EXERCISE F: Mixed Inductive Fallacies
Identify the fallacy that occurs in each passage.
These will be mixed Inductive fallacies.
1. Social problems are like pimples that eventually cure themselves if left alone. Government programs are like a big, clumsy thumb. If they squeeze the pimple, they actually do more harm than good.
2. Wow, the teachers at this university are tough! I took a logic course from Thompson and only got a C, even though I worked really hard!
3. We wanted to find out what percentage of the American public believe in magic and witchcraft--and what better place to find a random sample of the American public than a shopping mall? Our surveyors worked the north end of the mall, just outside the movie theather, where, I think, the movie Blair Witch Project had just opened.
4. As members of a local witches coven, we naturally wanted to find out what percentage of the American public agree with us that magic and witchcraft are real. The thirteen of us conducted the survey at a typical shopping mall. We found that roughly 10% of the American public believe in magic and witchcraft.
5. We run a magic shop that sells candles, incense, essential oils, etc., so naturally we wanted to find out what percentage of the American public believe in magic and witchcraft. We hired an independent marketing research company who naturally informed their subjects that the survey would be used to improve customer satisfaction at our shop.
6. I believe in magic and witchcraft. When I was younger I had terrible acne; so I went to a practitioner of the arts. She cast a spell, and my acne cleared right up.
7. Belief in magic and witchcraft is far more common than you think. I'd guess that, if you asked people confidentially, so they wouldn't be embarrassed, more than 30% of people would admit to believing in some kind of magic.
8. I believe in magic and witchcraft. After all, scientists don't know everything, and no one has so far shown that such things are impossible.
9. A witch who was really serious about the craft would never use it to harm another. That risks the Law of Threefold Return. Clearly, Maleficent wasn't really serious about the craft.
10. In a random marketing survey on favorite brands of butter and margarine we asked subjects to state their religion. 10% of respondants put down 'Wiccan'. Apparently belief in magic and witchcraft is far more extensive than we had been led to believe.
11. This study proves conclusively that 10% of American believe in magic and witchcraft. This increase in the popularity of the Wiccan religion is the most significant increase in the popularity of a religion ever measured.
12. We wanted to compare whether religious beliefs have an influence on ones ability to relax. We conducted relaxation exercises with two focus groups, and asked each group where they would be most comfortable meeting. The Christian group wanted to meet at a coffee shop; the Wiccan group chose to meet at a restaurant that features organic herbal tea.
WELCOME EXPLANATION OF PRINCIPLES TABLE OF FALLACIES EXERCISES INDEX