Question

Match each Fallacy of Reasoning with its example. Each example pairs with only one fallacy.

A)Ad Hominem

B)Slippery Slope

C)Searching for a Perfect Solution

D)Appeal to Popularity

E)Appeal to Questionable Authority

F)Appeal to Emotion

G)Straw Person

H)Explaining by Naming

I)Red Herring

J)Begging the Question

Michael Moore says that Donald Trump won the presidency because of his appeal to working-class workers but that guy makes weird left wing documentaries so what does he know about it?

Once we allow recreational use of marijuana, everyone will be shooting up heroin in the streets!

Even with the chicken pox vaccine, many children still come down with the illness each year. Why should we subject our kids to an extra shot that doesn't work?

Most houses in my neighborhood now have solar panels so they must be saving everyone on their electric bills!

Successful people only answer emails for 30 minutes a day according to Oprah.

Deforestation should be outlawed: It causes the deaths of thousands of animals per year, leaving young animals without their mothers.

Governor Smith does not want to accept Syrian refugees. He obviously hates all Muslims.

The new girl at work says she's had 3 jobs in 3 years. I think it's because she's a millennial.

I don't think that job candidate we interviewed today is qualified. Did you see the engagement ring on her finger? She's just going to quit after she gets married

and starts a family.

There must be a drug problem in this country or we wouldn't be spending so much money to combat drug abuse.

Answer 1

A) Ad Hominem: Michael Moore says that Donald Trump won the presidency because of his appeal to working-class workers but that guy makes weird left-wing documentaries so what does he know about it?

Ad hominem is a Latin word that means “against the man.” As the name suggests, it is a literary term that involves commenting on or against an opponent, to undermine him instead of his arguments.

B) Slippery Slope: Once we allow recreational use of marijuana, everyone will be shooting up heroin in the streets!

A Slippery Slope is often viewed as a logical fallacy in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant effect.

C) Searching for a Perfect Solution: Even with the chickenpox vaccine, many children still come down with the illness each year. Why should we subject our kids to an extra shot that doesn't work?

Searching for Perfect Solution or Nirvana Fallacy is the informal fallacy of comparing actual things with unrealistic, idealized alternatives. It can also refer to the tendency to assume that there is a perfect solution to a particular problem.

D) Appeal to Popularity: Successful people only answer emails for 30 minutes a day according to Oprah.

Appeal to Popularity is a fallacious argument that concludes that a proposition must be true because many or most people believe it.

E) Appeal to Questionable Authority: Most houses in my neighborhood now have solar panels so they must be saving everyone on their electric bills!

Using an alleged authority as evidence in your argument when the authority is not really an authority on the facts relevant to the argument. As the audience, allowing an irrelevant authority to add credibility to the claim being made.

F) Appeal to Emotion: Deforestation should be outlawed: It causes the deaths of thousands of animals per year, leaving young animals without their mothers.

Appeal to emotion or argumentum ad passiones ("argument from passion") is a logical fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions in order to win an argument, especially in the absence of factual evidence.

G) Straw Person: Governor Smith does not want to accept Syrian refugees. He obviously hates all Muslims.

A Straw Person is a form of argument and an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent.

H) Explaining by Naming: The new girl at work says she's had 3 jobs in 3 years. I think it's because she's a millennial.

The nominal fallacy, also known as the naming-explaining fallacy, is a logical fallacy in which it is incorrectly assumed that giving something a name is tantamount to explaining it.

I) Red Herring: I don't think that the job candidate we interviewed today is qualified. Did you see the engagement ring on her finger? She's just going to quit after she gets married and starts a family.

A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion.

J) Begging the Question: There must be a drug problem in this country or we wouldn't be spending so much money to combat drug abuse.

Begging the Question is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. It is a type of circular reasoning: an argument that requires that the desired conclusion be true.