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logical_fallacies
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13 values
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Pamela is the class secretary. She says that she thinks that the class should do more service projects. Mark says he can’t believe Pamela doesn’t support the annual school dance.
fallacy of extension
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The reason Donald Trump got elected was because liberals took political correctness too far.
false causality
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His political party wants to spend your precious tax dollars on big government. But my political party is planning strategic federal investment in critical programs.
equivocation
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It is the center of the spectrum of two extremes of deficiency and excessiveness.
fallacy of relevance
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This clinic sure makes a lot of money. Each of the psychologists who work there must earn a large income.
faulty generalization
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“My wife wants to talk about cleaning out the garage, so I asked her what she wants to do with our patio furniture. Now she’s shopping for new patio furniture and not asking me about the garage.”
fallacy of relevance
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Luke didn't want to eat his vegetables, but his father told him to think about the poor, starving children in a third world country who don't have anything to eat.
appeal to emotion
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All Jim Carrey movies are hilarious. No horror movies are Jim Carrey movies. Therefore, no horror movies are hilarious.
fallacy of logic
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Coke is not as healthy for you as Pepsi. Besides, Britney Spears drinks Pepsi, so it must be healthier than Coke.
fallacy of credibility
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If you break your diet and have one cookie tonight, you will just want to eat 10 cookies tomorrow, and before you know it, you will have gained back the 15 pounds you lost.
faulty generalization
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My fridge isn't working. I should probably finish that book I've been reading.
fallacy of logic
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"We can't allow students to be paid for their grade because next thing you know they'll expect to be paid just for waking up in the morning."
faulty generalization
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Your mom gets your phone bill, and you have gone over the limit. You begin talking to her about how hard your math class is and how well you did on a test today.
fallacy of relevance
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Doctors refer to medical books all the time when they are treating patients. In the same way, I should be allowed to use a textbook in my medical exam.
fallacy of logic
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“This is how most schools evaluate their students, so it must be effective.”
ad populum
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Even though people say we are going to behave; we know they won't behave well.
faulty generalization
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My teacher always brings up stuff about Women's Rights. She only cares about it because she is a woman. The stats she shows us are probably bias.
ad hominem
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You have to give me a passing grade. I spent 150 hours on that project and missed every party this quarter.
appeal to emotion
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You can’t prove your candidate will win, so I assume he won’t
intentional
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People who eat yogurt have healthy guts. If I eat yogurt I will never get sick.
false causality
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Trump asked Clinton about her “33,000“ deleted emails, but Clinton responds by correcting him rather than addressing the deleted emails: “Not — well, we turned over 35,000, so…”
fallacy of relevance
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In the court trial deliberations, Juror Seven says, "There are still eleven of us who think he's guilty. You're alone." His attempt to use numbers to persuade Eight is:
ad populum
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You either are for us or you are all against
false dilemma
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All women are bad drivers.
faulty generalization
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My friend told me to quit singing in the car since I have a "bad voice." She sings in the car all of the time!
ad hominem
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In government, arguing for raising taxes - "We need more revenue to support the programs that we have. Children are our future. Let's support children."
fallacy of relevance
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FDR was a mighty engine pulling country out of desert of Great Depression
fallacy of logic
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Person A: I think pollution from humans contributes to climate change. Person B: So, you think humans are directly responsible for extreme weather, like hurricanes, and have caused the droughts in the southwestern U.S.?
fallacy of extension
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But professor, I got all these facts from a program I saw on TV once... I don’t remember the name of it though.
equivocation
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Issue A has been raised, and adequately answered. Issue B is then raised, and adequately answered. ..... Issue Z is then raised, and adequately answered. (despite all issues adequately answered, the opponent refuses to conceded or accept the argument.
intentional
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Student: You didn't teach us this; we never learned this. Teacher: So, what you're saying is that you just didn't study it after we went over it in class right? That you don't want to put in the work?
fallacy of extension
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Look at people like Michael Vick and OJ Simpson. Professional athletes really have no sense of morality.
faulty generalization
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All ghosts are imaginary. All unicorns are imaginary. Therefore, all ghosts are unicorns.
fallacy of logic
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David is so wrong about Luna's work ethic. David is just an egotistical jerk with a God complex, what does he know?
