Further Practice

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Further Practice

• Flaws in arguments

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14, Arguing from the past to the future.

• The darkness have been very successful with their
  recent single releases. They are going to release
  a new song at Easter. This new song will also do
  well in the charts.

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12, Appeal to pity.

• Carl had put in hours of training in the gym to
  help him prepare for the big race. He had so
  nearly won it last year, when he had also been
  training hard. Carl deserves to win the race this
  year.

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4, Cause and effect or, linking things when there
is no link.

• A few minutes after the minister made his speech
  to the City of London, there was a devastating
  explosion which killed 45 people. For the future
  safety of the City, the minister should not make
  any more speeches here.

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10, Leaving out a vital link in reasoning, the
assumption flaw.

• I was out walking home late last night when a
  bloke covered with tattoos started walking down
  the same road. Only by running as fast as I could
  and getting home quickly did I escape being
  beaten up. My training in the gym has finally
  paid off.

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2, Using an inappropriate analogy.

• Teaching my Gran to use the Internet is just like
  when we tried to get her to use the dishwasher we
  bought for her. She just doesnt understand
  modern technology. We should just leave her to be
  happy in her old fashioned ways.

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6, Attacking the arguer not the argument.

• Two boys were seen drinking vodka at lunchtime by
  their teacher. The boys parents were contacted
  and they were suspended from school. One of the
  boys argued that their teacher always went down
  the Marquis of Lorne each Friday lunch time so it
  was unreasonable for him to stop them from
  drinking at lunchtime.

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13, You too, tu quoque.

• I was running down the corridor at lunchtime. I
  was done by the dinner lady. It wasnt fair,
  because there were other people running down the
  corridor two minutes earlier. So I should not be
  punished.

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7, Necessary and sufficient conditions.

• My Dad, who grows his own vegetables, says that
  all you need to do is give em plenty of horse
  muck and theyll grow like stink. The science
  behind this is quite right. Vegetables have a
  high requirement for minerals from the soil,
  which can be supplemented by adding a good
  organic fertilizer, such as, horse manure. So if
  you really do want prize winning veg. all you
  need is to dig in horse muck to your soil.

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5, Slippery slope flaw, where one thing leads to
many more!

• More and more teachers want to take early
  retirement because of the stress levels in their
  jobs. If the government allowed this to happen
  then what is to stop doctors, dentists and
  policemen all wanting early retirement? Then we
  would face a collapse in the social structure of
  society since there will not be enough qualified
  young to fill the gap. So, there should be no
  change in the retirement age for anyone.

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11, Restricting the options.

• Owning a sailing boat is good for two things, for
  going racing or for long cruises up the river.
  Neither of these two pursuits are suitable for
  couples with tiny children. So couples with tiny
  children should not own sailing boats.

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1, Arguing from the particular to the general.

• Some students from Benjamin Britten High School
  were caught shoplifting in Lowestoft town centre
  during the day last week. This just goes to show
  that young people are not to be trusted, nor are
  they ever found where they are meant to be.

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9, Begging the question. Taking for granted the
conclusion towards which you are arguing.

• Three thieves pull off a robbery and get away
  with four diamonds. They cant decide how to
  divide their haul. The first robber says I
  should get two diamonds since I am the leader
  The second thief says Who says you are the
  leader?. First thief says I must be the leader,
  since I am getting the largest share of the haul.

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8, The straw man fallacy. This involves
misrepresenting the opponents view.
Following a discussion on euthanasia-

• How can you support giving doctors the right to
  end a persons life just because they decide that
  the persons life is no longer worth living
  no-one should have that power over another
  persons life, and doctors should not kill
  patients.

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3, Insufficient evidence/failing to look for
extra evidence.

• The vegetables in my Dads allotment didnt do
  very well this summer. He didnt use any growmore
  fertilizer. If he had used the growmore
  fertilizer he would have had a bumper crop.