EN1420: Module 3 Identifying, Organizing, and Analyzing Your Sources
Exercise 3.1: Identify the Logical Fallacies
Each statement below contains a logical fallacy. Identify the fallacy and briefly explain, in one or two sentences, why it is an error in reasoning.
1. Mabel is not qualified to lead the school board because she used to drink liquor in her 20s.
• Ad hominem: committed by attacking the person who's making an argument, rather than the argument itself. One of the most common fallacies, it is a direct attack on a person's character rather than focusing on his or her arguments. Stating that Mabel used to drink that why she is not qualified it a person attack.
2. A child can be either an athlete or a good student.
• Either/Or: An oversimplification that assumingly reduces several alternatives to a mere binary opposition, basically means you only have two choices. You only have two choices of being a athlete or a good student. You can choose to be bad student if you wanted.
3. Any change in health care will lead to socialism; we don’t want to live in a socialist country, so we can’t reform health care.
• Slippery Slope (Bad Precedent): assuming that a proposed step will set off an uncontrollable chain of undesirable events. Changing health will lead to socialism is an extreme statement.
4. All teenagers text while they drive; therefore, we should raise the driving age to 21.
• Hasty Generalization: drawing conclusions from too little of evidence and often relying on stereotypes. Say all teenager text and drive, well some teenager don’t have a car and/or a cell phone.
5. If we don’t all drive hybrid cars, the world will end in the next decade because of environmental damage.
• Slippery Slope (Bad Precedent): assuming that a proposed step will set off an uncontrollable chain of undesirable events. That an extreme statement stating that the world will