Critical Thinking Homework 6 	Name ________________________ 	Class # _______

Circle the name of the person who gives the weaker argument in each pair, and then circle the name of the fallacy committed by this person.

1. Cullen. I think it's pretty clear that drinking bottled water causes mopery. A recent study has shown that people who drink bottled water are four times as likely to mope around as people who don't drink bottled water.
Sterling. Yes, but the study also showed that there's plenty of people who mope around without ever touching bottled water, so the study doesn't prove that drinking bottled water causes mopery.

Weaker Argument:		Cullen			Sterling		

Fallacy:     False Cause	Red Herring	    Begging the Question	Slippery Slope

2. Quentin. I think we should go back to pumping oxygen into that sunken submarine. It would help the sailors. 
Elisha. Since we stopped pumping oxygen into that sunken submarine the sailors have gotten sicker and sicker. This is a very serious situation which we must address immediately by making sure that there is absolutely no oxygen in that sunken submarine.

Weaker Argument:		Quentin		Elisha

Fallacy:     False Cause	Red Herring	    Begging the Question	Slippery Slope

3. Tanya. I've just heard some disturbing news. A major recent study just compared two demographically identical groups, one of which listened to classical music a lot, and the other didn't listen to classical music at all. The group of classical music listeners turned out to have a much higher percentage of white-collar criminals than the non listeners, so it looks like listening to classical music causes white-collar crime.
Alfred. I've seen the same study, and I can tell you that it totally fails to prove that classical music causes white-collar crime because nowhere in that study do they even begin to explain how listening to classical music goes about causing that white-collar crime.

Weaker Argument:		Tanya			Alfred

Fallacy:     False Cause	Red Herring	    Begging the Question	Slippery Slope

4. Roland. Statistics show that once people start using a sunscreen, they almost never go back to sunbathing without it. So obviously use of sunscreen makes people dependent on sunscreen. Since it is bad for people to be dependent, we should abolish sunscreen now.
Vilma. Doesn't it occur to you that people continue to need sunscreen because strong sunlight continues to contain dangerous ultraviolet radiation?

Weaker Argument:		Roland		Vilma

Fallacy:     False Cause	Red Herring	    Begging the Question	Slippery Slope

5. Humberto. It's beginning to look like drinking herbal tea makes people taller. They did a long-term study comparing a million adult herbal tea drinkers with a million adults who never, ever drink that disgusting rubbish. On average, the people in the herbal tea group got three millimeters taller for every year they drank herbal tea, while the demographically equivalent adults in the other group didn't grow at all.
Camila. Herbal tea doesn't make people taller. Plenty of people in that study drank herbal tea for years without getting any taller. 

Weaker Argument:		Humberto		Camila

Fallacy:     False Cause	Red Herring	    Begging the Question	Slippery Slope