Exercises
These exercises are designed to be interactive - within the limits of the technology. Each exercise includes a link, labeled "answer," which will take you to the fallacy that appears in that passage. Decide which fallacy you think the passage contains, then click on the answer link to see if your answer agrees with mine.
However, it is important to understand that the same passage may contain more than one fallacy, or different fallacies depending on how the passage is read and interpreted. If my answer does not match your answer, this may mean your answer is wrong. However, it may also mean that you are correctly seeing something in the passage that did not occur to me, or that I chose to overlook. It could also mean that my answer is wrong. Bring your answer to class and we will discuss it.
Have fun!
[Note: to access the exercises, click on the word EXERCISE, not on the description of the fallacies covered.]
Unit I: Deductive Fallacies
Group A
EXERCISE 1: The Ad Hominem Fallacies
EXERCISE 2: The Emotional Appeals Fallacies
EXERCISE 3: The Ad Verecundiam Fallacies - Personal
EXERCISE 4: The Ad Veredundiam Fallacies - Impersonal
EXERCISE A: Mixed Fallacies from Group A.
Group B
EXERCISE 5: The Personal Appeals Fallacies
EXERCISE 6: The Middle Ground Fallacies
EXERCISE 7: Misrepresentations and Deductive Ambiguities
EXERCISE 8: The Deductive Circularities
EXERCISE B: Mixed Fallacies from Group B.
DEDUCTIVE FALLACIES:
EXERCISE C: Mixed Fallacies from both Group A and Group B.
EXERCISE D: Mixed Fallacies from both Group A and Group B.
EXERCISE E: Deductive fallacies in a persuasive passage.
Unit II: Non-Deductive Fallacies
Inductive Fallacies
EXERCISE 9: Errors in Observation and Inductive Ambiguities
EXERCISE 10: Errors in Sampling
EXERCISE 11: Inductive Circularities
EXERCISE F: Mixed Inductive fallacies.
Retroductive Fallacies
EXERCISE 12: False Cause Fallacies
EXERCISE 13: False Report Fallacies and Retroductive Circularities
EXERCISE G: Mixed Retroductive fallacies.
INDUCTIVE & RETRODUCTIVE FALLACIES:
EXERCISE H: Mixed Inductive and Retroductive fallacies.
EXERCISE I: Inductive and Retroductive fallacies in a persuasive passage.
WELCOME EXPLANATION OF PRINCIPLES TABLE OF FALLACIES EXERCISES INDEX