Course Director: Hilary E. Davis

Practice Exercises for Fallacy Test

These practice exercises follow the format of the test exactly. 9 of the exercises below are arguments, 2 are not.

1) Identify the non-arguments and explain why they are not arguments (5 points each on test).

2) Write out each argument in logical form, identifying premises (P1, P2, P3….) and conclusions (MC), editing out excess verbiage, & including any missing premises and conclusions. (5 points each on test)

3) Identify & explain 9 fallacies (5 points each on test).

4) Identify and explain extra fallacies for 2 bonus points each (2 bonus points maximum per test).

Note: Some exercises will have more than one fallacy; some will have none.

A maximum of 11 fallacies may be identified and explained total.

1. You shouldn’t have legislation against a thing that the majority of the population does. And today the majority smokes marijuana. So marijuana should be legal.

2. I am interested in hiring only the kind of person who will be efficient. Jones does not deserve to be classed as such a person. He worked for the civil service five years, and the civil service is a notoriously inefficient organization.

3. If all people were vegetarians, the economy would be seriously effected and many people would be thrown out of work. Therefore, vegetarianism is an injurious and unhealthy practice. It is also true that vegetarians are at a higher risk for pesticide consumption. Everybody knows that vegetarians don’t eat balanced diets.

4. I have decided not to test you on the 3 criteria (relevancy, sufficiency and acceptability) we initially learned when evaluating arguments because I believe that the process is too time-consuming and the answers to ‘acceptability’ too often ambiguous. As a result, I must change the point structure of this first part of the test and am now requiring you to identify 2 non-arguments rather than one.

5. I believe that the bill proposing 10 year prison sentences for pornography pushers would put Canada back in the Dark Ages. It should be withdrawn. While ready to criminalize depictions of the power and beauty of the sex act, the Minister of Justice is doing nothing to rid the media of horrendous depictions of non-sex-related brutality. If the Minister of Justice gets the bill passed, his party won’t get my vote at the next election.

6. Premarital sex is a sin because it is immoral and because it encourages promiscuity. Nobody has proven otherwise.

7. Ontarians consume more milk than the citizens of any other province. There are more cases of cancer in Ontario than in any other province. These statistics show that drinking milk causes cancer.

8. I have the right to publish my opinions concerning the present administration. What is right for me to do I ought to do. Hence, I ought to publish them.

9. The most fundamental question in the long history of thought on abortion is: when is the unborn a human? To phrase the question that way is to put in comprehensive humanistic terms what theologians either dealt with as an explicitly theological question under the heading of ensoulment or dealt with implicitly in their treatment of abortion. The answer to the question of when the unborn is human is simple: at conception. The reason is that at conception the new being receives the genetic code.

10. Anyone who opposes the new legislation that would make it easier to deport undesirable aliens is not thinking straight. Keeping our country safe from disasters such as the one in Oklahoma City is all the proof any loyal citizen should need to justify this legislation.

11. Santa Claus did not bring you any presents this year because you were naughty, not nice.