Informal Fallacies



Informal Fallacies

By: Dan Mages

What happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object?

Hasty Generalization, False Cause, Argument from Authority, Argument Against the Person, Black or White Fallacy, Appeal to Emotions, Non Sequitur

I. Genetic Fallacy

a. Is arguing that a claim is true or false solely because of its origin.

i. Examples

1. You can safely dismiss that energy conservation plan. It’s the brainchild of a liberal think tank in Washington.

2. We should reject that proposal for solving the current welfare mess. It comes straight from the Republican party.

3. Russell’s idea about tax hikes came to him in a dream, so it must be bunk.

a. These arguments fail because they reject a claim based solely on where it comes from, not on its merits.

b. Good ideas can come from questionable sources and bad ideas can come from reliable sources.

c. “One must accept the truth from whatever source it comes” – Maimonides

II. Fallacy of Composition

a. Is arguing that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole.

i. Examples

1. Reporters tend to be liberal. Therefore, the media companies in which reporters are employed tend to be liberal.

2. Each note in the song sounds great. Therefore, the whole song will sound great.

a. The Beatles were a great rock band because John Lennon was a great musician and song writer.

3. Dream Team

a. Traditionally composed of amateur players, a 1989 rule change by FIBA allowed USA Basketball to field teams with professional players. The first such team, known as the "Dream Team", won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

i. The 2004 Summer Olympic team lost three games on its way to a bronze medal, a record that represented more losses in a single year than the country's Olympic teams had suffered in all previous Olympiads combined.

4. Sodium and Chlorine are deadly poisons, therefore Sodium/Chlorine are deadly.

a. Deadly poisons alone but combined are ordinary table salt.

5. Ray Comfort’s Method of Evangelism With Ten Commandments

a. Lying, Thieving, Murdering, Adulterer – Do you think you deserve heaven or hell.

i. You acted in a virtuous way (told the truth, or showed courage, or kept your promise, etc. Therefore, you are virtuous (truthful, courageous, trustworthy etc.).

1. Truthteller/ truthful

6. The average small investor puts $2000 into the stock market every year. The average large investor puts $100,000 into stocks each year. Therefore, the group of large investors as a whole invests more in the stock market than small-investor groups.

a. There may be way more small investors than large which would make the statement false.

III. Fallacy of Division

a. Arguing that what is true of the whole must be true of the parts

i. Examples

1. Since the high school is a top performing school, each student is a top performer.

2. University students study every conceivable subject. So that university student over there also studies every conceivable subject.

3. The average American family has 1.8 children, therefore your brother and sister-in-law have 1.8 kids.

ii. Bamboozling the Taxpayers

1. “My tax plan will be a windfall for the American taxpayer. Under my plan, the average tax savings will be $1100 per person. Think of what each of you could do with that much income.”

a. Sounds like great news, however, it may be that only a small group gets huge savings and most people get little to no savings.

iii. When an American president declares a cluster of nations to be “the axis of evil” (fallacy of composition) and then proceeds to invade one of those nations; it might not be clear to a soldier if he is opening fire on an “axis of evil” or a human being.

IV. Argument Against The Person (ad hominem “to the man”)

a. An irrelevant attack on the person originating an argument instead of responding to substantial issues raised in the argument.

i. Examples

1. Parent: I am really concerned about your grades this past semester. You were always such a good student in high school and now you have slipped to straight Cs. I think you need to study more and forget about seeing so much of your friends.

Student: Why are you always on my back for not studying? Your grades in college were nothing to write home about!

2. Jones has argued for a ban on government-sanctioned prayer in schools at school-sponsored events. But he’s a rabid atheist without morals of any kind. Anything he has to say on the issue is bound to be a perversion of the truth.

3. Joke: A psychiatrist who is seeing a patient for the fist time gives hime the Rorschach ink blot test. He shows the patient the first card and asks what he sees. He looks at the card and blurts out, “A couple making love!” The psychiatrist shows the patient a second card and says “A couple making love!” This goes for every card. Finally, the psychiatrist says, “I think I know what your problem is. You’re obsessed with sex.” The patient replies, “Me? You’re the one showing the dirty pictures!”

