Exercise 3.5

Part I

1. Missing the point, begging the question, or suppressed evidence. (Is any activity justified by the mere fact that it amounts to good business? Also, the arguer ignores the moral question of exporting a product that kills its users.)

2. Appeal to pity

3. Begging the question. (Is it likely that every woman will enlist and that every one of those will be killed?)

4. Composition

5. Missing the point; also, begging the question?

6. Tu quoque

7. No fallacy? Weak analogy?

8. Appeal to pity

9. Begging the question. (Does money invested in the stock market actually produce jobs?). Composition? (The fact that some politicians are corrupt and self-serving does not mean that the whole government is). Hasty generalization? (The fact that some programs are wasteful and useless does not mean that all of them are.)

10. Appeal to unqualified authority. The statement "Only a fool . . . ." suggests argument against the person, abusive.

11. Complex question

12. No fallacy? Weak analogy?

13. False cause (oversimplified cause), suppressed evidence, begging the question. (There is little or no evidence of any causal connection between malpractice suits and the decision of some obstetricians to leave the field. An unmentioned factor is the inconvenience of being on call twenty-four hours per day waiting for patients to deliver. There is also little or no evidence of any genuine "lawsuit crisis.")

14. Argument against the person, abusive; argument against the person, circumstantial

15. Slippery slope

16. Begging the question. (The argument appears to run in a circle.)

17. False dichotomy

18. Two cases of weak analogy; also, argument against the person, circumstantial

19. Slippery slope

20. False dichotomy; also, begging the question and/or false cause. (Will a smoking ban in restaurants actually cause smokers to stay away?)

21. Appeal to pity

22. False cause? No fallacy?

23. Missing the point or red herring; also, begging the question?

24. Argument against the person, abusive

25. False cause (post hoc ergo propter hoc)

26. Begging the question. (Just because your emotional reaction was that of losing a baby, does that mean the fetus is really a baby?)

27. Missing the point. (Pledging allegiance to the flag is a symbolic statement of support for the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression--including flag burning). Also, weak analogy (between flag burning and libel)

28. Suppressed evidence? Begging the question? No fallacy? (The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and pertinent federal legislation prohibits unfair trade practices between states. No equivalent regulations exist for international trade.)

29. No fallacy? Weak analogy?

30. Suppressed evidence? (Men and women usually differ in physical strength.) Begging the question? (Is it likely that physical attraction will lead to injury or rape?) No fallacy?

31. Appeal to the people (direct variety). Also, appeal to pity? Begging the question? (Does the fact that former pets were once loved make any difference?)

32. Tu quoque. Also, red herring

33. False cause (post hoc)

34. Appeal to the people (direct variety)?

35. Appeal to force

36. Hasty generalization

37. False dichotomy? No fallacy?

38. Equivocation. (The advertiser makes it appear that the buyer will save 60% of the entire cost of a vacation instead of merely 60% of the cost of a plane ticket.)

39. Begging the question. (Must we all die prematurely in a nuclear holocaust?)

40. Appeal to unqualified authority; also, slippery slope

41. Begging the question and/or weak analogy. (Is the forced extinction of animal and plant species caused by industrial growth just another form of evolution? Is this forced extinction justified?)

42. Weak analogy and/or red herring; also, begging the question (Is the fetus a child?).

43. Several cases of weak analogy; also, argument against the person, abusive?

44. Tu quoque; also, appeal to force?

45. Complex question

46. Begging the question (Is the fetus a child?); also, straw man

47. Hasty generalization

48. Slippery slope

49. Appeal to unqualified authority. Also, the last paragraph suggests a hasty generalization.

50. Appeal to the people, indirect variety. (Whether such roadblocks are reasonable or unreasonable is a question for the courts to decide--not the general public.)