MODULE: Fallacies and biases

TUTORIAL F07: Exercises on fallacies

Identify any fallacy in each of these passages. If no fallacy is committed, select "no fallacy involved".

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Q1. Mr. Lee's views on Japanese culture are not to be trusted, because his parents were both killed by the Japanese army during World War II and that made him anti-Japanese all his life.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q2. Every part of this chair is light. Therefore, this chair is light.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q3. Smoking causes cancer because my father was a smoker and he died of lung cancer.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q4. Feminism is wrong because it claims that all women are saints and all men are rapists.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q5. Professor Lewis, the world authority on logic, claims that all wives cook for their husbands. But the fact is that his own wife does not cook for him. Therefore, his claim is false.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q6. If Catholicism is right, then no women should be allowed to be priests. Catholicism is wrong. Therefore, some women should be allowed to be priests.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q7. God does not exist because every argument for the existence of God has been shown to be unsound.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q8. The last three times I have had a cold I took large doses of vitamin C. On each occasion, the cold cleared up within a few days. So vitamin C helped me recover from colds.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q9. The union's case for more funding for higher education can be ignored. For it is put forward by the very people - university staff - who would benefit from the increased money.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q10. Children become able to solve complex problems and think of physical objects objectively at the same time that they learn language. Therefore, these abilities are caused by learning a language.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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Q11. If cheap things are no good then this cheap watch is no good. But this watch is actually quite good. So some good things are cheap.

Choose answer No fallacy involved Division Amphiboly Composition Equivocation Strawman False dilemma Complex question Appeal to ignorance Begging the question Denying the antecedent Affirming the consequent Ad hominem argument Appeal to the people Appeal to unreliable authority False cause / Hasty generalization

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