ad hominem
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Every sunrise, the rooster makes a sound. So it is the rooster which makes the sun rise.
false causality
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President Obama’s decision to arm Syrian rebels, however meagerly, has all but doomed us to an Iraq-style debacle
faulty generalization
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My new sport psychology intervention works! I chose the player with the lowest batting average based on the last game from each of the teams in our amateur baseball league. Then I gave each of them my 5-minute intervention. And almost all of them improved their batting average in the next game!" (Note: this example may also involve the statistical phenomenon of regression to the mean.
false causality
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Earthquakes are caused when the plates of the Earth's crust move. Earthquakes happen along "fault lines" in the earth’s crust. When the plates in the Earth suddenly shift, the Earth will begin to shift, shake or tremble. What is the central idea?
false causality
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You oversleep and then fail a test; so you assume that oversleeping causes you to fail tests
false causality
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Person 1: I think pollution from humans contributes to climate change. Person 2: So, you think humans are directly responsible for extreme weather, like hurricanes, and have caused the droughts in the southwestern U.S.? If that’s the case, maybe we just need to go to the southwest and perform a “rain dance.”
fallacy of extension
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Marcus wants to go to a small community college close to home, but most of the kids in his class are applying to larger colleges out of state. Marcus decides that he should also apply to those colleges.
ad populum
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the phrase "Ninety percent of all people surveyed said that McDonalds is better than Burger King so it must be true." represents which fallacy?
ad populum
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Millions of people drink Diet Coke every year so it must be the best soft drink in the world.
ad populum
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Pointing to a fancy chart, Roger shows how temperatures have been rising over the past few centuries, whilst at the same time the numbers of pirates have been decreasing; thus pirates cool the world and global warming is a hoax.
false causality
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"Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that."
fallacy of extension
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This trick, which literally means "to the guy," distorts a person's character subtly or blatantly, undermining their reputation regardless of how compelling their point is.
ad hominem
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Dad, either you let me go to the party or you're a bad dad.
false dilemma
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Most people believe in ghosts, so ghosts are real.
ad populum
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If you are open to it, love will find you.
equivocation
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Education is important for the future of the American people and our country. So, you should choose to study at St. Cloud State University.
fallacy of relevance
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Wilma: You cheated on your income tax. Don't you realize that's wrong? Walter: Hey, wait a minute. You cheated on your income tax last year. Or have you forgotten about that?
ad hominem
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When you are late getting home-past curfew-you distract your parents by talking to them about the weather-how cold it is, or how rainy it is.
fallacy of relevance
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If we control Covid-19 with measures that are too draconian, we could wind up with a government that regularly clamps down on its citizens, with bar codes on wrists and cameras in your houses that watch you all the time.
faulty generalization
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You are either with God or against him.
false dilemma
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Everybody does it. You should too.
ad populum
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You call your cell phone provider to complain about how poor your cell phone battery life is after the recent software update. The representative, instead of responding to your concern, praises the provider’s new unlimited text-messaging plans that are due to be released in the next month.
fallacy of relevance
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“Yesterday, I walked under a ladder with an open umbrella indoors while spilling salt in front of a black cat. And I forgot to knock on wood with my lucky dice. That must be why I’m having such a bad day today. It’s bad luck.”
false causality
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a lifelong Republican who was against Obamacare until it saved his life.
appeal to emotion
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His opinions about sports mean nothing - he can barely tie his own shoes!
ad hominem
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I didn’t steal your pen—I borrowed it
equivocation
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America is the best place to live, because it's better than any other country.
circular reasoning
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After years of ignoring God, people have a hard time realizing what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad.
circular reasoning
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What can our new math teacher know? Have you seen how fat she is?
ad hominem
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A persuasive technique meant to influence a person’s emotions.
appeal to emotion
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Saying that the burden of proof lies not with the person making the claim, but with someone else to disprove.
intentional
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There is no concrete proof that Duterte himself is corrupt; therefore, he is an honest politician.
intentional
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We should offer movies on our company’s website. REPLY: No, we’ve built our company’s fortune by renting movies only through our stores.
fallacy of credibility
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Why shouldn't I gossip about Laura Jane? You know she talks about us every chance she gets.
