| LOGICAL
FALLACIES |
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| When a
seemingly logical argument collapses under closer scrutiny, then that argument is
considered logically fallacious. Here are two common logical fallacies: |
| 1. |
FALSE CAUSE |
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Example: |
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Event: Mr Ong ate laksa for lunch. |
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Post-event:
He had diarrhoea afterwards. |
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Conclusion:
Therefore, the laksa was not properly prepared. |
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We have ignored other possible
causes, like dirty chopsticks, inability to take coconut milk, bad personal hygiene,
etc... |
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| 2. |
FALSE DILEMMA |
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False dilemmas wrongly assume that
it is only possible to divide a situation into just two mutually-exclusive cases. |
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Example: |
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Choices:
Either Mark was murdered or he committed suicide. |
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Fact:
Mark was a devout Catholic and thus could not have committed suicide. |
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Conclusion:
Therefore, he was murdered. |
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However, Mark could have died of a
heart attack. |
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When making decisions or arriving
at conclusions, we must consider a whole spectrum of possibilities
before concluding or deciding. This can prevent hasty judgements or erroneous decisions. |
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Primary Level
Lina, Trina and Mina went walking in the woods and encountered a tall
apple tree. It had wonderful ripe apples; but someone must have been there just before
them, for all of the good apples were too high to reach. Some worm-infested apples could
be easily picked, and more bad apples lay on the ground. How did the girls gather some
good apples?
A man went into a post office, walked up to the lady behind the counter,
offered a dollar and said, "Give me some 2-cent stamps, ten times as many 1-cent
stamps, and the balance in 5-cent stamps." How was this puzzling request met?
- The following are clues for three words. Against each clue is an indication of the
length of the word, and also where the letters MAR occur in the word. See if you can sort
out what the complete words are. As an example, if the clue is 'an employer' and the
letter pattern is MA _ _ _ R , you should be able to work out that the answer is MASTER.
_ _ _ _ _ MAR _ a horrifying experience
MAR _ _ __
an edge
_ _ M _ A _ _ _ R one who exercises authority
- If you had the words 'MAR', 'AM' and 'FAR' and were asked to find the shortest English
word which contained all the letters from which these words could be produced, you would
most probably come up with the word 'FARM'. Here is a further list of words:
GRAND, CORD, BURN, KNOB
What is the shortest English word from which all these four words can be produced?
- a. Why is a crossword puzzle like a quarrel?
b. What time is it when the clock strikes thirteen?
c. What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but not once in a hundred years?
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