Answers to Fallacies
Remember, to figure out which fallacy is being used ask:
a) what is the issue in question?
b) what is the writer’s position on the question? and
c) what, in general terms, is the writer claiming/asserting/attempting to defend the
position or attack the contrary position?
d) which fallacy (if any) does that?
If you get an answer wrong (a slight possibility exists of this), look up the definition of the right
answer and see why it fits.
Problems and Correct Answers:
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Poisoning the Wells
Appeal to Ignorance
None (no argument) or Appeal to the Future
Misuse of Analogy
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
Cliché Thinking
Hasty Generalization
Circular Reasoning
Chronological Snobbery (sentence 1) or Appeal to Ignorance (sentence 2)
Appeal to People (sentence 1) or Hasty Generalization (sentence 2)
Psychogenetic Fallacy
Appeal to Force
False Appeal to Authority
Chronological Snobbery
Misuse of Analogy
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
No Fallacy (no argument, just a claim) or Faulty Dilemma (by the Nazis)
Fallacy of Composition
Argument of the Beard
No Fallacy (no argument – just a claim) or False Cause
Misuse of Analogy
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Circular Reasoning
No Fallacy (no argument – just a claim) or Faulty Dilemma
Causal Reductionism
Appeal to the People
No Fallacy (no argument) or Fallacy of Division
No Fallacy (no argument) or Contradictory Assumptions
Chronological Snobbery or Argument to the Man
No Fallacy (no argument) or Argument to the Man
Appeal to Ignorance
Slippery Slope
Fallacy of Division
Equivocation
No Fallacy (No argument) or Misuse of Analogy
Fallacy of Compostion
False Cause
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
Circular Reasoning
Chronological Snobbery
Appeal to the People
Causal Reductionism
Fallacy of Composition
Equivocation
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
Cliché Thinking
Equivocation
Appeal to the People
Causal Reductionism
Fallacy of Division
Contradictory Assumptions
Misuse of Analogy
Psychogenetic Fallacy
Misuse of Authority
Appeal to the People
Appeal to Pity
No Fallacy (no argument) or Fallacy of Reductionism
No Fallacy (no argument) or Contradictory Assumptions
Fallacy of Reductionism
Misuse of Analogy
Hasty Generalization
Psychogenetic Fallacy
Argument of the Beard
Argument of the Beard