Understanding Logical Fallacies

What is an Ad Hominem fallacy?

• An attack on someone's character rather than their argument

• A logical argument based on evidence

• A type of mathematical reasoning

• A scientific hypothesis.

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CCSS.RI.6.5

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Fill in the blank: An Ad Populum fallacy appeals to the popularity of a practice or concept as a method of ______.

• persuasion

• calculation

• observation

• experimentation

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CCSS.RI.6.5

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Which of the following is an example of an Ad Populum Fallacy?

• A) A student claims, 'Pizza is the best food because everyone loves it.'

• B) A student suggests that the class should have more free time to relax.

• C) If you don't study for this test, you'll fail the class and never get into college.

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CCSS.RI.6.5

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Fill in the blank: A Red Herring is a tactic used to distract from an argument by avoiding key issues or ignoring opposing views. An example is when a student complains that the school lunches are unhealthy, and another student says, 'But the school has a great sports program!' This is a Red Herring because the second student is bringing up an unrelated topic to distract from the issue of ________.

• unhealthy lunches

• test scores

• free time

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CCSS.RI.6.8

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What is a Slippery Slope fallacy?

• A) A conclusion based on the premise, 'If this, then that.'

• B) A tactic used to distract from an argument by avoiding key issues.

• C) A belief that something is true because many people believe it.

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CCSS.RI.6.8

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What is a Slippery Slope Fallacy?

• An argument that assumes a small change will lead to extreme consequences

• An argument that attacks the person instead of the argument

• An argument that uses irrelevant information

• An argument that is based on facts.

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CCSS.RI.7.1

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Fill in the blank: A Strawman Fallacy involves ______.

• attacking the person

• exaggerating the original argument to make it sound unreasonable

• using irrelevant information

• providing evidence

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CCSS.RI.6.8

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What is a strawman fallacy?

• Misrepresenting someone's argument to make it easier to attack

• Using an argument's conclusion as a premise

• Making a comparison that doesn't hold up

• Assuming something is true because it is popular.

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CCSS.RI.6.8

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Fill in the blank: A false analogy fallacy involves making a comparison that doesn't hold up because the things being compared are not sufficiently similar in the relevant aspects. For example, comparing school rules to military rules is flawed because the _______ and purposes of school and the military are very different.

• environments

• rules

• students

• teachers

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CCSS.RI.7.1

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Which of the following is an example of circular reasoning? A) "Playing video games is just like doing homework." B) "You must obey the law, because it is illegal to break the law." C) "Using a calculator in math class is like cheating on a test." D) "A student argues that the amount of homework should be reduced."

• Playing video games is just like doing homework.

• You must obey the law, because it is illegal to break the law.

• Using a calculator in math class is like cheating on a test.

• A student argues that the amount of homework should be reduced.

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CCSS.RI.7.1

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