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