Nguyễn Hương Giang
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Fallacies and Assumptions
Task 1 - Identify the assumptions in the following arguments. Evaluate the assumptions.
1. A fantastic basketball team could be created if the best player from each of the best
teams formed a new club. Basketball would then become an exciting game for fans
everywhere.
Assumption: the best players from each teams will work well when being together -> wrong
FAULT ANALOGY
2. Neither marijuana nor LSD can be harmful, since they are used by doctors to ease the
pain of cancer patients.
Assumption: all the drug used by doctors are not harmful in every situation => wrong
EITHER OR FALLACY
Task 2 - Find the logical fallacies in the following cases.
1. Senator Jill: "We'll have to cut education funding this year."
Senator Bill: "Why?"
Senator Jill: "Well, either we cut the social programs or we live with a huge deficit and we can't
live with the deficit."
Assumption: there are only 2 ways to solve the problem => either or (we can cut down on
other program/ ask for sponsor
2. Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest."
Bill: "What about the arguments I gave to support my position?"
Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong.
Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can't believe what you say."
Ad hominem. Rejecting Bill’s argument by attacking his being a priest rather than
evaluating his argument on its merits.
3. Hot dogs are better than nothing. Nothing is better than steak. Therefore, hot dogs are better
than steak.
Fault analogy. The conclusion depends upon a false comparison between two things that
are not actually similar in relevant respects. "Nothing" is not a thing to rank between
"hotdog" and "steak”
4. I don’t understand why everyone is so upset about drug companies distorting research data in
order to make their pain killer drugs seem to be less dangerous to people’s health than they
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actually are. Taking those drugs can’t be that bad. After all, there are still thousands of people
using these drugs and getting pain relief from them.
Ad Populum. The arguer appeals to the sheer number of persons who agree with the belief
or to the popularity of the belief as evidence that it is true.
5. The right-to-die initiative should be defeated by the voters in the next election. Although the
proposition involves people only with terminal conditions, eventually cooperative doctors will
stretch the definition to include chronic conditions, like Alzheimer's or multiple sclerosis. Pretty
soon we won't have any control over who lives or who dies. It will be just like ancient Sparta,
where babies who did not have the potential to be great warriors were left outside to die.
Fault analogy. The conclusion depends upon a false comparison between two things that
are not actually similar in relevant respects.
Task 3 - Find the logical fallacies in the following argument:
The feminist argument that pornography is harmful has no merit and should not be discussed in
college courses. I read “Playboy” magazine, and I don’t see how it could be harmful. Feminists
might criticize me for looking at porn, but they shouldn’t talk; they obviously look at it, too, or
they couldn’t criticize it. Many important people, including the Presidents, writers, and entertainers
who have been interviewed by the magazine and the women who pose in it, apparently agree.
Scientific studies so far have not proved that pornography is harmful, so it must not be harmful.
Besides, to be harmful, pornography would either have to harm the men who read it or the women
who pose in it, and since they both choose these activities, they must not be harmful. Feminists
should take a lesson from my parents—they don’t like loud music and won’t have it in their house,
but they don’t go around saying it’s harmful to everyone or trying to prevent others from listening
to it. Ever since feminists began attacking our popular culture, the moral foundation of our society
has been weakened; the divorce rate, for example, continues to rise. If feminists would just cease
their hysterical opposition to sex, perhaps relationships in our society would improve. If feminists
insist, instead, on banning porn, men will have no freedom and no pleasure left, and large numbers
of women will be jobless and will have to work as prostitutes to support themselves. In light of
these consequences, feminists shouldn’t be surprised if their protests are met with violence. Truly,
the feminist argument is baseless.
1) Tu quoque: reject argument because some feminists fails to practice what they preaches.
2) Appeal to authority: Relying upon the view of apparent (as opposed to genuine) authorities
(Presidents, writers, and entertainers) to settle the truth the argument.
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3) Faulty analogies. The conclusion depends upon a false comparison between two things
(pornography and loud music) that are not actually similar in relevant respects.
4) Ad hominem: Rejecting the feminists’ argument by attacking the the rather than evaluating
their argument on its merits.
5) Slippery slope: The arguer tries to convince others when A: “banning porn” happen, then
by a gradual series of small steps “men will have no freedom and no pleasure left”, “large
numbers of women will be jobless and will have to work as prostitutes to support
themselves”. Therefore, A should not happen.
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