Question

Maya can't find her red sandals. Tamiko is wearing red sandals. Therefore, Tamiko stole Maya's shoes. This is an example of

Answer 1

Answer:

This is an example of masked-man fallacy.

Explanation:

The masked-man is a fallacy in which two people or objects are mistakenly considered to be either identical or completely different. The most common example used to explain it is the following:

I know who Joshua is.

I don't know who the masked man is.

Therefore, Joshua is not the masked man.

In the example above, Joshua and the masked man are considered different, unrelated. In the situation we are analyzing here, the opposite happens. To reach the conclusion that Tamiko stole Maya's shoes, we are making the huge mistake of not considering any other possibility. Tamiko could very well have an identical-looking pair of shoes; Maya could have lent Tamiko her shoes and forgotten about it, and so on. Therefore, assuming that the shoes are the same, that they belong to Maya and have been stolen, is a result of wrong reasoning and an example of masked-man fallacy.