Midterm Practice
Famous Fallacies, TFTD, Hurley 4.1 - 4.7
For the Midterm …
I will provide you with a categorical proposition, like…
All cars that are not Mazdas are cars with good jingles
I’ll ask you for its








quality (Affirmative)
qualifier (‘All’)
quantity (Universal)
quantifier (‘All’)
copula (‘Are’)
distribution (Subject, but not predicate)
letter name (‘A’)
terms (‘cars that are not Mazdas’=Subject … ‘cars with
good jingles’=predicate)
1
How many quantifiers are there? List them…
3: ‘All’, ‘No’, and ‘Some’
2
How many qualifiers are there? List them…
4: ‘All’ for Universal Affirmative, ‘No’ for
universal negative, ‘are’ for particular
affirmative, ‘are not’ for particular negative.
3
Memorize distribution!
All SD are P
No SD are PD
Some S are P
Some S are not PD
4
Standard Form…
Which is in standard form, and why?
No Jimmy Johns subs are slathered in mustard (not this
one … ‘slathered in mustard’ is an adjectival phrase, not
a noun phrase … a phrase that names a class of
objects)
Some eyebrow tweezings are less than pain free
procedures
(this one … ‘less than pain-free procedures’ is a noun
phrase that names a class of objects that overlaps the
class of ‘eyebrow tweezings’)
5
Consider:
No non-A are B (T) Contraposition
a. Some non-A are B. (F)
b. All A are non-B. (Und.)
c. No non-B are A. (T)
d. Some non-A are not B. (T)
e. No non-B are A. (Und.)
6
Consider:
All A are non-B. (F) Obversion
a. All A are non-B. (F)
b. All non-B are A. (Und.)
c. No A are non-B. (Und.)
d. No A are non-B. (F)
e. Some non-A are not B. (T)
7
Consider:
Some A are not non-B. (T)  All A are non-B.
a.Contraposition (T)
b.Contrary (F)
c.Conversion (T)
d.Obversion (T)
e.Contradictory (F)
8
Consider:
Some non-A are B. (F)  Some B are non-A.
a. Subcontrary (T)
b. Conversion (Und.)
c. Contraposition (Und.)
d. Conversion (F)
e. Contraposition (F)
9
Assume Aristotle (Traditional standpoint).
Consider:
Some A are non-B. (F)  Some A are not non-B. (F)
a. Illicit, contrary
b. Illicit, subalternation
c. Subcontrary
d. Illicit, subcontrary
e. Contraposition
10
No S are P. (Aristotelian standpoint)
After filling in the diagram …
a.Area 2 is shaded, and there is a circled X in area
1.
b.Areas 1 and 3 are shaded.
c.Area 1 is shaded, and there is a circled X in area
2.
d.There is an X in area 2.
e.Area 1 is shaded, and there are no other marks.
11
All S are P. (Boolean standpoint)
After filling in the diagram …
a.Areas 1 and 3 are shaded.
b.Area 2 is shaded, and there are no other marks.
c.Area 1 is shaded, and there is a circled X in area
2.
d.There is an X in area 2.
e.Area 1 is shaded, and there are no other marks.
12
Shade area 2 and place an X in area 1.
Which of the following would be valid inferences:
a.shaded area 2.
b.an X in area 3.
c.an X in area 1.
d.shaded 1.
e.no X’s or shadings.
13
Shade area 1 and place an X in area 2.
Which of the following would be valid inferences:
a.shaded area 2.
b.an X in area 3.
c.shaded area 1, and X in area 2.
d.shaded 1.
e.no X’s or shadings.
14
Assume Aristotle (Traditional standpoint).
Consider:
No non-A are B. (T)  Some non-A are not B. (F)
a. Illicit, subalternation
b. Illicit, contradictory
c. Contradictory
d. Illicit, subcontrary
e. Conversion
15
Assume Boolean (Modern) standpoint.
Consider:
No A are B. (T)  Some A are B. (F)
a. Existential fallacy
b. Illicit, contradictory
c. Contradictory
d. Illicit, subcontrary
e. Conversion
16
Assume Boolean (Modern) standpoint.
Consider:
No A are B. (T)  All A are B. (F)
a. Existential fallacy
b. Illicit, contrary
c. Contradictory
d. Illicit, subcontrary
e. Conversion
17
Assume Aristotle (Traditional standpoint)
All red sounds are rough flavors.
 Some red sounds are rough flavors.
a. Existential fallacy
b. Valid, contradictory
c. Valid, subcontrary
d. Invalid, subalternation
e. Invalid, contrary
18
Know these Famous Fallacies:
No Fallacy!
Ad Hominem (abusive, circumstantial, you too!)
Appeal to Pity (ad misericordiam)
Appeal to Force (ad baculum)
Appeal to the People (ad populum)
Appeal to Unqualified Authority (ad vericumdiam)
Faulty Dilemma (compare to ultimatum)
Composition
Division
Weak Analogy
Hasty Generalization
19
Know these sorts of definition…
Real
Genus-Difference
Verbal
Ostensive
Operational
Stipulative
Reportive
Enumerative
Etymological
Synonymous
20
Know the 3 theories of truth, and their general
problems…
21
“There were only 2 people in the room at the
time of the murder … we can, therefore,
exclude the fact that there was a large
crowd in the room at that time.”
Is this a correct, or incorrect use of the notion
of a fact? (incorrect … facts are facts … you
exclude possibilities, not facts)
22
Identify the species, genus, and difference at
work in these Genus-Difference definitions…
An elephant is an animal with a trunk
A laptop is a computer made to sit in your lap
22 (continued)
Elephant =
Species
Laptop =
Species
animal
Genus
trunk
Difference
computer
for your lap
Genus
Difference
23
Read section 4.7 on your own.
You will have 4 sentences to translate, but
none of them will involve converting a single
statement into 2 categorical propositions.
Good luck!