PHIL 102 FINAL EXAM REVIEW UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. What is a claim?
Answer:
A statement having a truth value; any declarative sentence (including rhetorical questions); does not
include questions, commands, or exclamations.
Question:
2. What is a non-claim?
Answer:
A passage with no conclusion; a report of an incident; a conversation where there is no attempt to resolve a
problem. (Includes questions, commands, exclamations)
Question:
3. What is an argument?
Answer:
A series of claims designed to resolve an issue.
Question:
4. Scare Tactics (Appeal to Force)
Answer:
When force, coercion, or even a threat of force is used in place of a reason in an attempt to justify a
conclusion.
Question:
5. Appeal to Pity
Answer:
This type of fallacy uses the audiences's sympathy, concern, or guilt in order to overwhelm their sense of
logic
Question:
6. Peer Pressure
Answer:
A threat of rejection by one's peer is substituted for evidence in an argument
Question:
7. Common Belief
Answer:
This fallacy is committed when we assert a statement to be true on the evidence that many other people
allegedly believe it. Being widely believed is not proof or evidence of the truth.
Question:
8. Common Practice
, Answer:
A particular type of appeal to the people that argues something is right or should be done based only on
evidence that other people are doing it.
Question:
9. Appeal to Tradition
Answer:
A logical fallacy in which a conclusion or side is supported solely because it has long been held to be true
or superior.
Question:
10. Relativism
Answer:
A fallacy which assumes that something old is automatically better than something new
Question:
11. Red Herring (Smokescreen)
Answer:
This fallacy introduces an irrelevant issue into a discussion as a diversionary tactic. It takes people off the
issue at hand; it is beside the point.
Question:
12. Ad hominem
Answer:
Attacking the arguer rather than his/her argument. Saying something negative about someone is not
automatically ad hominem. If a person (politician for example) is the issue, then it is not a fallacy.
Question:
13. Straw Man
Answer:
This fallacy occurs when we misrepresent an opponent's position to make it easier to attack, usually by
distorting his or her views to ridiculous extremes. This can also take the form of attacking only the weak
premises in an opposing argument while ignoring the strong ones.
Question:
14. False Dilemma
Answer:
This fallacy assumes that we must choose between two opposite extremes instead of allowing for other
possibilities, especially for the possibility of choosing an alternative between the extremes.
Question:
15. Slippery Slope
Answer:
A line of reasoning in which there is no gray area or middle ground. It states that x, y, z are implicit in step
a. The primary characteristic is that it fails to distinguish between (or among) degrees of difference. It
argues for (or against) the first step because if you take the first step, you will inevitably follow through to
the last.
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. What is a claim?
Answer:
A statement having a truth value; any declarative sentence (including rhetorical questions); does not
include questions, commands, or exclamations.
Question:
2. What is a non-claim?
Answer:
A passage with no conclusion; a report of an incident; a conversation where there is no attempt to resolve a
problem. (Includes questions, commands, exclamations)
Question:
3. What is an argument?
Answer:
A series of claims designed to resolve an issue.
Question:
4. Scare Tactics (Appeal to Force)
Answer:
When force, coercion, or even a threat of force is used in place of a reason in an attempt to justify a
conclusion.
Question:
5. Appeal to Pity
Answer:
This type of fallacy uses the audiences's sympathy, concern, or guilt in order to overwhelm their sense of
logic
Question:
6. Peer Pressure
Answer:
A threat of rejection by one's peer is substituted for evidence in an argument
Question:
7. Common Belief
Answer:
This fallacy is committed when we assert a statement to be true on the evidence that many other people
allegedly believe it. Being widely believed is not proof or evidence of the truth.
Question:
8. Common Practice
, Answer:
A particular type of appeal to the people that argues something is right or should be done based only on
evidence that other people are doing it.
Question:
9. Appeal to Tradition
Answer:
A logical fallacy in which a conclusion or side is supported solely because it has long been held to be true
or superior.
Question:
10. Relativism
Answer:
A fallacy which assumes that something old is automatically better than something new
Question:
11. Red Herring (Smokescreen)
Answer:
This fallacy introduces an irrelevant issue into a discussion as a diversionary tactic. It takes people off the
issue at hand; it is beside the point.
Question:
12. Ad hominem
Answer:
Attacking the arguer rather than his/her argument. Saying something negative about someone is not
automatically ad hominem. If a person (politician for example) is the issue, then it is not a fallacy.
Question:
13. Straw Man
Answer:
This fallacy occurs when we misrepresent an opponent's position to make it easier to attack, usually by
distorting his or her views to ridiculous extremes. This can also take the form of attacking only the weak
premises in an opposing argument while ignoring the strong ones.
Question:
14. False Dilemma
Answer:
This fallacy assumes that we must choose between two opposite extremes instead of allowing for other
possibilities, especially for the possibility of choosing an alternative between the extremes.
Question:
15. Slippery Slope
Answer:
A line of reasoning in which there is no gray area or middle ground. It states that x, y, z are implicit in step
a. The primary characteristic is that it fails to distinguish between (or among) degrees of difference. It
argues for (or against) the first step because if you take the first step, you will inevitably follow through to
the last.
