Categorizing Fallacies

Axia College Material

Appendix C

Categorizing Fallacies

Categorize each fallacy statement by copying and pasting it into the text box adjacent to its matching fallacy type.

Fallacy Statements

1.   It takes someone with a really big heart to give to our charity, and you seem like someone who cares more than most.

2.   On a radio ad: “Have you been fatigued, irritable, moody? If these symptoms are ignored, you might become depressed or even suicidal! Ward off the blues by taking a pill proven to cheer you up. Millions of people have, and they’re glad they did!”

3.   From a study group member: “I just don’t get it. One minute she says she’s coming, and then the next, she calls to cancel. I wonder if we can trust that the articles she submitted are what we need!”

4.   You’re going out with Carron? Well, she’s a nice person, but I hear her last relationship was a wreck! I’d be careful if I were you.

5.   About an already-attractive home interior: “I don’t know why we started this home renovation if we’re only doing two of the rooms. Either way, it won’t look right unless we redo the entire house.”

6.   Stomachache or not, how could you not eat your dinner after I spent all that time making it!

7.   I don’t care if she is the top psychiatrist in the state! Her theory on sibling rivalry is extreme. How can we believe anything she says if she subscribes to theories of that nature?

8.   From one politician about another: “He’s a two-faced, liberal, anti-family, anti-values idealist!”

9.   My friend, who goes to college in another state, said girls from that sorority are mean. That girl we just met, Tracy, is from the same sorority, so I don’t trust her.

10.  From a teenager confronted by his parent about breaking curfew: “Why do we have to keep harping on this curfew thing? Let’s talk about that A grade I’m getting in algebra.”

11.  From one mom to another: “I can’t believe Shelia lets her kids watch that garbage! I always knew she wasn’t very strict. Now our kids will be over there watching that junk, too!”

12.  From a conspiracy theorist: “Come on, everyone knows that the government has lied to us in the past. This case isn’t any different.”

13.  If it weren’t for the president’s environmental policy, we wouldn’t be dealing with these environmental catastrophes.

14.  It’s disgraceful that a member of the Elks Lodge would go out to fast food restaurants every night. The Elks believe in family values, including home-cooked meals.

15.  Sure, I’ve heard that it’s better to not eat cheeseburgers every day, but it’s extra protein and protein is good for you.

Fallacy Type	Fallacy Statement
Ad hominem/genetic	7.   I don’t care if she is the top psychiatrist in the state! Her theory on sibling rivalry is extreme. How can we believe anything she says if she subscribes to theories of that nature?
Wishful thinking	15.  Sure, I’ve heard that it’s better to not eat cheeseburgers every day, but it’s extra protein and protein is good for you.
“Argument” from popularity	12.  From a conspiracy theorist: “Come on, everyone knows that the government has lied to us in the past. This case isn’t any different.”
Hasty generalizing	4.   You’re going out with Carron? Well, she’s a nice person, but I hear her last relationship was a wreck! I’d be careful if I were you.
“Argument” from outrage	12.  From a conspiracy theorist: “Come on, everyone knows that the government has lied to us in the past. This case isn’t any different.”
Straw man	3.   From a study group member: “I just don’t get it. One minute she says she’s coming, and then the next, she calls to cancel. I wonder if we can trust that the articles she submitted are what we need!”
Post hoc	13.  If it weren’t for the president’s environmental policy, we wouldn’t be dealing with these environmental catastrophes.
Red herring/smokescreen	10.  From a teenager confronted by his parent about breaking curfew: “Why do we have to keep harping on this curfew thing? Let’s talk about that A grade I’m getting in algebra.”
Group think	9.   My friend, who goes to college in another state, said girls from that sorority are mean. That girl we just met, Tracy, is from the same sorority, so I don’t trust her.
Scare tactics	2.   On a radio ad: “Have you been fatigued, irritable, moody? If these symptoms are ignored, you might become depressed or even suicidal! Ward off the blues by taking a pill proven to cheer you up. Millions of people have, and they’re glad they did!”
Poisoning the well	11.  From one mom to another: “I can’t believe Shelia lets her kids watch that garbage! I always knew she wasn’t very strict. Now our kids will be over there watching that junk, too!”
Apple polishing	1.   It takes someone with a really big heart to give to our charity, and you seem like someone who cares more than most.
Guilt trip	6.   Stomachache or not, how could you not eat your dinner after I spent all that time making it!
Perfectionist fallacy	5.   About an already-attractive home interior: “I don’t know why we started this home renovation if we’re only doing two of the rooms. Either way, it won’t look right unless we redo the entire house.”
Inconsistency ad hominem	14.  It’s disgraceful that a member of the Elks Lodge would go out to fast food restaurants every night. The Elks believe in family values, including home-cooked meals.