4. That is wrong…that is what JW’s, Mormons, whatever believes.

5. We should reject X’s claims, ideas, or theories because X is a radical, reactionary, extremist, right-winger, left-winger, fool, bonehead, moron, or scum of the earth.

ii. Fighting Fire with Fire

1. “Liberals have no real arguments – none that the American people would find palatable, anyway. So in lieu of actual argument, they accuse conservatives of every vice that pops into their heads, including their own mind-boggling elitism.” – Ann Coulter

iii. Attacking Hypocrisy

1. My vegan friend says that animals should not be unnecessarily slaughtered for human consumption or fashion but wears a leather belt. His argument has no legs to stand on.

2. Graciously, Gore tells consumers how

V. Appeals to Popularity (ad populum “to the people”) “The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.” – Jean de la Bruyere (August 16, 1645 – May 10, 1696, was a French essayist and moralist).

a. Argues that a claim must be true merely because a substantial number of people believe it.

b. Show clip of research displayed by Zambardo on group of people that believed the line was longer because there peers said they saw it.

c. Examples

i. The President’s approval rating has dropped to less than 35 percent. This is the first time during his term that hit rating has dropped this low and proves that he is doing a very poor job.

ii. The vast majority of Americans believe that there’s a supreme being, so how could you doubt it?

iii. Most new parents buy Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care book to learn about the care and feeding of newborn infants. So, it seems obvious that Dr. Spock has the best book available.

d. History

i. Many people used to believe that certain women were witches and should be burned (Salem Witch Trials), that slavery was perfectly acceptable (Ex 21:20), that Earth was the center of the universe (Copernicus), and that bleeding and purging were cures for just about every ill (George Washington).

e. Is There a Difference?

i. The Super Bowl is the most popular television event in history. The latest Gallup Poll proves this.

1. The crux of the argument is what the public thinks; therefore it is not a fallacy. If the question is what do people think, then appealing to the population for the answer is not a fallacy.

VI. Appeals to Tradition

a. Arguing that a claim is true just because it’s part of a tradition.

i. Examples

1. Acupuncture has been used for a thousand years in China. It must work.

2. Of course publishing pornography is wrong. In this community there’s a tradition of condemning it that goes back fifty years.

3. Professor Mages: We should change the college grading scale to include plus and minus grading distinctions. A recent study by this committee indicates that there is a big difference between a B+ (89 out of a 100 on most exam scales) and a B- (80 out of 100). Further defining the range of grades gives more precise information about a student’s performance in the course.

Professor Jones: Why should we change? We’ve had simple letter grades without plus or minus distinctions in this college for over ten years and it’s worked fine.

4. The barring of women from driving in Saudi Arabia or female infibulation

ii. Tradition, like the masses can be wrong

1. There was an established tradition that barred women from voting in this country.

2. Historically, there was a long tradition of stripping African Americans of their civil rights (Jim Crow Laws).

3. Most of religious history has traditionally sanctioned the sacrifice of innocents (animals and humans) to God/gods.

4. Infibulation practiced by various Africans and Muslims in order to preserve virginity.

a. According to Wikipedia, “Infibulation involves extensive tissue removal of the external genitalia, including all of the labia minora and the inside of the labia majora, leaving a raw open wound. The labia majora are then held together using thorns or stitching and the girl's legs are tied together for two to six weeks, to prevent her from moving and allow the healing of the two sides of the vulva. Nothing remains of the normal anatomy of the genitalia, except for a wall of flesh from the pubis down to the anus, with the exception of a pencil-size opening at the inferior portion of the vulva to allow urine and menstrual blood to pass through.”

VII. Straw Man

a. The distorting, weakening, or oversimplifying of someone’s position so it can be more easily attacked or refuted.

i. David says that he’s opposed to the new sodomy laws that make it illegal for consenting adult homosexuals to engage in sex acts in their own homes. Obviously he thinks that gay sex is something special and should be protected so it’s allowed to take place just about anywhere. Do you want gays having sex all over town in full view of your children? David does, and he’s dead wrong.

1. Dobson on Hannity and Colmes

ii. Senator Kennedy is opposed to the military spending bill, saying that it’s too costly. Why does he always want to slash everything to the bone? He wants a pint-sized military that couldn’t fight off a crazed band of terrorists, let alone a rogue nation.

1. Ben Cohen Oreo Cookie Commercial

2. The military budget of the United States in 2008 is the largest in the world at $623 billion per year. How much larger is the US military budget than that of China, the second-largest in the world?

a. Ten times. China's military budget is $65-100 billion. The US military budget is nearly 10 times larger than the second leading military spender.

b. The US military budget of $623 billion is larger than the budgets of all the countries in the rest of the world put together. The total global military budget of the rest of the world is $500 billion. Russia's military budget is $50-60 billion, South Koreas is $21 billion, and Iran’s is $4.3 billion. .

