Question

3. Discuss the fallacies that the following people are likely to commit every day.
a. Conductor of a public bus
b. Writer for an online tabloid
c. An inexperienced teacher
d. Voters after the election day

Answer 1

a. Conductor of a public bus

Ad Hominem Fallacy – This deals with personal attacks. The conductor of a public bus may not have the necessary coins as change and hence can turn rude towards the public and can use words that can resemble a personal attack.

b. Writer for an online tabloid

Strawman Argument – This deals with using arguments and claims against the position of a person which in real isn’t an existing position at all.

Ad Hominem Fallacy – Using the tabloid, the writer could create a situation where personal attacks are made against some people.

False Dilemma/False Dichotomy – The writer could knowingly or unknowingly use a false information and build a tabloid which could mislead the people.

Bandwagon Fallacy – The writer could present a data about what other people think is right instead of taking an unbiased stand. The writer may present a false data as a true one since many regard it as truth.

Hasty Generalization – The writer might jump into some conclusion which shall have other traits or completely different from the one assumed.

c. An inexperienced teacher

Ad Hominem Fallacy – The teacher can accidently go harsh on a student or on the parents for their lack of attention or discipline or delicateness.

False Dilemma/False Dichotomy – The teacher can assume some data about students/ class behavior to be a fact and behave accordingly.

Slippery Slope Fallacy – The teacher shall believe that there are only certain ways to learn and study and other methods shall lead to failure. This shall hurt the students to learn in flexible ways.

Hasty Generalization – The teacher can conclude about a student or about a whole class and take an action that could bring bad name to the student or whole class.

Tu Quoque Fallacy – The teacher can try to divert a blame on a good student intentionally or unintentionally.

Bandwagon Fallacy – Some other teacher could have mentioned about the behavior or action of a student or the whole class and a teacher shall hurt the students/ class based on the same thing.

d. Voters after the Election Day

Ad Hominem Fallacy – The voters shall abuse the candidate who has lost the elections through personal attacks or even use the same to demean the candidate who won.

Strawman Argument – The voters shall use some claims against the position of a person which in real isn’t an existing position at all.

Hasty Generalization – The voters shall make generalizations about the party to which the candidate who lost belongs.