Consider the following passage from Robert G. Ingersoll's nominating speech to the 1876 Republican National Convention: Like an armed warrior, like a...

1. Consider the following passage from Robert G. Ingersoll's nominating speech to the 1876 Republican National Convention:  

Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lances full and fair against the brazen foreheads of every defamer of his country and maligner of its honor. For the Republican Party to desert this gallant man now is worse than if an army should desert their general upon the field of battle.  

Which of the following fallacies is on exhibit here?

1. The Fallacy of Composition
2. The Fallacy of Division
3. The Fallacy of Equivocation
4. The Fallacy of False Analogy

1. Clarence Darrow, renowned criminal trial lawyer, began one shrewd plea to a jury thus:  

You folks think we city people are all crooked, but we city people think you farmers are all crooked. There isn't one of you I'd trust in a horse trade, because you'd be sure to skin me. But when it comes to having sympathy with a person in trouble, I'd sooner trust you folds than city folks, because you come to know people better and get to be close friends.  

Which of the following fallacies does Darrow utilize, rather deliberately, here?

1. Distorting the Facts
2. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
3. Red Herring
4. The Fallacy of Division

1. Hiroyuki Suzuki was formerly a member of the Sakaume gumi, an independent crime family in Japan known for its role in gambling. Mr. Suzuki's wife Mariko broke her kneecap, and when Mariko went to church the next Sunday, the minister placed his hands on her broken knee and pronounced it healed. To her husband's great surprise, Mariko was able to walk unaided from the church that day. Whereas Mr. Suzuki had formerly regarded his wife's interest in religion as a waste of time, he was now fascinated by her sudden recovery. He reasoned at the time, "In gambling, you use dice, which are made from bone. If God could heal my wife's knee bone, then he can probably make me the best dice thrower in all of Japan." Subsequently, Mr. Suzuki's gambling skills did improve markedly, enabling him to pay off his debts. Recently, he is quoted as saying, "My allegiance is to Jesus."  

Which of the following fallacies is on view in this narrative?

1. Distorting the Facts
2. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
3. Straw Man
4. The Fallacy of Division

1. Jonathan Swift quipped, "No man will take counsel, but every man will take money; therefore money is better than counsel." The source of Swift's humor here is which of the following?

1. The Fallacy of Composition
2. The Fallacy of Division
3. The Fallacy of Equivocation
4. The Fallacy of False Analogy

1. In John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism (1861) we read that "... each person's happiness is a good to that person, and the general happiness, therefore, a good to the aggregate of all persons," which is a classic instance of

1. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
2. Straw Man
3. The Fallacy of Division
4. The Fallacy of Composition

1. The syllogism 

Polar bears are disappearing

That animal is a polar bear 

Therefore, that animal is disappearing

is an instance of which of the following?

1. The Fallacy of Division
2. The Fallacy of Composition
3. Fallacy of the Slippery Slope
4. Begging the Question

1. Consider the argument below.

If we don't have prayer in our public schools, then the moral fabric of our society will gradually erode. Eventually, all people will turn into mindless, immoral persons. Therefore we should maintain a strong religious presence in the public schools.

This argument is an instance of which of the following?

1. Hasty Generalization
2. The Fallacy of Composition
3. Fallacy of the Slippery Slope
4. Begging the Question

1. Consider the argument below.

The idea that atheists can be moral people is ridiculous. Just remember Hitler and Stalin!

This argument is an instance of which of the following?

1. Hasty Generalization
2. The Fallacy of Composition
3. Fallacy of Division
4. Post Hoc, Propter Hoc

1. Consider the argument below.

Democratic politicians' arguments in favor of taxing wealthy individuals should be ignored. Democratic politicians support this sort of legislation only in order to get elected.

This argument is an instance of which of the following?

1. Hasty Generalization
2. Fallacy of Equivocation
3. Fallacy of Division
4. Ad hominem

1. Consider the argument from Ernest van den Haag's Punishing Criminals (1975).

Order is indispensable to justice because justice can be achieved only by means of a social and legal order.

This argument is an instance of which of the following?

1. Hasty Generalization
2. Begging the Question
3. Fallacy of Equivocation
4. Tu quoque

1. Which one of the following fallacies is on view should someone argue as below?

You have been lecturing me about not joining a gang. But Dad, you were a gang member, and you never went to jail. So, I'll make my own decision about joining a gang.

1. Tu quoque
2. False analogy
3. Fallacy of composition
4. Genetic fallacy

1. Which one of the following fallacies is on view should someone argue as below?

I am sure he respects me. He told me so, and he wouldn't lie to someone he respects.

1. Post hoc ergo propter hoc
2. Begging the question
3. Straw man
4. Genetic fallacy

1. In the 1930s, Soviet biologists argued that Darwin's theory of natural selection was to be rejected because Darwin had developed his theory within a bourgeois, capitalist society. Which one of the following fallacies is involved here?

1. Red herring
2. Post hoc ergo propter hoc
3. Fallacy of division
4. Genetic fallacy

1. Which one of the following fallacies is on view should someone argue as below against a proposal that employees be permitted their own coffee-break room?

If we give them their own room, the next thing you know, they'll be asking for their own exercise room. Then they'll want a sauna and a hot tub and tanning salon. Before you know it, they will be working no more than two hours per day.

1. Tu quoque
2. Begging the question
3. Fallacy of equivocation
4. Fallacy of the slippery slope

1.  Which one of the following fallacies is on view should someone argue as follows?

Self-identified liberals earn 6% more on average than self-identified conservatives. Joe is an outspoken conservative and Jan is a proud liberal. So Jan makes 6% more than Joe.

1. Tu quoque
2. Fallacy of division
3. Fallacy of equivocation
4. Fallacy of composition

1.  Which one of the following fallacies is on view should someone argue as below?

Each member of the Tolora String Quartet is an excellent musician. It follows that the quartet itself must be excellent.

1. Post hoc ergo propter hoc
2. Fallacy of division
3. Red herring
4. Fallacy of composition