Group Six: Sample Fallacies And Booby Traps

1. Jake, Kyle and Rolf are all members of the UNCP Young Republicans, and they are all planning to be Roman Catholic priests. Emma is also a member of the UNCP Young Republicans, so she is probably planning to be a Roman Catholic priest, too.

Appeal to Authority

Questionable Use of Statistics

Suppressed Evidence

Vagueness

Red Herring

2. There are more laws on the books than ever before, and more crimes are being committed than ever before. Therefore, to reduce crime, we must eliminate the laws.

Appeal to Authority

Suppressed Evidence

False Cause

Equivocation

Red Herring

3. The war in Iraq has been a complete success. After all, Saddam Hussein is dead, and the Iraqis had their first free election in years.

Straw Man

Suppressed Evidence

Appeal to Authority

Equivocation

Undistributed Middle

4. The nuthatch was discovered by Tilly Turnow in the woods, while hopping from branch to branch of an elm tree, singing happily.

False Cause

Red Herring

Straw Man

Vagueness

Appeal to Authority

5. You’re a vegetarian? You do realize that Hitler was a vegetarian, too?

Straw Man

Equivocation

Vagueness

Genetic Fallacy

False Cause

6. Lewis Carroll, in Through the Looking Glass: “ ‘You couldn’t have [jam] if you did want it,’ the Queen said. ‘The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday — but never jam today.’ ‘It must sometimes come to jam today,’ Alice objected. ‘No it can’t,’ said the Queen. ‘It’s jam every other day: today isn’t any other day, you know.’ ”

Appeal to Authority

Suppressed Evidence

False Cause

Equivocation

Red Herring

7. Many people criticize Thomas Jefferson for being an owner of slaves. But Jefferson was one of our greatest presidents, and his Declaration of Independence is one of the most eloquent pleas for freedom and democracy ever written. Clearly these criticisms are unwarranted.

Vagueness

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Red Herring

False Cause

8. U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn says that lesbianism is rampant in the Oklahoma schools. This must, indeed, be true, because surely the senator couldn't be mistaken about the schools in his own state.

False Cause

Genetic Fallacy

Suppressed Evidence

Appeal to Authority

Vagueness

9. I have a right to speak. What is right ought to be done. So I ought to speak.

Equivocation

False Cause

Straw Man

Undistributed Middle

Vagueness

10. You can hardly blame President Clinton for having extramarital affairs. Many presidents, when faced with similar situations, have yielded to the same temptations.

Genetic Fallacy

Red Herring

Appeal to Authority

Vagueness

Straw Man