3. $60,000,000,000 alone on cold war weapons

a. Ben Cohen YouTube on Nucs

b. Jack Shanahan clip

iii. Lawyers for the ACLU have sued to remove the massive Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the courthouse. As usual, they are as anti-religious as ever. They want to remove every vestige of religion and faith from American life. Don’t let them do it. Don’t let them win yet another battle in their war to secularize the whole country.

iv. What’s wrong with raising fuel-efficiency standards? Well, how would you like to dire around in an elfmobile?!?

Language Based Fallacies

VIII. Equivocation

a. When in the course of an argument, one word is used in two different ways so as to lead to a false conclusion.

i. Examples

1. You shouldn’t take that course in reasoning that is supposed to improve your ability to argue; you argue too much with your friends now!

a. Reasoning and correctly supporting claims to engaging in interpersonal squabbles. There was ambiguity in the word argue.

2. The end of everything is its perfection.

The end of life is death.

Therefore, death is the perfection of life.

3. Only man is rational.

No woman is a man.

Therefore, no woman is rational.

4. Laws can only be created by law-givers.

There are many laws of nature.

Therefore, there must be a Law-Giver, namely, God.

5. A judge is addressing the husband in a divorce case. “Mr. Johnson, I have reviewed this case carefully and I have decided to give your wife $2000 a month.” The husband replies, “That’s very generous of you, your honor, and, believe me, I’ll try to help out a little myself now and then.”

6. Banning Gay Boyscout Leaders

a. Boyscouts swear an oath to me “morally straight.”

i. Originally this meant “living your life with honesty, to be clean in your speech and actions, and to be a person of strong character.”

ii. Recently, the organization is claiming that “morally straight” is abstaining from homosexual behavior.

ii. Why Are Fire Engines Red?

1. They have four wheels and eight men;

Four plus eight is twelve;

Twelve inches make a ruler;

A ruler is Queen Elizabeth;

Queen Elizabeth sails the Seven seas;

The Seven seas have fish;

The Finns hate the Russians;

The Russians are red;

Fire engines are always rushin;

So they’re red.

IX. Amphiboly

a. Exploits ambiguity in grammatical structure to lead to a false or questionable conclusion.

i. Whereas equivocation exploits ambiguities in word meaning, this exploits ambiguity in grammatical structure, that is, the meaning of the entire sentence.

b. Examples

i. One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know. – Groucho in Marx Brothers’ film Animal Crackers

ii. “Doctor, something’s wrong! I’m shrinking!” “Take it easy sir. You’ll just have to be a little patient.”

iii. Newspaper Headlines

1. Prostitutes Appeal to Pope

2. Burglar Gets Nine Months in Violin Case

3. Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

4. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge

5. Marijuana Issues Sent to a Joint Committee

iv. Religious Bulletins

1. Thursday at 5 p.m. there will be a meeting of the little mothers club. All ladies wishing to become little mothers please meet with the pastor in his study.

v. Craigslist Ad

1. Dog for sale: eats anything, fond of children.

vi. The writing of recommendation letters.

1. There have been defamation suits against people who wrote unfavorable letters of recommendation. Faced with the problem of writing honest letters, Robert J Thornton, in his Lexicon of Inconspicuously Ambiguous Recommendations (LIAR, for short) recommends the circumspect use of amphiboly.

a. To describe a candidate who is woefully inept: “I most enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.”

b. “In my opinion, you will be very fortunate to get this person to work for you.”

c. To describe a candidate who is so unproductive that the position would be better left unfilled: “I can assure you that no person would be better for this job.”

vii. Are the cardinals are in town?

a. Birds

b. Arizona Cardinals

c. Officials of the Roman Catholic Church

viii. The judge looked down at Mickey Mouse, who was filing for divorce from Minnie Mouse. “Mr. Mouse,” said the judge, “I’m afraid I can’t grant your request for divorce. I’ve read the psychiatrist’s report, and your simply have no grounds. Your wife is quite sane.” “Sane?” squeaked Mickey. “I never said she was mad. What I said was that she’s fucking Goofy!”

