Starting with the major premise, "If the heater is turned on, then the house will get warm," which of the following completed arguments commits the fallacy of
affirming the consequent?
A)The heater is turned on so the house is warm.
B)No one turned the heater on so the house must be cold.
C)The house is warm so someone must have turned on the heater.
D)The house is cold, so we know that no one turned on the heater.

Question

Starting with the major premise, "If the heater is turned on, then the house will get warm," which of the following completed arguments commits the fallacy of
 affirming the consequent?
A)The heater is turned on so the house is warm.
B)No one turned the heater on so the house must be cold.
C)The house is warm so someone must have turned on the heater.
D)The house is cold, so we know that no one turned on the heater.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fallacy of affirming the consequent occurs when one assumes that because the consequence (the house being warm) is true, the antecedent (the heater being turned on) must also be true. This is a logical fallacy because there could be other reasons for the house being warm.

Starting with the Major Premise, "If the Heater Is Turned