Exam 3: Informal Fallacies

Collins is a terrible pool player. But every pool player is a human being. Therefore, Collins is a terrible human being.

Either Britney Spears is a surgeon or Annette Bening is an astronaut. Therefore, it follows that either Annette Bening is an astronaut or Britney Spears is a surgeon.

Ted argues that CEOs should be prevented from selling stock they own in their own companies for ten years. But did you hear that Ted recently broke up with his girlfriend? They carried on a torrid affair for two years, and when she got pregnant, he dumped her. Enough of that. Let's move on to something important.

Professor Carson argues in favor of banning skateboards on campus. Apparently Carson is against anything that has wheels. No bicycles, no roller blades, not even any wheelchairs. But handicapped students need their wheelchairs to get around. From this it should be clear that Professor Carson's argument makes no sense.

Whatever you do, never accept a date from Ken Bradshaw. The last woman to date Ken broke up with him in just 3 weeks and became a lesbian.

Members of the jury, surely you will not find defendant Carlos guilty of burglary. Carlos is a visitor from our neighbor to the south, where he has eight young brothers and sisters. Those poor kids and their impoverished mother live a desperate hand-to-mouth existence. Carlos was hoping only to send a few more dollars home to ease their suffering. In the name of humanity, you must vote to acquit this caring brother.

The new Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan says that interracial marriage is a crime against nature. Therefore, that interracial couple who just moved into the neighborhood must be a pair of criminals.

Pop singer Beyoncé Knowles says on TV, "Embrace your past, but live for now (by drinking Pepsi)." But you really shouldn't take these Pepsi ads too seriously because Beyoncé is paid millions of dollars to make them.

Mr. Rankin has just given his argument favoring equal pay for women. It seems what he is saying is that working women should become men. They should all go out and get sex change operations. That's what Rankin wants. Well, I think we are all smart enough to reject that argument.

All political operatives are disingenuous characters and all clever manipulators are disingenuous characters. Thus, all political operatives are clever manipulators.

Andrew said he petted his dog reading a newspaper. Andrew must have a very intelligent dog.

Frances, since you studied chemistry last year, you should know the answer to this. Is calcium a metal or a nonmetal?

If a defense attorney in an American or Canadian criminal trial argues that because the prosecutor has proved nothing beyond a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the defendant, the defendant is innocent, then the defense attorney commits:

Karen bought a new red Nissan Altima, and she says she gets great gas mileage. Tony, who has the same driving habits as Karen, also bought a new Nissan Altima-a yellow one, but with the same size engine and transmission. Probably he gets great gas mileage too.

Steve, I know that you've never been in a serious accident, but do you still drive your car like a madman?

Stealing is wrong. Therefore, it would be wrong for me to steal the spark plug wires from that getaway car while the driver is busy robbing the First National Bank.

Whatever is bright is intelligent. But the sun is extremely bright. Therefore, the sun is extremely intelligent.

America is a wealthy nation. Therefore, every American must be wealthy.

The distributive predication of an attribute is found in:

Carol has a Rottweiler dog, and it attacked and seriously injured one of her neighbors. David has a Rottweiler and it chewed up his wife. The conclusion is obvious that Rottweilers are just plain vicious.