Exam 6: Logical Fallacies--2

In the appeal to ignorance fallacy, the arguer falsely accuses another arguer of being ignorant.

I was six years old and an only child, and I yearned to have a dog for a pet. My parents got me a cocker spaniel. I was happy beyond words. I named the dog Pooch, but as it turned out, I should have called him Lout, Thug, or Stinker. That dog was perfectly awful-vicious, disobedient, pathologically territorial, and it refused to be housebroken. I learned my lesson the hard way: cocker spaniels make dreadful pets. Don't even think about getting one.

My dentist says that the First Amendment established a strict separation of church and state. My dentist is a highly educated person. So, that is a reasonable way to interpret the First Amendment.

Critical thinkers never accept a claim on the mere say-so of another.

The U.S. Constitution says only believers in God can be president. Sam Harris, the famous atheist, doesn't believe in God. So Sam Harris can never be president.

Professor Gene Poole, the distinguished microbiologist, has argued that using animals in medical and scientific experiments is morally wrong. Given Professor Poole's impressive credentials, we should conclude that using animals in medical and scientific experiments is morally wrong.

If an arguer cites a statement by a witness in support of a conclusion and there is good reason to doubt the accuracy of the witness's observations, the arguer commits the fallacy of inappropriate appeal to authority.

If an arguer unknowingly asserts a premise that is inconsistent with her conclusion, then she commits the fallacy of inconsistency.

Wierdthings.com reported that 100-foot-tall aliens from the future landed in the Grand Canyon today. I guess we're not alone in the universe.

Legislators in Texas want to make it a criminal offense for citizens not to use seat belts when they drive. Mark my words: If they get away with this, it won't be long before they ban beer drinking and cigarette smoking. Then they will restrict our intake of cholesterol, perhaps setting up cholesterol testing sites along major highways. We must not let this infringement of our liberties get started, or there will be no stopping it.

Janet is a girl and she plays softball. Julie's a girl. I bet Julie plays softball, too.

Kids play too many video games. That's why there's so much juvenile crime today.

Officer, I admit I was driving 140 mph on this congested highway, but I don't deserve a speeding ticket. There is no speed limit on this highway, and the law requires only that vehicles be driven "at a safe speed," which, for me, is well over 140 mph. Also, I apologize for not pulling over sooner. I was talking on my cell phone and didn't hear your siren.

The Flat Earth Society says that the Earth is a flat circle, with the North Pole at the center and giant mountains of ice around the circumference to keep boats and planes from going off the edge. So I guess the earth is flat after all.

Larry said State is now ahead 18-14 in the football game, but that can't be right. Two minutes ago, the score was tied 14-14, and it's not possible for a team to score 4 points in football. In football, you can only score in increments of 1 (with an extra point), 3 (with a field goal), 6 (with a touchdown), 7 (with a touchdown and extra point), and 8 (with a touchdown and a two-point conversion). Obviously, Larry is mistaken.

Judith Thomson argues that abortion can be morally permissible. She is a well- respected bioethicist. So abortion must be permissible sometimes.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a chain letter that said bad luck would come my way if I did not send the letter on to at least 10 people I knew. I mumbled something about superstitious nonsense and threw the letter away. Bad move! The very next day I was attacked by a Rottweiler, got dumped by my girlfriend, and was fired from my job. Once is enough. You can bet that next time I get a chain letter, I will do exactly what it says.

The famous novelist Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World and other great works of fiction, held that near-sightedness can be corrected by eye exercises. Given the opinion of so eminent a person as Huxley, we may be confident that near-sightedness can indeed be corrected by eye exercises.

Conspiracy theorists suggest that 9/11 was an inside government job. The government secretly landed those planes, took off all the passengers, and then hid the planes. Then they took remote-controlled planes and flew those planes into the towers. But days before, they had managed to sneak in explosives into the towers, without anyone seeing, and then performed a controlled detonation on the buildings after the remote-controlled planes hit the towers. And, even though thousands of people would've had to have been involved in the conspiracy to pull this off, they all kept quiet and didn't object. Given the track record of the federal government, that sounds like a plausible scenario to me.

The Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case made it legal for corporations to funnel unlimited funds to political campaigns without any accountability or transparency. That ruling is responsible for the massive influx of corporate money and the overwhelming number of political ads we've seen in recent U.S. elections.