comm critical thinking assignment

PART 2 : MASTER LIST OF LOGICAL FALLACIES
Below is a presentation of fallacies from the print, visual, and sound media.
During the semester, I asked that you compile a Knowledge Journal notebook—take the
information that you have in your notes, from my information, outside resources and
complete the Applied Learning Exam If the fallacy is from the print media, cut out the article
and highlight the portion that contains the fallacy. Paste it to a sheet of paper and type a oneparagraph
explanation telling which fallacy it commits and WHY you think it is that. The
emphasis in this assignment is the persuasiveness of your “WHY” argument, rather than the
precise identification of fallacies. So argue your positions well!
I encouraged you to use your creativity to prepare your presentation. Samples of the written
fallacies. You can use skits or interactive elements to present your findings- Just remember
that anything that you write about MUST BE FROM YOU!.. The purpose of the presentation
is to show competence in the area of fallacy identification. Please do not copy and paste your
answers from others.. I READ EVERYTHING… Thank you .
PROVIDE 1 (ONE)- PERSONAL EXAMPLE FOR EACH ONE OF THESE
FALLACIES.. MAKE THESE PERSONAL TO YOU. COME UP WITH YOUR OWN
EXAMPLES.
1. Ad hominem or ATTACKING THE PERSON. Attacking the arguer rather than his/her
argument. Example: John’s objections to capital punishment carry no weight since he is a
convicted felon. Note: Saying something negative about someone is not automatically ad
hominem. If a person (politician for example) is the issue, then it is not a fallacy to criticize
him/her.
2. Ad ignorantium or APPEAL TO IGNORANCE. Arguing on the basis of what is not known
and cannot be proven. (Sometimes called the “burden of proof” fallacy). If you can’t prove
that something is true then it must be false (and vice versa). Example: You can’t prove there
isn’t a Loch Ness Monster, so there must be one.
3. Ad verecundiam or APPEAL TO AUTHORITY. This fallacy tries to convince the listener by
appealing to the reputation of a famous or respected person. Oftentimes it is an authority in
one field who is speaking out of his or her field of expertise. Example: Sports stars selling
cars or hamburgers. Or, the actor on a TV commercial that says, “I’m not a doctor, but I play
one on TV.”
4. AFFIRMING THE CONSEQUENT. An invalid form of the conditional argument. In this
case, the second premise affirms the consequent of the first premise and the conclusion
affirms the antecedent. Example: If he wants to get that job, then he must know Spanish. He
knows Spanish, so the job is his
5. AMPHIBOLY. A fallacy of syntactical ambiguity where the position of words in a sentence
or the juxtaposition of two sentences conveys a mistaken idea. This fallacy is like
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equivocation except that the ambiguity does not result from a shift in meaning of a single
word or phrase, but is created by word placement.. Example: Jim said he saw Jenny walk her
dog through the window. Ow! She should be reported for animal abuse.
6. APPEAL TO EMOTION. In this fallacy, the arguer uses emotional appeals rather than
logical reasons to persuade the listener. The fallacy can appeal to various emotions including
pride, pity, fear, hate, vanity, or sympathy. Generally, the issue is oversimplified to the
advantage of the arguer. Example: In 1972, there was a widely-printed advertisement printed
by the Foulke Fur Co., which was in reaction to the frequent protests against the killing of
Alaskan seals for the making of fancy furs. According to the advertisement, clubbing the
seals was one of the great conservation stories of our history, a mere exercise in wildlife
management, because “biologists believe a healthier colony is a controlled colony.”
7. ARGUMENT FROM ANALOGY or FALSE ANALOGY. An unsound form of inductive
argument in which an argument relies heavily on a weak analogy to prove its point. Example:
This must be a great car, for, like the finest watches in the world, it was made in Switzerland.
8. BEGGING THE QUESTION. An argument in which the conclusion is implied or already
assumed in the premises. Also said to be a circular argument. Example: Of course the Bible is
the word of God. Why? Because God says so in the Bible.
9. SLIPPERY SLOPE. A line of reasoning that argues against taking a step because it assumes
that if you take the first step, you will inevitably follow through to the last. This fallacy uses
the valid form of hypothetical syllogism, but uses guesswork for the premises. Example: We
can’t allow students any voice in decision making on campus; if we do, it won’t be long
before they are in total control.
10. COMMON BELIEF (Sometimes called the “bandwagon” fallacy or ‘appeal to popularity”).
This fallacy is committed when we assert a statement to be true on the evidence that many
other people allegedly believe it. Being widely believed is not proof or evidence of the truth.
Example: Of course Nixon was guilty in Watergate. Everybody knows that.
11. PAST BELIEF. A form of the COMMON BELIEF fallacy. The same error in reasoning is
committed except the claim is for belief or support in the past. Example: We all know women
hould obey their husbands. After all, marriage vows contained those words for centuries.
12. CONTRARY TO FACT HYPOTHESIS. This fallacy is committed when we state with an
unreasonable degree of certainty the results of an event that might have occurred but did not.
Example: If President Bush had not gone into the Persian Gulf with military force when he
did, Saddam Hussein would control the world’s oil from Saudi Arabia today.
13. DENYING THE ANTECEDENT. An invalid form of the conditional argument. In this one,
the second premise denies the antecedent of the first premise, and the conclusion denies the
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consequent. Often mistaken for modus tollens. Example: If she qualifies for a promotion, she
must speak English. She doesn’t qualify for the promotion, so she must not know how to
speak English.
14. DIVISION. This fallacy is committed when we conclude that any part of a particular whole
must have a characteristic because the whole has that characteristic. Example: I am sure that
Karen plays the piano well, since her family is so musical.
