Passage AHume argued that we have no rational basis for believing in miracles. But think about all the many miracles of modern m
edicine that have improved human health and dramatically extended the average lifespan during this century! Hume was simply wrong.Passage BMost people will tell you that it is important for kids to go to school. But those people are wrong. The dictionary defines "kid" as denoting young goats. Surely, it is a bad idea to fill our schools with goats!Passage CThis newspaper headline says, "Earliest chocolate use has been found in what is now U.S." But that can't be true: The cacao plant isn't native to North America, whereas it has been grown and harvested in Central and South America for nearly 2,000 years. Surely, the earliest use of chocolate occurred somewhere south of what is now the U.S.Passage DMinneapolis is north of St. Louis, and New Orleans is south of St. Louis. Therefore, New Orleans is south of Minneapolis.Passage EPolice officers in this city swear an oath to "serve and protect" its citizens. Obviously, to "serve and protect" does not involve undue force or physical assault. So, the allegations that these police officers physically assaulted the defendant must be false.Passage A,B,C,D,E: DOES/DOES NOT commit a fallacy. Specifically, it DOES OR DOES NOT commit the fallacy of equivocation, and it DOES OR DOES NOT commit the fallacy of amphiboly.
Passage A commits a fallacy but does not commit a fallacy of equivocation or amphiboly.
Passage B commits a fallacy and specifically commits a fallacy of equivocation.
Passage C commits a fallacy but does not commit a fallacy of equivocation or amphiboly.
Passage D does not commit a fallacy
Passage E commits a fallacy and specifically commits a fallacy of amphiboly.
Explanation:
A fallacy is an argument that isn't sound because it has a faulty logic. There are many different types of fallacies. The fallacies dealt in our example here: fallacy of equivocation and fallacy of amphiboly both deal with fallacies stemming from ambiguity of words or sentences such that they can mean so many things at the same time. While fallacy of equivocation deals with fallacies resulting from ambiguity caused by use of a word that could mean so many things, fallacy of amphiboly deals with fallacies from ambiguity of phrases and sentences.
