Humanities 101:
Additional Fallacies Practice







NEW: PRACTICE FINDING FALLACIES IN LONGER PASSAGES GIVEN BELOW THE ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING.


Identify the fallacy, if any, in each passage. Answers are given below.

1. Letter to editor responding to another letter criticising President Clinton: "What is it about "conservatives" that makes them think that this type of ranting, raving opinion is relevant, insightful or even humurous? What makes them so pitiful [so] that they choose to be misinformed by relying on "bait and hate" radio with their "sneer, smear and jeer" philosophy"?" - Fresno Bee, May 2, 1998

2. "Anyone who believes for a moment that the state would honor a pledge to replace the revenue lost to local government would believe pledges of fidelity made in a brothel. Eliminating the vehicle license fee is an election-year buzz-word scam touted by an Assembly member who salivates over the thought of no government to impede his motivations, and a governor who flat out hates counties." - letter to editor, Fresno Bee, May 12, 1998

3. Government ownership of utilities is dangerous because it is socialistic and anything socialistic is dangerous.

4. President Bush's spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, when asked what he thought about an investigation of charges that the 1980 Reagan campaign made a deal with Iran to delay the release of American hostages until after the Presidential election: "There's no reason to investigate something that never happened."

5. "Either President Clinton and his cronies must go, or our country will. There are no other options." - letter to the editor, Time, October 19, 1998.

6. Tom Brokaw: "Premier Gorbachev, what has the Soviet Union done to demonstrate its concern for the rights of dissenters to emigrate from the Soviet Union?"
Mikhail Gorbachev: "And what has the United States done to demonstrate its concern for the rights of Americans to economic security?"

7. "God is love.
Love is blind.
Ray Charles is blind.
Ray Charles is God."
 - restroom graffiti at the Ohio State University

8. from Reagan's closing statement at the 1984 Mondale/Reagan presidential debates:
"The question before [us] comes down to this: do you want to see America return to the policies of weakness of the last four years, or do we want to go forward marching together as a nation of strength and that's going to continue to be strong?"

9. How can we explain the remarkable ability of some psychics to forsee the future?

10. "I think it is a sad case when a woman would write to a magazine, declare homosexuality "wrong" and basically refuse gays the right to have their strong commitments to each other recognized [through legal marriage]. Does this woman think a person would make a conscious decision to put themselves through hell by choosing to be gay? I think not. People are born gay - it's not an acquired trait! Cyndi Camp should be ashamed to sign her name to such an absurd statement!" - letter to editor, People, 11/23/98

11. "'Please your Majesty,' said the Knave, 'I didn't write it, and they can't prove I did: There's no name signed at the end.'
'If you didn't sign it,' said the King, 'that only makes the matter worse. You must have meant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your name like an honest man.'" - Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

12. "Richard Baker: The best friend the big banks ever had." - televised political ad, Lafayette, LA, 9/26/98

13. "The only 'choice' in an abortion is between a dead baby or a live baby." - "She's A Child, Not A 'Choice'", published by the Human Life Alliance of Minnesota Education Fund, Inc., p. 2


ANSWERS:
1. Complex Question
2. Ad Hominem
3. Begging the Question
4. Begging the Question
5. False Dilemma
6. Tu Quoque
7. Equivocation
8. False Dilemma or Complex Question
9. Complex Question
10. Red Herring
11. Begging the Question
12. Guilt by Association
13. False Dilemma


PRACTICE FINDING FALLACIES IN LONGER PASSAGES:

1. Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, our Nation's greatness derives not only from our commitment to tolerance and a profound belief in the separation of church and state but also from the fact that we have always been, and hopefully will always be, a Nation of faith.
  Our Declaration of Independence which we celebrate 1 week from today avowed, and I quote, ``firm reliance on the protection of divine providence.'' Every one of our 43 Presidents has said a prayer or invoked God during their inaugural address. And our Pledge of Allegiance has included the phrase ``one Nation under God'' since 1954, harkening back to, 100 years prior to that, the remarks of President Lincoln in his Gettysburg address.
  Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the acknowledgment of a power greater than ourselves or the state was somehow unconstitutional, notwithstanding the language of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed, not by the state, not by the majority, but by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is what we acknowledge when we say ``in God we trust.'' That is what we acknowledge when we say ``one Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.''
  I adamantly disagree with this misguided decision which runs counter to our cultural and historical traditions. I have high hopes that upon reflection that either the Ninth Circuit itself or the Supreme Court will reverse this erroneous and harmful decision. - Steny Hoyer, (D-MD), Congressional Record, June 27, 2002

2. "Abstinence works 100 percent when it's used"
The is in response to The Associated Press article in the April 14 Daily Advertiser titled "Study: Kids don't abstain."

This article is trying to tell us that abstinence doesn't work. What a fallacy!

Abstinence works every time it's used and is 100 percent effective.

Surely we don't need a study to tell us that artificial contraceptives don't work.

After billions of federal dollars and several decades of promoting sexual promiscuity, this nation suffers with pandemic cases of sexually transmitted diseases, more than 43 million abortions and millions of single-parent families. But never mind that; let's promote safer sex and more of the same. What a fallacy!

For every study that disparages the abstinence approach, there are many others that point to its success and suggest that effective, long-term programs should be given more funding - not less.

Letter to the editor, The Advertiser, 4/19/07


ANSWERS:
1)
a. "...our Nation's greatness derives not only from our commitment to tolerance and a profound belief in the separation of church and state but also from the fact that we have always been, and hopefully will always be, a Nation of faith." - Post Hoc Fallacy

b. "Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the acknowledgment of a power greater than ourselves or the state was somehow unconstitutional, notwithstanding the language of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed, not by the state, not by the majority, but by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is what we acknowledge when we say ``in God we trust.'' That is what we acknowledge when we say ``one Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.''" - red herrings

c. " I adamantly disagree with this misguided decision which runs counter to our cultural and historical traditions." - appeal to tradition

2)
a. "The is in response to The Associated Press article in the April 14 Daily Advertiser titled "Study: Kids don't abstain."
This article is trying to tell us that abstinence doesn't work. What a fallacy! Abstinence works every time it's used and is 100 percent effective." - equivocation on 'works'

b.
"After billions of federal dollars and several decades of promoting sexual promiscuity, this nation suffers with pandemic cases of sexually transmitted diseases, more than 43 million abortions and millions of single-parent families." - post hoc fallacy

c. "For every study that disparages the abstinence approach, there are many others that point to its success and suggest that effective, long-term programs should be given more funding - not less." - fallacious appeal to authority if the consensus in the field is that abstinence programs do not work

NOTE that the author is not correctly identifying any fallacies, but is instead making them. This is why you want to be able to identify fallacies - you don't want your letters to the editor winding up as "before" examples in a critical thinking class!


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