15. COMPOSITION. This fallacy is committed when we conclude that a whole must have a
characteristic because some part of it has that characteristic. Example: The Dawson clan must
be rolling in money, since Fred Dawson makes a lot from his practice.
16. FAR-FETCHED HYPOTHESIS. A fallacy of inductive reasoning that is committed when we
accept a particular hypothesis when a more acceptable hypothesis, or one more strongly
based in fact, is available. Example: The African-American church was set afire after the civil
rights meeting last night; therefore, it must have been done by the leader and the minister to
cast suspicion on the local segregationists.
17. FALSE DILEMMA (often called the either/or fallacy or false dichotomy). This fallacy
assumes that we must choose one of two alternatives instead of allowing for other
possibilities; a false form of disjunctive syllogism. Example: “America, love it or leave it.”
(The implication is, since you don’t love it the only option is to leave it).
18.EQUIVOCATION. This fallacy is a product of semantic ambiguity. The arguer uses the
ambiguous nature of a word or phrase to shift the meaning in such a way as to make the
reason offered appear more convincing. Example: We realize that workers are idle during the
period of lay-offs. But the government should never subsidize idleness, which has often been
condemned as a vice. Therefore, payments to laid off workers are wrong.
19.HASTY GENERALIZATION. A generalization accepted on the support of a sample that is
too small or biased to warrant it. Example: All men are rats! Just look at the louse that I
married.
20.POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC. (“After this, therefore caused by this.”) A form of the
false cause fallacy in which it is inferred that because one event followed another it is
necessarily caused by that event. Example: Mary joined our class and the next week we all did
poorly on the quiz. It must be her fault.
21.INCONSISTENCY. A discourse is inconsistent or self-contradicting if it contains, explicitly
or implicitly, two assertions that are logically incompatible with each other. Inconsistency can
also occur between words and actions. Example: A woman who represents herself as a
feminist, yet doesn’t believe women should run for Congress.
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22.NON SEQUITUR. (“It does not follow.”) In this fallacy the premises have no direct
relationship to the conclusion. This fallacy appears in political speeches and advertising with
great frequency. Example: A waterfall in the background and a beautiful girl in the
foreground have nothing to do with an automobile’s performance.
23.QUESTIONABLE CAUSE. (In Latin: non causa pro causa, “not the cause of that”). This
form of the false cause fallacy occurs when the cause for an occurrence is identified on
insufficient evidence. Example: I can’t find the checkbook; I am sure that my husband hid it
so I couldn’t go shopping today.
24.RED HERRING. This fallacy introduces an irrelevant issue into a discussion as a diversionary
tactic. It takes people off the issue at hand; it is beside the point. Example: Many people say
that engineers need more practice in writing, but I would like to remind them how difficult it
is to master all the math and drawing skills that an engineer requires.
25.SLANTING. A form of misrepresentation in which a true statement is made, but made in such
a way as to suggest that something is not true or to give a false description through the
manipulation of connotation. Example: I can’t believe how much money is being poured into
the space program (suggesting that ‘poured’ means heedless and unnecessary spending)
26.STRAW MAN. This fallacy occurs when we misrepresent an opponent’s position to make it
easier to attack, usually by distorting his or her views to ridiculous extremes. This can also
take the form of attacking only the weak premises in an opposing argument while ignoring
the strong ones. Example: Those who favor gun-control legislation just want to take all guns
away from responsible citizens and put them into the hands of the criminals.
27.TWO WRONGS MAKE A RIGHT. This fallacy is committed when we try to justify an
apparently wrong action by charges of a similar wrong. The underlying assumption is that if
they do it, then we can do it too and are somehow justified. Example: Supporters of apartheid
are often guilty of this error in reasoning. They point to U.S. practices of slavery to justify
their system.

PART 3: TWO MAIN CATEGORIES OF LOGIC‐SYLLOGISMS
HYPOTHETICAL SYLLOGISMS–
Hypothetical syllogisms (conditional arguments) can have two valid and two invalid
structures. The two valid structures are affirming the antecedent (modus ponens) and
denying the consequent (modus tollens). The two invalid structures, or fallacies, are denying
the antecedent and affirming the consequent.
Determine if the arguments below are valid or invalid and what form they take. The first
one has been done for you.
(NOTE: The term “modus pollens” has been used in some texts as a version of “modus ponens.”
For the purposes of this exercise, “modus ponens” will be used.)
SAMPLE: Chris and Nick would be very happy if the Browns beat the Steelers. The
Browns did beat the Steelers, so Chris and Nick are very happy, indeed.
Valid Modus Ponens (Affirming the Antecedent)
Rewrite in the form If A then B …… identify A and B then determine if valid or
not and why
1. Madeline must have known the material for the test, because if a person knows the
material, that person will get an A, and Madeline was one of the students that got an
A.
2. Anastasia believes that if she treats people honestly and with an open mind, she will
have diverse friendships. She is honest and open-minded and has friends all over the
world.
3. Roberto thought that if he worked very hard, his boss would give him a raise or a
promotion. He made sure she noticed him, but she did not give him a raise or
promotion. He thought he must not have worked hard enough.
4. If I didn’t eat so much ice cream, then I would reduce my waist size. My waist size is
the same as it was six months ago. Therefore, I am eating too much ice cream.
5. The best way to make sure we pay fewer taxes is to elect conservatives. We must not
have elected enough conservatives, because we are paying more taxes.
6. If my neighbor were a decent human being, he wouldn’t let his yard trash fall onto
my property. But he’s not a decent human being, so we get to clean his trash as well
as ours.