Identifying Fallacies

1.     CheckPoint: Identifying Fallacies

• Resource: Ch. 6 End-of-Chapter Exercises and the Answers, Suggestions, and Tips for Triangle Exercises section of Critical Thinking
• Due Date: Day 4 [Individual forum]
• Complete Exercise 6-6 on pp. 194-196 of Critical Thinking. You are not required to complete questions displaying a triangle (p) symbol.
• Copy and paste the question numbers and answers into the body of a post.

1,4,7,10 are triangle symbol questions that are not required to complete per instructions.

Exercise 6-6

Identify any examples of fallacies in the following passages. Tell why you

think these are fallacies, and identify which category they belong in, if they

fit any category we’ve described.

2. Letter to the editor: “Andrea Keene’s selective morality is once again

showing through in her July 15 letter. This time she expresses her abhorrence

of abortion. But how we see only what we choose to see! I wonder

if any of the anti-abortionists have considered the widespread use of

fertility drugs as the moral equivalent of abortion, and, if they have,

why they haven’t come out against them, too. The use of these drugs

frequently results in multiple births, which leads to the death of one

of the infants, often after an agonizing struggle for survival. According

to the rules of the pro-lifers, isn’t this murder?”

— North-State Record

This is an example of the Personal Attack Ad Hominem, the writer attacks Keene’s letter with the phrase “selective morality”, and the words “This time” indicating this is a common thread from Keene. 

3. In one of her columns, Abigail Van Buren printed the letter of “I’d rather

be a widow.” The letter writer, a divorcée, complained about widows

who said they had a hard time coping. Far better, she wrote, to be a

widow than to be a divorcée, who are all “rejects” who have been “publicly

dumped” and are avoided “like they have leprosy.” Abby recognized

the pseudoreasoning for what it was, though she did not call it by our

name. What is our name for it? 

The letter writer is guilty of stereotyping with their indication that all divorcee’s are rejects, publicly dumped, and avoided like they have leprosy.  

5. Letter to the editor: “Once again the Park Commission is considering

closing North Park Drive for the sake of a few joggers and bicyclists.

These so-called fitness enthusiasts would evidently have us give up to

them for their own private use every last square inch of Walnut Grove.

Then anytime anyone wanted a picnic, he would have to park at the

edge of the park and carry everything in—ice chests, chairs, maybe even

grandma. I certainly hope the Commission keeps the entire park open

for everyone to use.”

This is an example of the Straw man fallacy.  The writer is exaggerating the outcome if we consider closing North Park Drive.

6. “Some Christian—and other—groups are protesting against the placing,

on federal property near the White House, of a set of plastic figurines representing

a devout Jewish family in ancient Judaea. The protestors would

of course deny that they are driven by any anti-Semitic motivation. Still,

we wonder: Would they raise the same objections (of unconstitutionality,

etc.) if the scene depicted a modern, secularized Gentile family?”

— National Review

I would say this falls as a Genetic fallacy.  The writer is assuming that the groups are opposing the figurines because they depict a Jewish family.

8. From a letter to the editor: “The counties of Michigan clearly need the

ability to raise additional sources of revenue, not only to meet the

demands of growth but also to maintain existing levels of service. For

without these sources those demands will not be met, and it will be impossible

to maintain services even at present levels.”

I can not find any obvious fallacies.

9. In February 1992, a representative of the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico

gave a radio interview (broadcast on National Public Radio) in which he

said that the Church was against the use of condoms. Even though the

rate of AIDS infection in Puerto Rico is much higher than on the U.S.

mainland, the spokesman said that the Church could not support the use

of condoms because they are not absolutely reliable in preventing the

spread of the disease. “If you could prove that condoms were absolutely

dependable in preventing a person from contracting AIDS, then the

Church could support their use.”

This is an example of perfectionist fallacy.  The interviewee requiring perfection before supporting or there will be no support.