Practice Quiz, Informal Fallacies

Remember these steps…

Arguments are the assertion of a conclusion from reasons that are better known than the conclusion.

3 Steps!

1. Ask yourself: “Is this good reasoning … does it sound reasonable?” If it sounds reasonable, No Fallacy.

2. If it sounds unreasonable, ask “Why does it sound unreasonable or screwy?” If it sounds unreasonable because the premise or reason offered is rude, mean, silly, impossible or improbable, etc., the reasoning might still be good! Check again.

3. If the reasoning still seems screwy after consciously accepting even rude, silly, or improbable reasons, then you have a fallacy … find the best bucket to drop the fallacy in.

Classification of Fallacies

Fallacies of Relevance:

Appeal to ForceAppeal to PityAppeal to the PeopleAd HominemAccidentStraw manMissing the PointRed Herring

Weak Induction:Appeal to Unqualified

AuthorityAppeal to IgnoranceHasty GeneralizationFalse CauseSlippery SlopeWeak Analogy

Fallacies of Presumption:

Begging the QuestionComplex QuestionFaulty Dilemma

Fallacies of Ambiguity:

EquivocationAmphibole

Fallacies of Grammatical Analogy:

CompositionDivision

1Anyone who shoots a gun at

another person should go to jail, so, those police officers returning fire at those bank robbers should be arrested, pronto!

A. Begging the QuestionB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. Hasty GeneralizationD. Accident

(Misapplying a Rule)E. No Fallacy

2Betty is a real gem … she

has violent, unpredictable outbursts, and then cries for hours afterwards. I think you should ignore her ideas about which car to buy.

A. Appeal to Unqualified Authority

B. Argument to the Person, abusive

C. False Cause, post hocD. Accident

(Misapplying a Rule)E. No Fallacy

3Betty is a real gem … she

has violent, unpredictable outbursts, and then cries for hours afterwards. I think you should think twice about dating her.

A. False cause, mere contributive cause

B. Argument to the Person, abusive

C. Begging the QuestionD. Accident

(Misapplying a Rule)E. No Fallacy

4Sean Hannity says he doesn’t

want the government regulating speech with hate speech laws. But really, no government at all is what he wants! American!? Patriot!? True Americans love our system of government … Hannity is a anarchist!

A. DivisionB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. False cause, post hocD. Straw Man (Straw

Position)E. No Fallacy

5I hear the Vikings cut their

backup left tackle after he expressed his support for gay marriage. I guess we know the franchise is run by a bunch of homophobic, bigoted jerks.

A. False cause, post hocB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. Complex QuestionD. Straw Man (Straw

Position)E. No Fallacy

6You know, I can hear your

stereo all the way in the basement, so … it’s given me a splitting headache and you can just run yourself to the store and get me some Ibuprofen.

A. False cause, post hocB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. False cause, mere

contributive causeD. Faulty DilemmaE. No Fallacy

7Alan is a social clod with no

verbal filter. He once told a complete stranger, “I think I can smell you.” Probably not the guy we send to invite those girls over for a drink.

A. Faulty DilemmaB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. Slippery SlopeD. Straw Man (Straw

Position)E. No Fallacy

8Saw you carrying a case of

Heineken into your house. So, are you still fighting with alcoholism?

A. Begging the QuestionB. CompositionC. Complex QuestionD. Straw Man (Straw

Position)E. No Fallacy

9A ban on guns would make

us so much safer!

Really? Why?

Well, duh! … it would reduce our exposure to danger!

A. Begging the QuestionB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. Complex QuestionD. Straw Man (Straw

Position)E. No Fallacy

10You do those dishes or go to

your room!

A. Slippery SlopeB. Argument to the

Person, abusiveC. Faulty DilemmaD. Straw Man (Straw

Position)E. No Fallacy

11Sit down and eat! If you skip

dinner, you’ll be hungry later, then you’ll be cranky, next thing you know we’ll be arguing! A. Begging the Question

B. Argument to the Person, abusive

C. Faulty DilemmaD. Slippery SlopeE. No Fallacy

12Each member of our relay

team is super-fast, and good at passing the baton, so, our relay team should be pretty good this year!

A. Appeal to ForceB. DivisionC. Faulty DilemmaD. CompositionE. No Fallacy

13One morning I shot an

elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.

A. EquivocationB. DivisionC. AmphiboleD. CompositionE. No Fallacy

14Our district has dumped

thousands into math education. I just talked to my niece … she couldn’t multiply or divide, and she’s in 3rd grade! I guess none of our kids is getting what we’re paying for!

A. EquivocationB. False cause, post hocC. Accident

(Misapplying a rule)D. Hasty GeneralizationE. No Fallacy

15Congresswoman Bunger has

argued the traditional family is important for the health of the nation, but she was recently caught in a lesbian affair with a congressional page! Clearly her arguments can’t be trusted.

A. EquivocationB. False cause, post hocC. Argument to the

Person, Tu Quoque (you too)

D. Hasty GeneralizationE. No Fallacy

16You take a hit of that Mary

Jane, next it’s cocaine, heroine, then you’re a prostitute or a burglar, embezzler, probably end up shot!

A. False cause, confused causal chain

B. False cause, post hocC. Slippery SlopeD. Appeal to PityE. No Fallacy

17Every member of the Jazz

Dance club is over 50, so, the club must be over 50, too.

A. CompositionB. Hasty GeneralizationC. AmphiboleD. DivisionE. No Fallacy

18When you execute the

innocent, you know you’ve made a terrible mistake. But every fetus is innocent … clearly, abortion is a terrible mistake, too.

A. CompositionB. Hasty GeneralizationC. EquivocationD. DivisionE. No Fallacy

19You really don’t want to

argue that animal lives have less value than human lives, do you? You’ll cause an uproar from those wacky PETA types on campus!

A. CompositionB. Appeal to the People,

indirectC. EquivocationD. Appeal to ForceE. No Fallacy

20Senator Parks wants to ban the

pesticide Xandipytheldip, just because it will kill a few people each year. But if that was a good reason, we’d be banning cars, which kill thousands! Let’s leave Xandipytheldip alone!

A. CompositionB. Appeal to the People,

indirectC. Argument to the

Person, Tu Quoque (you too)

D. Weak AnalogyE. No Fallacy

21I think you should give God a

chance, Mr. Thornbuckle. The majority of the world’s population believes in a higher power, after all.

A. CompositionB. Appeal to the People,

indirectC. Argument to the

Person, Tu Quoque (you too)

D. Weak AnalogyE. No Fallacy

22Albert Einstein said years

ago, “God doesn’t not play dice with the universe” … I think if a brilliant guy like Einstein says something like that, believing in God is pretty reasonable.

A. Weak AnalogyB. Appeal to the People,

indirectC. DivisionD. Appeal to Unqualified

AuthorityE. No Fallacy

Answers…

1. D 2. B 3. E 4. D 5. A 6. C 7. E 8. C 9. A 10. E

11. E 12. E 13. C 14. D 15. C 16. C 17. A 18. C

19. D 20. D 21. B 22. D