FALLACIES EXERCISE 3
CATA 335 -
McGaan
Identify the fallacies found in the arguments below. Be as specific as you can and briefly
explain your choice of fallacy. In some
cases there may be more than one fallacy in an argument.
1. Republicans are traditionally the defenders
of the interests of big business, so it makes little sense for a working man to
vote for a Republican candidate.
2. The Equal Rights Amendment was endorsed by
Presidents Clinton and Carter, Senator Kennedy, and a majority of working
women. It is clearly worthy of
universal support on these grounds.
6.
My friend Anne has pointed out that just seeing the images from video games at
the mall has traumatized her young daughter.
Many kids experience this, she says.
Therefore, I think we should prohibit the sale to minors of shooter
games like ADoom.@
4. All Americans have political rights, so the
Hatch Act, which prevents civil servants from running for public office, is
essentially undemocratic.
5. The idea that Ingmar Bergman could
deliberately cheat on his taxes is absurd to anyone who has seen even a handful
of his films. Why would a man incapable
of telling a lie in his art succumb to telling one on his income tax
return? The idea is inconsistent with
the sense of integrity which permeates Bergman's work -- work conspicuously
non-commercial.
6. Homosexuals should not be allowed to live
and work where they choose. Laws
protecting them from discrimination are, in fact, tacit modes of promoting
degenerate and sinful practices within society. We have well-known religious leaders pointing this out to
us. Their opinions ought to suffice to
prove this point.
7.
All of the adolescents who have committed shootings at school in the last few
years have had extensive Apractice@ with the game ADoom.@ Clearly,
video games like that are a cause of school violence.
8.
A commission appointed by President Nixon to investigate the effect of
pornographic literature on American society reported that there was no evidence
that it has a "deleterious effect" upon people. President Nixon, obviously perturbed by a
finding contrary to his expectation, argued as follows in rejecting the report,
" Either the report is wrong or it must be the case that great books,
paintings and plays cannot have much beneficial effect."
last updated 4/17/2003