fallacy of relevance
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SuperCyberDate.con determined that Sally and Billy are a great match because they both like pizza, movies, junk food, Janet Jackson, and vote republican.
intentional
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Willard: I just realized that I will probably never go bald! Fanny: Why is that? Willard: Well, if I lose just one hair, I will not be bald, correct? Fanny: Of course. Willard: If I lose two hairs? Fanny: No. Willard: Every time I lose a hair, the loss of that one hair will not make me bald; therefore, I will never go bald. Fanny: Congratulations, you found the cure to baldness -- stupidity!
equivocation
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peer pressure, persuasion based on the the foundation that everybody’s doing it.
ad populum
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A few students are misbehaving...therefore the whole class is bad. What fallacy is this an example of?
faulty generalization
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“If we let teenagers wear whatever they want to school, they will no longer respect the rules and academic performance will decline.”
faulty generalization
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TOPIC: Should people let their cats go outside? DEBATE: "People should let their cats go outside. Going outside gives cats more exercise." "What do you know? You've never even had a pet cat before!"
ad hominem
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Which rhetorical fallacy is a broad statement about people on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, or political, social, professional, or religious group?
faulty generalization
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The anti-terrorist laws that monitor international currency transfers, phone calls, and emails are the first step to turning our fragile democracy into a new Nazi regime.
faulty generalization
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Don't listen to her even though she's a doctor. She isn't a good person, so her opinion is invalid.
ad hominem
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Millions of people are Marxists, so Marxist economic and political theories are correct.
ad populum
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"You haven't held a steady job since 1992. Worse than that, we couldn't find a single employer who'd provide you with a good reference."
ad hominem
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No one has ever been able to prove that extraterrestrials do not exist, so they must be real.
intentional
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Have you stopped cheating on exams?
intentional
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I'm not a doctor, but I play one on the hit series, "Bimbos and Studmuffins in the OR." You can take it from me that when you need a safe and effective pain killer, there is nothing better then MorphiPill 2000. That is my professional medical opinion.
fallacy of credibility
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“We should abolish the death penalty. Many respected people, such as Imran Kader, have publicly stated their opposition to it.”
fallacy of credibility
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The goal of people who ask us to wear masks to pure compliance, to practice controlling a witless population. We are not sheep!
fallacy of extension
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"Bernie Saunders wouldn't make a good president because he looks like a sad muppet."
ad hominem
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Saying that you support a specific candidate for class president, only because he has recently been diagnosed with cancer is an example of which fallacy?
appeal to emotion
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"How could you not believe in ghosts? Roughly two billon people believe in them, so don't you think you should reconsider your opinion?"
ad populum
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Three kids in one class failed the Jane Eyre quiz, I guess,all the other classes will all fail it, too.
faulty generalization
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Dr. Bloom cannot be a competent marriage counselor because he is divorced.
ad hominem
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Everyone should be patient and wait for his or her turn in line. However, I need to go to the front because I am late for an appointment.
intentional
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Argues that "we've always done it that way." In other words, because something worked in the past, it is the correct thing to do.
fallacy of credibility
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Mom: You used up all of the data on our phone plan this month! Kid: I had a math test today that was really, really hard. Can you just forgive me this one time?
fallacy of relevance
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Jason and his family are heading to Utah to spend a week skiing. Looking at the weather reports, he notices that it is supposed to be warmer, making for lousy ski conditions. Angrily, he calls the Weather Channel and demands that they change their forecast so he will have better weather for the trip.
false causality
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Cellphones weren’t invented before I was born. Now, they are everywhere! Therefore, cellphones were created because I was born.
false causality
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AttP 3: Shirley MacLaine selling copies to many people makes her topic of choice true.
ad populum
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The CEO of that company hates the environment, so I hate him and won’t buy their products.
ad hominem
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Boy , those sound like pretty terrible, epicly fascist (hint) robots.
fallacy of relevance
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Braden, you drive a beat-up car from the 1980s. For this reason, we can never allow you to be a lifeguard at the community pool.
ad hominem
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This tactic plays upon a viewer's lack of knowledge by forcing the idea that the situation is static. Unless the audience is well-informed and aware of this deception, they may think that they have only two choices.
false dilemma
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Yesterday you were 5 minutes late, today 10, and tomorrow you won't even show up!
faulty generalization