X. Appeals to Ignorance

a. Socrates reminded us, the beginning of wisdom is to admit your ignorance if, in fact, you really do not know the answer to a question.

b. Arguing that a lack of evidence proves something.

c. Typically, it confuses the absence of evidence against a claim with the presence of evidence for a claim.

d. Whether appeals to ignorance are reasonable depends on who has the burden of proof.

i. Problems arise when the burden of proof is placed on the wrong side.

1. “Why do elephants paint their toenails red?” “I don’t know.” “So they can hide in cherry trees.” “But I’ve never seen an elephant in a cherry tree!” “See! It works!”

2. [Joe McCarthy] announced that he had penetrated "Truman's iron curtain of secrecy" and that he proposed forthwith to present 81 cases… Cases of exactly what? "I am only giving the Senate," he said, "cases in which it is clear there is a definite Communist connection…persons whom I consider to be Communists in the State Department." … Of Case 40, he said, "I do not have much information on this except the general statement of the agency…that there is nothing in the files to disprove his Communist connections."

3. Criminal law presumes that a person is not guilty if he has not been shown to be guilty.

a. The burden of proof lies on the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

i. This is a very high burden of proof because it is difficult to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt.

4. The Great Spaghetti Monster is the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the most real thing in existence. What you don’t believe in him? There is no evidence that the spaghetti monster doesn’t exist. Show me that he doesn’t exist! No one has shown that the Great Spaghetti Monster is not real, so they must be real.

a. This person is in effect saying that The Great Spaghetti Monster is real and it is up to you to prove that he is not.

5. There are invisible men having a keg party on Mars. You can’t prove otherwise.

6. Alice: Unicorns exist!

You: Oh, yeah, can you prove they exist?

Alice: Can you prove they don’t’?

a. Alice’s insistence that you prove unicorns don’t exist is unfair because she is asking you to do the impossible. She is asking you to prove a universal negative – a claim that nothing of a certain kind exists. To prove that unicorns do not exist, you would have to search and document everything throughout all of space throughout all time, but no one can do that. So her request is unreasonable.

7. US: You have weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq: No we don’t, we ceased production in 1991

US: If you can prove that you don’t have them, we are coming in to get them.

a. Side note: American Ignorance/Negligence (You Tube)

i. 1 in 7 can’t find Iraq on a map

1. Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007

ii. 2 in 5 know there are 3 branches of government and can name them

iii. 1 in 5 know there are 100 senators

1. Even though this has been the case for 50 years.

iv. Saddam and 9-11

1. 70% believed there was a connection

a. 80% of those for the war cited this as justification.

2. 1 year after 9-11 commission, 50-60% still believed there was a connection.

b. “Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves; whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.” – Diogenes

e. However, question, is the absence of evidence, evidence of absence?

XI. Red Herring (from dragging a smelly fish across a trail to throw a hunting dog off the scent)

a. Raising an irrelevant issue during an argument.

b. When is the last time you heard a reporter say to a politician, “But sir, you didn’t answer the question!”

i. Examples

1. Every woman should have the right to an abortion on demand. There’s no question about it. These anti-abortion activists block the entrances to abortion clinics, threaten abortion doctors, and intimidate anyone who wants to terminate a pregnancy.

2. The legislatures should vote for the three-strikes-and-you’re-out crime control measure. I’m telling you, crime is a terrible thing when it happens to you. It causes death, pain, and fear. And I wouldn’t want to wish these things on anyone.

a. Factoid

i. 2.2 million are incarcerated in the US. More than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008. The People's Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million, despite having over four times the population of the US.

1. Source

a. New High In U.S. Prison Numbers". By N.C. Aizenman. February 29, 2008. Washington Post.

b. One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. Released Feb. 28, 2008. The Pew Center on the States.

3. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world where teenage pregnancy is increasing. The Guttmachur study found that US pregnancy rate is twice that of Canada, England, or France, and seven times that of the Netherlands.

XII. Begging the Question (arguing in a circle)

a. The attempt to establish the conclusion of an argument by using that conclusion as a premise (p is true because p is true).

i. Examples

1. The soul is immortal because it lives forever.

2. God exists. We know that God exists because the Bible says so, and we should believe what the Bible says because God wrote it.

a. More formally

i. The Bible says that God exists.

The Bible is true because God wrote it.

Therefore, God exists.

