FALLACIES: SECTION #2 (reminders)

This section of fallacies has 14 fallacies in it, so the quiz is a bit longer & trickier than the others. Remember to use ONLY the fallacies from this section as your answers...to the 15 statements (obviously 1 fallacy will be used twice).

  • ad baculum: threat of some kind (not arguing the point at hand)

the next 3 are similar in that they are forms of name calling:

  • ad hominem: attacking the person making the argument but not the argument
  • fallacy of opposition: saying they're wrong just because they're the opposition
  • genetic fallacy: saying something is bad because of where it comes from, usually geographically (think about our attitudes toward products made in China)
  • guilt by association: a parent's favorite; applying the negative traits of one person or group to all those in the group (think of the Red Scare of the 1950s)
  • ad misericordiam: bad pathos (remember Al Gore) not just pity, but any emotion; emotion over logic/proof/logos

the next 2 are similar, too:

  • ad populum: popular little sayings, working the audience (think sound bites, tee shirts, bumper stickers, posters,...) pithy little sayings that don't argue the point indepth
  • bandwagon: c'mon & jump on the bandwagon! everybody else is doing it/thinking the same way so we must be right -- BUT just because everybody thinks it's right doesn't mean it's right
  • plainfolks/snob appeal: 2 sides of the same coin (remember division/classification or comparison/contrast) right because it appeals to one of the extreme socio-economic classes - the good ol' boys on one end & the brat pack on the other; country music vs. bling-bling
  • ad verecundiam: bad ethos, bad sources (wikipedia!) - or, the right source for the wrong argument (an expert in a field that's not being discussed at the moment)
  • red herring: smells fishy - I'm busted for not doing my homework so I'm going to try to baffle with my....brilliance, something only marginally/remotely related to the point BUT still not answering the question at hand
  • straw man: *** this is a tricky one - best way to get this one is to envision someone setting up a "straw man" (an easy target) to knock around in order to make himself look good; in argument, this SM = an easy target, the opponent's worse possible position (so bad the opponents would never even offer it) & the purpose is to make the person committing it look good, smart, argumentatively "stronger" than the opponent
  • to quoque: hard to say but easy to get; if GBA is a parent's favorite, then TQ is a child's favorite - "you did it TOO" and that's your clue (too)
  • oversimplification: key words = "simply put" or "it's as simple as that" (if you gave but ONE cause in your C&E paper, you'd be guilty of this - only 1 cause of childhood obesity?!)