. Amphiboly
Answer: e. Amphiboly
Question: Nobody has ever proved that the prophecies of Nostradamus are false. Therefore, they must be true.
Answer Choices:
a. Argument against the person, circumstantial
b. Tu quoque (you, too)
c. Missing the point
d. Appeal to ignorance
e. No fallacy
Answer: d. Appeal to ignorance
Question: Religious fanatics are basically crazy because they are deluded. Of course, they are deluded because they believe nonsense. And they believe nonsense because they are hopelessly narrow-minded. Naturally, they are hopelessly narrow-minded because they are basically crazy.
Answer Choices:
a. Begging the question
b. Red herring
c. No fallacy
d. Straw man
e. Slippery slope
Answer: a. Begging the question
Question: Maria’s argument for abolishing the Immigration Service can’t be trusted. After all, Maria is an illegal alien, and if the Immigration Service is abolished, she will never be caught and deported.
Answer Choices:
a. Straw man
b. Argument against the person, circumstantial
c. Missing the point
d. Tu quoque (you, too)
e. No fallacy
Answer: b. Argument against the person, circumstantial
Question: Professor Stevens, the great English scholar, says that Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales represents a milestone in the development of the English language. Therefore, the Canterbury Tales must indeed be a milestone, just as he says.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to force
b. No fallacy
c. Amphiboly
d. Appeal to unqualified authority
e. False cause
Answer: d. Appeal to unqualified authority
Question: It would be a mistake to provide new gloves to the school’s baseball players. In no time the football players will want new equipment. Then the tennis players will want new courts, the hockey players will want a new arena, the swimmers will want a new pool, and the golfers will want their own special course. The costs for these facilities will go through the roof.
Answer Choices:
a. Composition
b. Equivocation
c. Accident
d. Slippery slope
e. No fallacy
Answer: d. Slippery slope
Question: George likes chocolate truffles, and he also likes Tabasco sauce. Therefore he would certainly like some chocolate truffles topped with Tabasco sauce.
Answer Choices:
a. Accident
b. Appeal to pity
c. Hasty generalization
d. Begging the question
e. Composition
Answer: e. Composition
Question: Professor Smith, of course you agree that all of us deserve an excellent grade in this class. Because if you don’t, you’ll get rotten evaluations at the end of the semester, and as a result, you may be denied tenure.
Answer Choices:
a. Complex question
b. Division
c. Appeal to pity
d. Appeal to force
e. No fallacy
Answer: d. Appeal to force
Question: Which of the following statements involves the collective predication of an attribute?
Answer Choices:
a. Sunflowers are yellow.
b. Fire trucks are noisy.
c. Wine is alcoholic.
d. Solar eclipses are infrequent.
e. Germany is in northern Europe.
Answer: d. Solar eclipses are infrequent.
Question: The gambler’s fallacy is a variety of:
Answer Choices:
a. Accident
b. False cause
c. Slippery slope
d. Suppressed evidence
e. False dichotomy
Answer: b. False cause
Question: Given the argument, “All cats are animals, and some animals are mammals; thus, some cats are mammals.” This argument:
Answer Choices:
a. Contains an informal fallacy.
b. Is strong.
c. Contains a formal fallacy.
d. Contains a disjunctive fallacy.
e. Is valid.
Answer: c. Contains a formal fallacy.
Question: Which of the following is presented as a factor leading to the commission of fallacies?
Answer Choices:
a. The arguer’s desire to feel superior.
b. An anti-logical disposition in the mind of the arguer.
c. A lack of formal education.
d. A genetic defect in the arguer.
e. Presuppositions in the arguer’s worldview.
Answer: b. An anti-logical disposition in the mind of the arguer.
Question: Which of the following fallacies involves distributive predication in the conclusion of an argument?
Answer Choices:
a. Hasty generalization
b. Division
c. Accident
d. Composition
e. False cause
Answer: a. Hasty generalization
Question: Which of the following fallacies arises from a statement made by someone other than the arguer?
Answer Choices:
a. Equivocation
b. Argument against the person, circumstantial
c. Amphiboly
d. Appeal to force
e. Appeal to the people
Answer: c. Amphiboly
Question: Which of the following fallacies always involves two arguers?
Answer Choices:
a. Complex question
b. Argument against the person
c. Red herring
d. Appeal to unqualified authority
e. Begging the question
Answer: b. Argument against the person