3. It is in every case immoral to lie to someone, even if the lie could save a life. Even in extreme circumstances a lie is still a lie. All lies are immoral because the very act of prevarication in all circumstances is contrary to ethical principals.

a. Basically this is saying that, “lying is always immoral because lying is always immoral.”

4. To allow every man unbounded freedom of speech must always be, on the whole, advantageous to the state; for it is highly conducive to the interests of the community that each individual should enjoy a liberty, perfectly unlimited, of expressing his sentiments.

XIII. False Dilemma or Black or White

a. Asserting there are only two alternatives to consider when there are actually more than two.

i. Examples

1. Look, either you support the war or you are a traitor to your country. You don’t support the war. So you’re a traitor.

2. Either those lights you saw in the sky were alient spacecraft (UFOs), or you were hallucinating. You obviously weren’t hallucinating. So they had to be UFOs.

3. You either love me or hate me.

XIV. Slippery Slope

a. Arguing without good reasons, that taking a particular step will inevitably/necessarily lead to a further, undesirable step (or steps).

i. Doing action A will inevitably lead to action B, which will certainly lead to action C, which will definitely result in calamitous action D.

ii. Examples

1. We must not lose the war in Vietnam. If South Vietnam falls to the communists, then Thailand will fall to them. If Thailand falls to them, then South Korea will fall to them. And before you know it, all of Southeast Asia will be under communist control.

a. It was fallacious because there was not good evidence and when South Vietnam was defeated, they did not fall as predicted.

2. If we allow voluntary euthanasia, it will lead to involuntary euthanasia and eventually to a holocaust!

3. If assault rifles are banned in this country, then handguns will be next. Then sporting rifles will be banned. And ultimately all guns will be banned, and our fundamental freedom to won guns will be cancelled out altogether. So if assault rifles are banned, we might as well strike the Second Amendment from the Constitution because it will be worthless.

4. We must ban pornography in all forms. Otherwise, rape and other sex crimes will be as common as jaywalking.

5. All Americans should be against laws permitting consensual homosexual sex in one’s own home. If that kind of thing is allowed, before you know it anything goes – bestiality, prostitution, illegal drug use, and violence.

XV. Hasty Generalization

a. Drawing a conclusion about a whole group based on an inadequate sample of the group.

i. Psychology majors are incredibly ignorant about human psychology. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about: My best friend is a psych major. What an ignoramus!

ii. The French are snobby and rude. Remember those two high-and-mighty guys with really bad manners? They’re French. I rest my case.

iii. You should buy a Dell computer. They’re great. I bought one last year, and it has given me nothing but flawless performance.

iv. If you are looking for good surf, don’t ever go to Salt Creek. I went there last week. There was no size and the waves were all blown out.

XVI. Faulty Analogy

a. If two or more things are similar in several respects, they must be similar in some further respect.

i. Example

1. In the Vietnam War, the United States had not articulated a clear rationale for fighting there, and the United States lost. Likewise, in the present war the United States has not articulated a clear rationale for fighting. Therefore, the United States will lose this war too.

XVII. Non-Sequitur – Latin for “It does not follow.”

a. The claim (the conclusion) does not follow from the grounds (the premises).

i. Example

1. He went to the movies on three consecutive nights, so he must love movies.

a. Fulfilling an assignment and postponed it to the last minute because he despises films.

b. Girlfriend is a movie buff etc…

XVIII. Ad baculum – “The stick”

a. Using a threat disguised as a reason.

i. One day little Johnny asked his mother for a new bike. She replied, “At Christmas you send a letter to Santa to ask for what you want, don’t you?” Johnny answered, “Yes, but Christmas is months away and I don’t want to have to wait that long.” She said, “Then why not send Jesus as letter and ask him?” Johnny sat down with a pen and paper and wrote, “Dear Jesus, I’ve been a good boy and I would like a new bike. Your friend Johnny.” He read it over and didn’t like it, so he wrote another letter: “Dear Jesus, sometimes I’m a good boy and I would like a new bike. Your friend Johnny.” He didn’t like this one either, so he wrote another letter: “Dear Jesus, I thought about being a good boy and I would like a new bike. Your friend Johnny.” He thought awhile and decided he didn’t like this one either. He left and went walking around, depressed, when he passed by a house with a small stature of Mary in the front yard. He grabbed the stature and rushed home. He hid the stature under his bed, sat down again with pen and paper and wrote, “Dear Jesus, if you want to see your mother again, send me a new bike! Your friend Johnny.”

