Using the “Guide to Fallacies” handout, read
the following examples and determine which
logical fallacy the example is guilty of
committing.

Blue Bell Ice Cream claims to 'taste just
like the good old days'. Its commercials
also include a lot of old timey images.
Appeal to Tradition

Blue Bell Ice Cream claims to 'taste just
like the good old days'. Its commercials
also include a lot of old timey images.

 In the movie A Few Good Men, Colonel Jessup, after
having been accused of killing one of his own men
(admittedly by accident), is being questioned in
military court by a military lawyer and asserts: "I
have neither the time nor the inclination to explain
myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the
blanket of the very freedom I provide, then
questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd
rather you just said thank you and went on your
way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon
and stand a post." He seems to suggest either you
are fighting on the front lines, in war, or you are
not really soldier.
False Dichotomy aka Either/Choice

 In the movie A Few Good Men, Colonel Jessup, after
having been accused of killing one of his own men
(admittedly by accident), is being questioned in
military court by a military lawyer and asserts: "I
have neither the time nor the inclination to explain
myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the
blanket of the very freedom I provide, then
questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd
rather you just said thank you and went on your
way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon
and stand a post." He seems to suggest either you
are fighting on the front lines, in war, or you are
not really soldier.

 Sesame Street had a Bert & Ernie sketch where Ernie
held a banana in his ear, claiming it kept away
alligators.
 Bert: But there aren't any alligators on Sesame Street!
 Ernie: I know, it's working!
Post Hoc, ergo Propter
Hoc/Faulty Causality

 Sesame Street had a Bert & Ernie sketch where Ernie
held a banana in his ear, claiming it kept away
alligators.
 Bert: But there aren't any alligators on Sesame Street!
 Ernie: I know, it's working!

In Troll 2, an evil witch is able to
convince someone to drink a steaming
green broth that has just turned
someone else into green goo because "it
is made from vegetable extracts".
Natural Law Fallacy

In Troll 2, an evil witch is able to
convince someone to drink a steaming
green broth that has just turned
someone else into green goo because "it
is made from vegetable extracts".

 A product called "Vitamins of Linus Pauling” is
marketed as coming from a two-time Nobel Prize
winner. His first Nobel was for Chemistry, on the
nature of chemical bonds. That's great, but it has
rather little to do with vitamins. His second Nobel is
the Peace Prize, which has nothing at all to do with
vitamins. His connection with vitamins is that he
became rather obsessed with mega-doses of vitamin
C in his later years, but that part of his work caused
much controversy and his results were
unreproducible.
Appeal to False Authority

 A product called "Vitamins of Linus Pauling” is
marketed as coming from a two-time Nobel Prize
winner. His first Nobel was for Chemistry, on the
nature of chemical bonds. That's great, but it has
rather little to do with vitamins. His second Nobel is
the Peace Prize, which has nothing at all to do with
vitamins. His connection with vitamins is that he
became rather obsessed with mega-doses of vitamin
C in his later years, but that part of his work caused
much controversy and his results were
unreproducible.

 This fallacy was used in the Middle Ages as an
excuse not to educate women; all intelligent people
know Latin, but women don't know Latin so they
must be stupid, which means that there's no point in
teaching them Latin (or anything else).
Begging the Question/
Circular Reasoning

 This fallacy was used in the Middle Ages as an
excuse not to educate women; all intelligent people
know Latin, but women don't know Latin so they
must be stupid, which means that there's no point in
teaching them Latin (or anything else).

 In The Office, this fallacy causes Michael Scott to
create a ridiculous compromise. When Oscar protests
that Angela's baby posters are offensive to him, he
chooses to validate both Oscar and Angela’s
arguments and decides to have the baby poster made
into a shirt Oscar could wear everyday so Angela can
see it but Oscar can’t.
Golden Mean

 In The Office, this fallacy causes Michael Scott to
create a ridiculous compromise. When Oscar protests
that Angela's baby posters are offensive to him, he
chooses to validate both Oscar and Angela’s
arguments and decides to have the baby poster made
into a shirt Oscar could wear everyday so Angela can
see it but Oscar can’t.

 Bill and Jill are arguing about cleaning out their closets:
Jill: "We should clean out the closets. They are getting a bit
messy."
Bill: "Why, we just went through those closets last year.
Do we have to clean them out every day?"
Straw Person

 Bill and Jill are arguing about cleaning out their closets:
Jill: "We should clean out the closets. They are getting a bit
messy."
Bill: "Why, we just went through those closets last year.
Do we have to clean them out every day?"

