Write down the five types of faulty
reasoning.
Get into groups of three or four.
With each example, discuss with your group
members what type of faulty reasoning is
present and why it is wrong.
 Smith,
who is from England, decides to
attend graduate school at Ohio State
University. He has never been to the US
before. The day after he arrives, he is
walking back from an orientation session
and sees two white (albino) squirrels
chasing each other around a tree. In his
next letter home, he tells his family that
American squirrels are white.
 Bill:
"God must exist."
Jill: "How do you know."
Bill: "Because the Bible says so."
Jill: "Why should I believe the Bible?"
Bill: "Because the Bible was written by
God."
 Dina
has to be rich or at least be an
heiress. She after all belongs to the Alpha
Phi Lambda sorority which is the richest
sorority on campus.
 "If
such actions were not illegal, then they
would not be prohibited by the law."
 Interviewer:
"Your resume looks
impressive but I need another reference."
Bill: "Jill can give me a good reference."
Interviewer: "Good. But how do I know
that Jill is trustworthy?"
Bill: "Certainly. I can vouch for her."
 This
war is righteous because we are
French
 Most
extremists follow Islam. Therefore,
Islam is religion that propagates
extremism.
 Sam
is riding her bike in her home town in
Maine, minding her own business. A
station wagon comes up behind her and
the driver starts beeping his horn and
then tries to force her off the road. As he
goes by, the driver yells "get on the
sidewalk where you belong!" Sam sees
that the car has Ohio plates and
concludes that all Ohio drivers are jerks.
 Martin
Luther King had a dream. Dreams
are where Elmo and Toy Story had a party
and I was invited.
 The
Yankees are the best baseball team.
They pay their players the most money.
 Tens
of thousands of Americans have seen
lights in the night sky which they could
not identify. The existence of life on
other planets is fast becoming certainty !
 I’m
going to be on Project Runway! I’ve
had a sewing machine since I was 4.
 Employees
and nails are the same. As it is
necessary to hit nails on the head in order
to make them work, the same must be
done with employees.

Bill: "You know, those feminists all hate men."
Joe: "Really?"
Bill: "Yeah. I was in my philosophy class the other day and
that Rachel chick gave a presentation."
Joe: "Which Rachel?"
Bill: "You know her. She's the one that runs that feminist
group over at the Women's Center. She said that men are
all sexist pigs. I asked her why she believed this and she
said that her last few boyfriends were real sexist pigs. "
Joe: "That doesn't sound like a good reason to believe that
all of us are pigs."
Bill: "That was what I said."
Joe: "What did she say?"
Bill: "She said that she had seen enough of men to know
we are all pigs. She obviously hates all men."
Joe: "So you think all feminists are like her?"
Bill: "Sure. They all hate men."
 Mind
and rivers, can be both broad. It is a
known fact that the broader the river, the
shallower it is. Therefore it must be true,
that the broader the mind is, the
shallower it is.