1. Take notes on the following mistakes in reasoning.
FALLACIOUS REASONING
Take notes on the following mistakes in reasoning.

2. Amphiboly- the speaker uses an awkward construction to confuse the listener/reader.
“Being beaten up, he was able to buy the Mustang for only $500.”
“I am opposed to taxes which slow economic growth.” AMBIGUITY

4. “Tiger Woods drives a Porsche Cayenne; therefore, that brand is best.”
Arguing from Authority(argumentum ad verecundiam)- suggests the validity of a statement based on the prestige of the supporter rather than the statement.
“Tiger Woods drives a Porsche Cayenne; therefore, that brand is best.”

5. Argumentum ad Hominem(name calling)- a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author or person presenting the claim.
A prosecutor asks the judge to not admit the testimony of a burglar because burglars are not trustworthy.

7. Argumentum ad Ignorantium- The “argument from ignorance” professes that something must be true because there is no evidence to disprove it.
“Unicorns must exist because no one has proven that they do not exist.”

9. Argumentum ad Misericordiam (argument from pity or misery) the fallacy committed when pity or a related emotion such as sympathy or compassion is appealed to for the sake of getting a conclusion accepted.
“Oh, Officer, There's no reason to give me a traffic ticket for going too fast because I was just on my way to the hospital to see my wife who is in serious condition to tell her I just lost my job and the car will be repossessed.”

11. Begging the Question- (circular reasoning) a fallacy in which the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly) assume that the conclusion is true.
Interviewer: "Your resume looks impressive but I need another reference." Bill: "Jill can give me a good reference." Interviewer: "Good. But how do I know that Jill is trustworthy?" Bill: "Certainly. I can vouch for her."

13. False Dilemma(black and white, either/or)- that involves a situation in which limited alternatives are considered, when in fact there is at least one additional option.
“Either you attend the football games at GHS or you don’t have school spirit.”

15. Fallacy of Composition- the fallacy that infers that every part of a whole has a given property that the whole also has that property.
"This fragment of metal cannot be broken with a hammer; therefore, the machine of which it is a part cannot be broken with a hammer."

16. Because no living thing is older than a few hundred, or at most a few thousand, years old, life itself is no older than a few thousands of years.

17. Fallacy of Division (dicto simplicter)- occurs when one reasons that something true for the whole must also be true of all or some of its parts.
“America is the fattest country on the earth; therefore, all Americans are fat.”

18. His house is about half the size of most houses in the neighborhood; therefore, his doors must all be about 3 1/2 feet high.

19. “They saw two brothers at the scene.” AMBIGUITY
Equivocation (disambiguation)-the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning (by glossing over which meaning is intended at a particular time).
“They saw two brothers at the scene.” AMBIGUITY

21. False Analogy- noting the shared properties of two or more things, and from this basis inferring that they also share some further property.
“Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so must employees.”

23. Hasty Generalization(insufficient sample)-This fallacy is committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough.
Smith, who is from England, decides to attend graduate school at Ohio State University. He has never been to the US before. The day after he arrives, he is walking back from an orientation session and sees two white (albino) squirrels chasing each other around a tree. In his next letter home, he tells his family that American squirrels are white.

25. Non Sequitur statements make a leap that does not make sense or follow logic.
“There is a lot of violent crime in Chicago. You will likely be shot if you move there.”

26. Post Hoc(false cause)-A cause-effect fallacy
Post Hoc(false cause)-A cause-effect fallacy. An earlier event is said to have caused a later one.
“The rooster crows immediately before sunrise, therefore the rooster causes the sun to rise.”

29. Slippery Slope- a fallacy in which the speaker or writer foresees consequences beyond what is logical.
"We've got to stop them from banning pornography. Once they start banning one form of literature, they will never stop. Next thing you know, they will be burning all the books!"

31. Misuse of Statistics- Statistics can be manipulated to make any point.
“Our product is 75% fat-free!”

33. Straw Man- A fallacy used when a person attacks a position similar to but different from his opponent.
"Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that."

35. Red Herring- Part way through an argument, the arguer goes off on a tangent, raising a side issue that distracts the audience from what's really at stake. Often, the arguer never returns to the original issue.

36. Red Herring Example- Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to do. After all, classes go more smoothly when the students and the professor are getting along well."