Deck 8: What Should I Avoid

Question 1

Fallacies only occur when arguers intentionally attempt to deceive their listeners or readers.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Hasty generalizations occur when there are insufficient cases presented to warrant the claim.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A hasty generalization will occur if your reasoning is based upon an atypical example.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

When you assert that what is true of the whole will be true of its parts, you risk committing a fallacy of composition.

Question 5

The fallacies of composition, division, and refutation can occur when arguers resort to using emotional rather than logical appeals.

Question 6

"The food at Wally World is bland and overpriced. I wouldn't bother getting something to eat at any theme park," is an example of the fallacy of composition.

Question 7

Begging the question occurs when the claim is supported by reasons that do nothing more than rephrase the claim itself.

Question 8

A non sequitir is an argument in which the character of the arguer rather than the arguments he or she advanced is attacked.

Question 9

An ad hominem argument is one in which the character of the arguer rather than the arguments he or she advanced is attacked.

Question 10

If you have no response to the arguments of another, you should offer an ad hominem argument to avoid committing the fallacy of avoiding the issue.

Question 11

When you offer arguments applying the tests of proof, source credibility, and sound reasoning to demonstrate the deficiencies in another person's arguments, you are committing the fallacy of employing ad hominem arguments.

Question 12

When an arguer abandons his original position on an issue and adopts a new one, a shift of ground has probably taken place.

Question 13

The primary difference between an argument from dilemma and the fallacy of forcing a dichotomy is that in the latter the choices available to the listener or reader are over simplified.

Question 14

It is not an error in reasoning to ask your audience to accept a claim because no proof contradicting it exists.

Question 15

Appealing to emotions such as pity and fear will always result in the commission of a fallacy.

Question 16

An argument from authority is fallacious if the use of the authority prevents the other side of the issue from receiving a fair hearing.

Question 17

An argument from authority is fallacious if the source of opinion lacks expertise.

Question 18

As long as we remember that meanings are in words, and use the appropriate words, we can avoid committing fallacies of language.

Question 19

Because a word may have a number of legitimate meanings, you need to be careful not to commit errors of ambiguity or equivocation.

Question 20

A good way to avoid committing a fallacy of language is to use as much of the technical terminology of the field of the proposition as possible.

Question 21

In this category of fallacy in argumentation, the problem is often the result of a flaw in the warrant that justifies the mental leap between grounds and claim. Errors of this kind fall into the category of fallacies

A)in reasoning.
B)of appeal.
C)in language use.
D)of evaluation.

Question 22

Arguments that offer conclusion based on insufficient information, too few instances, atypical examples, or offer conclusions that overstate what is warranted by the evidence are referred to as

A)hasty generalizations.
B)fallacies of composition.
C)ad hominem arguments.
D)forced dichotomies.

Question 23

"Since the Pegasus, a wide bodied commercial jetliner has been shown to have serious design flaws, it is reasonable to assume that other wide bodied commercial jetliners, such as the Valkyrie, have serious design flaws." What fallacy of reasoning does this argument commit?

A)Composition.
B)Division.
C)Refutation.
D)None, the argument is not fallacious.

Question 24

"You say the food at Wally World is bland and overpriced. Did you try the tacos or the hot wings? Did you use the family feast plan, which can save you a lot of money? Did you really give the food at the park a fair shot?" This argument commits the fallacy of

A)hasty generalization.
B)the fallacy of refutation.
C)ad ignorantium argument.
D)circular reasoning.

Question 25

A straw man argument is one in which an arguer does which of the following?

A)Directs attention to the refutation of an argument that was never raised.
B)Restates an argument in a way that makes it appear weaker.
C)Commits a transfer fallacy.
D)All of the above

Question 26

"If we accept the argument about the lack of safety of the Pegasus, then we must abandon whatever faith we have in the free enterprise system as we know it," is a statement that commits the fallacy of

A)circular reasoning.
B)use of technical jargon.
C)appeal to authority.
D)irrelevant argument.

Question 27

"Safety questions not withstanding, I think everyone will admit that the Pegasus is a much more comfortable passenger plane than the Valkyrie or any other wide bodied jet."
This argument commits the fallacy of

A)circular reasoning.
B)hasty generalization.
C)simple evasion.
D)forcing a dichotomy.

Question 28

When an arguer abandons their original position on a particular argument and adopts a new one, they are committing the fallacy of

A)shifting ground.
B)non sequitir.
C)division.
D)ad populum.

Question 29

When an arguer magnifies the importance of a weak argument out of proportion and uses it to discredit the other person's entire position, the arguer risks committing the fallacy of

A)simple evasion.
B)shifting ground.
C)ad hominem argument.
D)seizing on a trivial point.

Question 30

An argument from dilemma becomes a fallacious when

A)the choices it offers are too simplistic.
B)the arguer fails to account for the possibility of partial or multiple causality.
C)the arguer fails to consider alternative choices fully.
D)All of the above

Question 31

One type of fallacy is to claim "that because we cannot prove something has not happened or does not exist, it therefore must have happened or must exist." We call this

A)a fallacy in reasoning.
B)a fallacy of appeal.
C)a fallacy in language use.
D)a fallacy of evaluation.

Question 32

When a claim is justified on the basis of the fact that the majority of people believe it, the arguer may be committing the fallacy of offering an argument.

A)ad absurdum
B)ad hominem
C)ad ignorantium
D)ad populum

Question 33

"How can we question the safety of the Pegasus when so many people choose to fly on them each and every day?" This is an example of an appeal to

A)ignorance.
B)the people.
C)tradition.
D)fear.

Question 34

"It is foolish to claim that the Pegasus is unsafe, after all the Federal Aviation Administration has certified it to fly and has not revoked that certification," is a statement which commits the fallacy of appeal to

A)ignorance.
B)the people.
C)tradition.
D)authority.

Question 35

An argument from authority becomes a fallacious appeal to authority when

A)a seemingly authoritative source of opinion lacks real expertise on the subject.
B)the authority is characterized as infallible and used to shut off further discussion of the issues.
C)the use of authoritative opinion prevents a fair hearing of the other side of the issue.
D)All of the above

Question 36

Asking your audience to accept something because it represents the customs of our society, rather than because the issues justify its acceptance, commits the fallacy of appeal to

A)ignorance.
B)the people.
C)authority.
D)tradition.

Question 37

"More people are killed and injured every year in their bathtubs than in Pegasus. I suppose the next thing you will argue is that we should give up bathing." This argument commits the fallacy of

A)appeal to fear.
B)refutation.
C)appeal to ignorance.
D)reducing a claim to absurdity.

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT a fallacy in language use?

A)Equivocation
B)Ambiguity
C)Emotionally loaded language
D)Definition by negation

Question 39

If in answering your question about how people reason, your professor uses the terms "epistemological" and "ontological," and you have no idea what those two terms mean, the professor may be committing

A)a fallacy in reasoning.
B)a fallacy of appeal.
C)a fallacy in language use.
D)All of the above

Question 40

"The university's golf course is terrible. The rough is so uneven that you could break your wrist trying to get your ball out of a thick patch, while five feet away you could destroy a club on a rocky patch." This argument commits the fallacy of using

A)ambiguous language.
B)equivocal language.
C)emotionally loaded language.
D)technical jargon.