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Exercise 1: Ad Hominem Fallacies |
| Identify the fallacy that occurs in each passage. These will all be Ad Hominems: Abusive, Circumstantial, Daming With Faint Praise, Ex Concessis, and Special Pleading; and Tu Quoque. |
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| 1. We can hardly blame the peace movement for having been communist patsies. The Russians were, after all, accomplished propagandists. | ||
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| 2. I'm hardly prepared to listen to the arguments of an ignorant moron like you. | ||
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| 3. Why should we listen to your arguments supporting funding for public education? As a school teacher, you are naturally worried about losing your job. | ||
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| 4. So what if the Democrats are ignoring the part of the education report that deals with merit pay. The Republicans are just as bad, since they have no idea how to fund all the pay raises that the report recommends. | ||
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| 5. The Senator's call for emergency disaster relief is clearly absurd. Why, last year he gave less to charity than anyone else in Congress. | ||
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| 6. You can't tell me I should quit smoking. You've never done cancer research, so what would you know about it? | ||
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| 7. Anyone who believes that homosexuals have rights is a degenerate pervert. No degenerate perverts should be elected mayor. Therefore, no one who believes that homosexuals have rights should be elected mayor. | ||
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| 8. We shouldn't take too seriously the arguments of those people who support the Republicans' economic policies. Mostly they are members of the business community who stand to gain from the Republicans' policies. | ||
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Go to: WELCOME EXPLANATION of PRINCIPLES TABLE of FALLACIES EXERCISES INDEX