Quiz 3 Flashcards
(41 cards)
What is appeal to authority?
The fallacy of relying on the opinion of someone deemed to be an expert who is in fact not an expert
What is a fallacy?
An argument form that is both common and defective; a recurring mistake in reasoning
What is a genetic fallacy?
The fallacy of arguing that a claim is true or false solely because of its origin
Give an example of a genetic fallacy.
anything that argues against the origin of the argument
All men are discussing is a bad argument because it came for Larry who is a man
What is appeal to the person/ad hominem?
The fallacy of rejecting a claim by criticizing their person who makes it rather than the claim itself. Ad hominem means “to the man”
Give an example of appeal to the person
Don’t listen to a word Larry says, he is a liberal.
What is tu quoque (“you’re another”)?
A type of ad hominem fallacy that argues that a claim must be true (or false) just because the claimant is hypocritical
What is an example of tu quoque (“you’re another”)?
Anything that attacks the person for being hypocritical
Larry says to drive electric cars to help stop global warming but he uses a gas car. What a hypocrite, therefore I’m going to reject this claim.
What is “poisoning the well” and some examples for it
“You can’t get safe water out of a poison well”
They always lie or have no reason to tell the truth
Larry always lies so what’s the point of listening to home
What is the fallacy of composition?
The fallacy of arguing that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole. The error is thinking that the characteristics of the parts are somehow transferred to the whole, something that is not always the case
Give an example of composition.
Anything about how a small part of something is equivalent to the whole thing
The stairs in the house is falling apart, therefore the whole house is falling apart
What is division?
The fallacy of arguing that what is true of the whole must be true in parts. The error is thinking that the characteristics of the whole must transfer to the parts of that traits of the group must be the same traits of the individuals in the group
Give an example of division.
The whole house is falling apart therefore the stairs must be falling apart
What is equivocation?
The fallacy of using a word in two different senses in an argument
Give an example of equivocation.
Only man is rational
No woman is man
Therefore, no woman is rational
What is appeal to popularity (or to the masses?)
The fallacy of arguing that a claim must be true merely because a substantial number of people believe it.
Give an example of appeal to popularity.
Anything that says you should believe it just because a lot of people believe it
Trump is a horrible human being because 90% of people said that he is
What is appeal to common practice?
The fallacy of accepting or rejecting a claim solely on the basis of what groups of people generally do or how they behave (when the action or behaviour is irrelevant to the truth of the claim)
Give an example of appeal to common practice.
Everyone else jumped off the bridge, why can’t I?
What is appeal to tradition?
The fallacy of arguing that a claim must be true just because it’s part of a tradition
Give an example for appeal to tradition.
We should stone Larry because our crops are bad this year and back in the day they used to stone people to grow crops
What is appeal to ignorance?
The fallacy is arguing that a lack of evidence proves something. In one type of this fallacy, the problem arises by thinking that a claim must be true because it hasn’t been shown to be false. In another type, the break-down in logic comes when you argue that a claim must be false because it hasn’t been proven to be true
What are examples of appeal to ignorance?
Anything saying that there is no evidence therefore…
There is no evidence that zombies are real therefore zombies are not real
What is burden of proof and give an example.
The weight of evidence or argument required by one side in a debate or disagreement
If you can’t prove that zombies are real then they must be fake