ii. Four rabbis had a series of theological arguments and three were always in accord against the fourth. One day the odd rabbi out, after losing another argument by a vote of three to one, decided, to appeal to a higher authority. “Oh God!” he cried, “I know I am right and they are wrong. Please send me a sign to prove it to them!” As soon as the rabbi finished his plea, a storm cloud moved across the sky and rain poured down on the four rabbis. “I knew I was right,” the rabbi exulted, “the cloud and rain area a sign from God!” But the others disagreed, pointing out that storm clouds form on hot days. So he prayed again, “Oh, God, I need a bigger sign to show these skeptics that I’m right and they’re wrong.” This time a bold of lightening slammed into a tree on a nearby hill. “I told you I was right!” the rabbi exclaimed, but the other three insisted that nothing had happened that could not be explained by natural causes. Just as the rabbi was about to ask for an even more impressive sign, a huge wind arose and it was so forceful that it slammed the three rabbis against a tree, leaving the lone rabbi standing. Then a streak of sunlight shone down on the rabbi and a voice declared, “You are right, my son.” As he stood triumphantly over his stunned and quivering colleagues, the rabbi put his hands on his hips and said, “Well?” One of the other three replied, “So, now it’s three to two.”

XIX. False Cause Fallacy – post hoc fallacy

a. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc – after this, therefore because of this

b. The error of assuming that because one thing follows another, that thing was caused by the other.

i. Simply because something happens after something else does not mean that it was the result of this something else.

c. Things just don’t happen, they are caused to happen, and although we don’t know the causes of everything, we do know that everything has a cause.

i. Knowing causes enables us to control them, and to control causes is to control effects.

1. If we know a certain bacteria is causing a certain disease, we may be able to eliminate the disease by altering the activity of the bacterium.

d. “Most people hooked on heroin started with marijuana.” True, but even more started with milk.

e. An older Jewish gentleman marries a younger lady, and they are very much in love. However, no matter what the husband does sexually, the woman never reaches orgasm. Since a Jewish wife is entitled to sexual pleasure, they decide to ask the rabbi. The rabbi listens to their story, strokes his beard, and makes the following suggestion: “Hire a strapping young man. While the two of you are making love, have the young man wave a towel over you. That will help the wife fantasize and should bring an orgasm.” They go home and follow the rabbi’s advice. They hire a handsome young man and he waves a towel over them as they make love. It doesn’t help, and she is still unsatisfied. Perplexed, they go back to the rabbi. “Okay,” says the rabbi to the husband, “let’s try it reversed. Have the young man make love to your wife and you wave the towel over them.” Once again, they follow the rabbi’s advice. The young man gets into bed with the wife, and the husband waves the towel. The young man gets to work with great enthusiasm and the wife soon has an enormous, room-shaking, screaming orgasm. The husband smiles, looks at the young man and says to him triumphantly, “Schmuck, that’s the way you wave a towel!”

f. Sam notices a foul smell in the kitchen. He notices a bucket filled to the brim under the sink. He empties it and the smell goes away. Yet, it fills us again. Now Sam could keep emptying the bucket or fix the leak.

g. A guy met a woman at work and asked her out on a date. When he arrived at the address she had given him, he discovered that she lived on the tenth floor of a high-rise apartment building. While she was in her bedroom making last minute preparations, he amused himself by tossing a ball to her pet terrier. After a few tosses toward the wall, he tossed the ball toward the patio door, which happened to be open. The dog chased after it, only to go skidding across the terrace and over the railing, falling ten stories below. When his date came out to the living room, he asked, “Has your dog been kind of depressed lately?”

Fallacies of Evidence

XX. Suppression of Evidence

a. It occurs when facts that are relevant to a claim or belief are intentionally withheld.

b. In an accident at a railroad crossing, a train smashed into a car and pushed it nearly four hundred yards down the track. Though no one was killed, the driver took the train company to court. At the trial, the signalman insisted that he had given the driver ample warning by waving his lantern back and forth for nearly a minute. He even stood and convincingly demonstrated how he had done this. The court believed his story, and the suit was dismissed. “Congratulations,” the lawyer for the train company said to the signalman when it was over, “you did a great job under cross-examination.” “Thanks,” he replied, “but that lawyer sure had me worried. I was afraid he was going to ask me if the lantern was lit!”

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