Ad Hominem Fallacy More Fallacies and Inductive Arguments Worksheet

Put things in your own words unless the question asks for a direct quote.

Part 1: More Fallacies

1. What is the ad hominem fallacy? When is it a fallacy to criticize the person making an

argument, and when is this acceptable as part of a good argument? Answer in 8-12

sentences, with two direct quotes from the course text by Van Cleave. Quotes go in

quotation marks with the in-text citation (Van Cleave, 2016, p. ___). (10 points)

2. Give an example of each of the following, related to one of your hobbies or interests.

Compose your own arguments for these questions. (10 points each)

(a) An argument that commits the causal slippery slope fallacy

(b) An argument that commits the straw man fallacy

(c) An argument that looks like the fallacy of appeal to authority, but is in fact a good

argument and not a fallacy

Part 2: Inductive Arguments

3. What is the difference between a deductive and an inductive argument? What makes

something a strong inductive argument? Can a strong inductive argument have false

premises? Why or why not? These topics are not fully covered in the course text, so also

draw from my lesson video or video transcript. (10 points)

4. Why is it important for arguments involving statistical generalization to have a

sufficiently large and non-biased sample? Answer in 8-12 sentences, with two direct

quotes from the course text by Van Cleave. Quote go in quotation marks with the in-text

citation (Van Cleave, 2016, p. ___). (10 points)

5. Think of your favorite place to spend time or travel. Then, compose the following

arguments about your chosen location. (10 points each)

a. An argument involving a good statistical generalization

b. An argument involving a statistical generalization with a large sample size, but a

biased sample

6. For this question, find a short real-world argument from an outside source related to

the social or ethical issue you chose as your paper topic. You can choose to find either

an argument involving one of the named fallacies from the course text (false dichotomy

fallacy, straw man fallacy, etc.) or an argument involving a statistical generalization. If

you choose a fallacy, it can be one of the named types from either of the two fallacy

modules. Whichever kind of argument you choose is up to you. Then, use the argument

to answer the following prompts. (10 points each)

a. List the premise(s) and conclusion of the argument. For this, you can give direct

quotes or paraphrase from the source. Supply any missing claims needed to

complete the argument if certain claims are intended by the speaker, but not

directly stated.

b. Is the argument good or bad, and why? Use definitions and concepts from the

relevant lesson to explain your answer.