flaw types LSAT 2020

Question 1

strawman argument

Answer 1

misrepresenting/exaggerating/ completely fabricating someone’s argument to make your own argument sound reasonable.

ex:
Warren: we should fund healthcare and education.
Bill: Warren wants to leave our country defenseless by cutting military spending!

Question 2

false cause

Answer 2

presuming that two things happening at the same time means that they have a casual relationship

~ correlation does not equal causation ~

sometimes correlation is coincidental or they share the common cause

Question 3

middle ground

Answer 3

claiming a compromise, or middle point, between two extremes must be the truth

half way between a truth and a lie is still a lie.
sometimes a thing is not true, or a compromise is simply untrue

ex:
Holly: vaccines cause autism.
Iris: scientifically speaking that is not true and has been debunked.
Eric: ok but let’s just say then that autism causes some autism.

(no!! not true!!)

Question 4

appeal to emotion

Answer 4

attempting to manipulate an emotional response in place of a compelling or valid argument

emotions include: pity, hatred, pride, anger, envy, fear

Jesse: I don’t want to eat brains again tonight
Jesse’s dad: there are starving vampires in the world rn!!! eat ur brains!!

Question 5

the gamblers fallacy

Answer 5

thinks that “runs” happens to statistically independent phenomena

Gambler: I’ve been losing the last twenty rounds, so I must hit it big the next run!

Kid: I got heads twice before so next I must get tails

what happened before won’t influence what will happen next

Question 6

bandwagon

Answer 6

pointing to the popularity of an idea or to the fact that many people do something as a form of validation

the popularity of an idea has no bearing on the validity of an argument

ex: the earth is not flat even though flat earthers, like Lupe, thinks it is

Question 7

appeals to authority

Answer 7

using a person or institution opinion as a way to claim something is true

ex. evolution is fake because the pope and the church say so!

the opinion of such individuals or institutions have no bearing on the validity of the argument

Question 8

the fallacy fallacy

Answer 8

it’s a double fallacy to use a fallacy to response to an argument , that could either be true or false [valid or invalid], that was using a fallacy to prove its validity

ex:
Joey: we have to drink the tummy teas because my friend that works at the gym said so!! {appeals to authority}
Amanda: tummy teas don’t work!! we should instead focus on protecting the planet instead of wasting time on our external appearance (appeals to emotion)

Question 9

slippery slope

Answer 9

presuming that if we allow A to happen, then S will eventually happen too, so A must not happen

Ex: same-sex couples should not marry bc then people will want to marry their dogs!!!

shifting attn away from or avoiding issue at hand and using fear or extreme hypotheticals to do so, especially when zero evidence was presented

Question 10

ad hominem

Answer 10

attacking someone’s character or personal attributes/traits to undermine or cast doubt on claims instead of engaging with their argument.

ex:
Sally: we need to abolish the police
Mark: We shouldn’t listen to Sally because they were once arrested and they smell weird~!!

Question 11

composition/division

Answer 11

parts to whole; whole to parts

just because something is true for a part of it does not mean that it is true for the whole and vice versa

ex. joey, a wee child, thinks that bc his atoms are invisible then he too must be invisible
the branch of the tree is rotting therefore the whole tree is rotten

Question 12

no true stan

Answer 12

appeals to purity as a way to dismiss releveant criticisms or flaws of the argument

takes stereotypical things about group

ex.
JT: Nicki Minaj stans know her Monster verse
Meg Thee Stallion: I’m a stan and I don’t know the Monster verse
JT: then you’re not a TRUE stan!!!!

This is a post-rationalization is a way of avoiding valid criticisms of one’s argument

Question 13

genetic

Answer 13

similar to ad hominem in that it’s using existing negative perceptions to make someone’s argument look bad…… this fallacy shifts attention to someone or something’s origin as a way to avoid the argument

News (NOT foxnews): 45 has used quid pro quo
45: DO NOT TRUST THE MEDIA!!!! U know anything coming from the media is FALSE

Question 14

tu quoque

Answer 14

uses the alleged past actions of the arguer to discredit the argument

ex: leo decap can’t lecture on global warming when he uses a private jet weekly

type of adhomemim

Question 15

argument from personal incredulity

Answer 15

bases its evidence on someone’s inability to understand or imagine as the reason that it must be true or false

“i can’t imagine it being false so it must be true”
“i dont understand this topic so it must be false”

ex:

i dont understand gender identity so transgender people are lying // it is not true

Question 16

special pleading

Answer 16

moving the goalposts, or making up exceptions to rules without justification when your position turns out to be false, or applying it has double standards.

ex: don’t ticket police officers!! even when they are breaking the speed limit

ex” i believe all drunk drivers should go to jail…. except my son!!! he’s a good boy!! standard alum!!

Question 17

false dilemma // black or white

Answer 17

this fallacy presents only two extreme options when there are in fact more possibilities !

ex:
either you are on the winning team or you are on the losing team
either part of the solution or part of the problem
either a meat lover or meat hater
“ this or that “

Question 18

begging the question

Answer 18

“petitio prinicpi” = assuming the initial point”
using conclusion in premise aka a circular argument

the assumption is very ingrained and therefore taken as a given

ex: “a man who studies all male philosophers knows all that needs to be known about philosophy. for all the male philosophers know all that needs to be known about philosophy”

Question 19

appeal to nature

Answer 19

arguing that because something is “natural” that is it good, justified, ideal or valid

“natural” has positive evaluation and “unnatural” has negative connotations

Question 20

loaded question

Answer 20

a question that has implicit neg/controvertial assumptions built into it so it can’t be answered without appearing guilty

ex: do you wear a mask like a sheep?
do you still beat your husband?

Question 21

shifting burden of proof

Answer 21

attempting to shift burden of proof onto someone else or using invalid secondary sources to validate your argument

ex: 
God is real
Says who?
You can't prove that he isn't real. 
OK guess not.

Ex:
Celeb X is having hooking up with JB
How do u know?
I read about it in a magazine

Question 22

ambiguity

Answer 22

using double meaning or ambiguity of language to misrepresent argument or the truth

ex: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

sexual relation can mean:
1. a sexual relationship
or
2. sexual intercourse

he meant he did not have 2 with that woman.

ex:
your note was wrong!!

note can mean either musical tone or written record

Question 23

anecdotal

Answer 23

using a personal experience or a isolated event to prove something instead of a sound argument or in place of compelling evidence

ex: “my grandfather lived to be 90 years old and he drank coke everyday so we can drink as much soda as we want”
ex: my cousin goes drifting every sunday and doesn’t get caught so we can go and won’t get caught

Question 24

texas sharpshooter

Answer 24

shooting your gun and then drawing a bull’s eye around it….

using data to confirm a pattern that fits theirs presumption, or an inference not certainly known, or suit their argument

ex: there a lot of cancer in this area and I found that everyone here drives a red car. so the red car must be giving everyone cancer.

ex:
there is a seltzer water factory in the top 3 healthiest towns so seltzer water must be making everyone there healthier

ex:
death by shark tend to peak at the same time as ice cream sales go up.. therefore there’s a link between shark deaths and ice cream sales