On The Debaters, a radio show, Rebecca
Kohler's made this argument against the
Canadian flag: there are more Google results
for "why are some farts hot?" than for "why
the Canada flag is cool."
Argumentum ad Populum
(Appeal to the People)

On The Debaters, a radio show, Rebecca
Kohler's made this argument against the
Canadian flag: there are more Google results
for "why are some farts hot?" than for "why
the Canada flag is cool."

I failed the test because I didn’t pass it.
Begging the Question

I failed the test because I didn’t pass it.

 Weird Al Yankovic's song "Weasel Stomping Day" is
about a fictional holiday where people spread
mayonnaise on their lawns, then put on Viking
helmets and hiking boots in order to crush weasels to
death. Complete with tongue-in-cheek lyrics such as
"It's tradition, that makes it okay" in order to mock
the idea that an abhorrent act is acceptable if it is
'traditional'.
Appeal to Tradition

 Weird Al Yankovic's song "Weasel Stomping Day" is
about a fictional holiday where people spread
mayonnaise on their lawns, then put on Viking
helmets and hiking boots in order to crush weasels to
death. Complete with tongue-in-cheek lyrics such as
"It's tradition, that makes it okay" in order to mock
the idea that an abhorrent act is acceptable if it is
'traditional'.

 On Saturday Night Live in 2012, Seth Meyers
recommended that both presidential candidates stop
"telling us stories about people you met at your rally
who happen to agree with your positions. That's like
Bret Michaels saying, 'At my last concert, someone
yelled 'Poison rules!'“ (Bret Michaels is the lead
singer for the heavy metal band Poison)
Confirmation Bias/
Myside Bias

 On Saturday Night Live in 2012, Seth Meyers
recommended that both presidential candidates stop
"telling us stories about people you met at your rally
who happen to agree with your positions. That's like
Bret Michaels saying, 'At my last concert, someone
yelled 'Poison rules!'“ (Bret Michaels is the lead
singer for the heavy metal band Poison)

Natural Law Fallacy


 "The Mob Song" from Beauty and the Beast
includes the line "Here we come, we're fifty strong
and fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong".
Argument ad Populum
(Appeal to the People)

 "The Mob Song" from Beauty and the Beast
includes the line "Here we come, we're fifty strong
and fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong".

 In the movie Rain Man, the title character Charlie
Babbitt is an autistic savant, and his condition proves
to be a major asset in blackjack. Tom Cruise's
character, impressed at his ability, then trusts his
judgment at roulette, only to find that the advanced
math skills that allow him to count cards accurately
do nothing to predict the outcome of a roulette spin.
Appeal to False
Authority

 In the movie Rain Man, the title character Charlie
Babbitt is an autistic savant, and his condition proves
to be a major asset in blackjack. Tom Cruise's
character, impressed at his ability, then trusts his
judgment at roulette, only to find that the advanced
math skills that allow him to count cards accurately
do nothing to predict the outcome of a roulette spin.

 Kellogg's was sued for false advertising after
claiming "A clinical study showed kids who had a
filling breakfast of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal
improved their attentiveness by nearly 20 percent."
This was 20% higher compared to kids who had no
breakfast at all. Obviously, the kids who had MiniWheats were more attentive because they weren't
hungry, not because of the Mini-Wheats.
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc as well
as Confirmation/Myside Bias

 Kellogg's was sued for false advertising after
claiming "A clinical study showed kids who had a
filling breakfast of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal
improved their attentiveness by nearly 20 percent."
This was 20% higher compared to kids who had no
breakfast at all. Obviously, the kids who had MiniWheats were more attentive because they weren't
hungry, not because of the Mini-Wheats.

 The Compromise of 1850 in the United States made
use of this fallacy, as it was designed to avert an
impending crisis over slavery by giving both sides
some of what they wanted. The result was the
compromise simply kicked the can down the road
ten years. The following decade caused the battle
lines on both sides of the issue to harden
considerably, and practically guaranteed that the
issue would be solved with guns, not words.
Golden Mean

 The Compromise of 1850 in the United States made
use of this fallacy, as it was designed to avert an
impending crisis over slavery by giving both sides
some of what they wanted. The result was the
compromise simply kicked the can down the road
ten years. The following decade caused the battle
lines on both sides of the issue to harden
considerably, and practically guaranteed that the
issue would be solved with guns, not words.