Flaw Types with Example Questions - Redux 2021 Pandemic Cycle Version

canihazJD

Reviving this excellent resource so we can add to it and keep it alive. Credit to @alyhobbs and the 3 years ago crew. Hope you all are killing it wherever you are.

Original thread: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/16979/help-with-flaw-type-examples

Will be adding to this but hey, don't make me do all the work... please post your examples up (especially for unaddressed categories) and I'll add them to the OP. It would be sweet if you copied the general format that follows too so I can just copy and paste. I'll credit you and you can be immortalized in the sage archives for all time.

Future 7sagers: please do continue to do this... copy what follows and make it your own. Please credit the original poster below and carry the flame.

@alyhobbs wrote:
Hey everyone, I am having a hard time with Flaw Questions. I know we are supposed to memorize the common argument flaws but that is where my struggle is. I am very much a visual/example type of learner. When going through the flaw types I realized it would really help me to understand and memorize them if I had examples. So I have been going through PTs and Drills that I have done trying to match them up with the flaw types and could use some help. Some I am able to easily match up to the type of flaw and others I am not. I have listed the different types below, some have specific question examples and then underneath I have a list of questions I need help matching. If anyone knows of any specific PT questions that match up with the other flaws please let me know so I can add them to my list. I hope this can also help others that struggle with flaws.

Flaw Types with Example Questions

1) Attacking the source of the argument

• PT19S2Q14 *Thanks keets993
  "rejects a claim by attacking the proponents of the claim rather than addressing the claim itself"

• PT25S4Q04 *Thanks keets993
  "assails legislation on the basis of the questionable character of supporters of the legislation"

• PT39S4Q11 *Thanks keets993
  "diverts attention from the content of the article by focusing on the writers' actions"

2) Uses terms unclearly/equivocation

• PT25S04Q17
  "The argument ambiguously uses the word "afford""

• PT53S1Q12 *Thanks keets993
  "ambiguity of risk"

• PT59S2Q15 *canihazJD
  "the meaning of a key term shifts illicitly during the course of the argument"

• PT22S2Q24 *Thanks keets993
  "draws a conclusion based on equivocal language"

3) Analogies that really aren’t analogous enough

• PT24S3Q02 *Thanks keets993
  "It relies on an analogy between two things that are insufficiently alike in the respects in which they would have to be alike for the conclusion to be supported"

4) Appealing to authority in an area outside their expertise

• PTJ07S2Q17 @WickedLost @"Granger Danger"
  "The argument relies on the testimony of experts whose expertise is not shown to be sufficiently broad to support their general claim"

• PT20S4Q20 @"Granger Danger"
  Parallel flaw with classic appeal fallacy.

5) Causation confusions

• PT47S3Q23
  “It takes for granted that if a correlation has been observed between two phenomena, they must be causally connected”

• PT30S2Q25 *Thanks keets993
  "because hormone levels are correlated with heart disease they influence heart disease"

• PT47S1Q23 *Thanks keets993
  "ignores the possibility that an increase in theta waves may not always be accompanied by a state of profound creativity"

• PT18S4Q9 *Thanks keets993
  "It mistakes a correlation between the type of brain damage described and Parkinson's disease for a causal relation between the two"

• PT39S4Q20 *Thanks keets993
  "overlooks the possibility that the same thing may causally contribute both to education and to good health"

• PT20S1Q10 *Thanks akistotle
  "ignores the possibility that drivers who drive recklessly have a preference for red cars"

• PT20S4Q14 *Thanks akistotle
  "It concludes that one thing was caused by another although the evidecnce given is consistent with the first thing's having caused the second"

• PT30S2Q25 *Thanks akistotle
  "Because hormone levels are correlated with heart disease they influence heart disease"

• PT31S2Q9 *Thanks akistotle
  "offers no evidence that the individuals queried would have responded differently had they been asked the same questions in years prior to the survey"

• PT64S1Q5 *Thanks akistotle
  "dogs' misbehavior is the cause of, rather than the result of, frequent discipline"

• PT65S1Q8 *Thanks akistotle
  "illicitly infers a cause from a correlation"

• PT66S4Q25 *Thanks akistotle
  "foods containing fiber also contain other substances that, when consumed, tend to prevent colon cancer"

• PT89S4Q15 *canihazJD
  “surmises from the fact that two phenomena are correlated that one causes the other”

6) Circular Reasoning

• PT17S2Q2 *Thanks keets993 and akistotle
  "draws a conclusion that simply restates a claim given in support of that conclusion"

• PT17S3Q20 *Thanks keets993 and akistotle
  "assumes what it sets out to conclude"

• PT6S3Q8 *Thanks akistotle
  "It assumes what it seeks to establish"

• PT24S2Q8 *Thanks akistotle
  "presupposes the truth of the conclusion it is attempting to establish"

• PT49S2Q23 *Thanks akistotle
  "The purported evidence that it cites in support of its conclusion presumes that the conclusion is true"

7) Confusing necessary and sufficient conditions

• PT63 S1 Q25
  “infers that something that is sufficient to provide a motive is necessary to provide a motive”

• PT22S2Q25 *Thanks keets993
  "confuses a sufficient condition with a required condition"

• PT17S2Q11 *Thanks keets993 and akistotle
  "It mistakenly interprets P to be claiming that a factor assures, rather than is necessary for, a legislator's effectiveness"

• PT17S3Q9 *Thanks keets993
  "does not establish that only a bird could have made the track"

• PT18S4Q3 *Thanks keets993
  "Grass seeds will not germinate well unless they are pressed firmly into the ground. The grass seeds sown in this yard were pressed firmly into the ground, so they will germinate well"

• PT22S4Q21 *Thanks akistotle
  "presupposing that if an action's having a certain property is necessary for its being a certain type of action, then having that property is sufficient for being that type of action"

• PT23S2Q19 *Thanks akistotle
  "taking the nonexistence of something as evidence that a necessary precondition for that thing also did not exist"

• PT23S3Q17 *Thanks akistotle
  "mistakes being sufficient to justify punishment for being required to justify it"

• PT24S2Q23 *Thanks akistotle
  "From the assertion that something is necessary to a moral order, the argument concludes that that thing is sufficient for an element of the moral order to be realized"

• PT30S4Q14 *Thanks akistotle
  "It mistakes something that is necessary for its conclusion to follow for something that ensures that the conclusion follows"

• PTJ07S3Q25 *Thanks akistotle
  "confuses a condition's being required for a given result to occur in one case with the condition's being sufficient for such a result to occur in a similar case"

• PT64S1Q24 *Thanks akistotle
  "confuses a claim that under certain conditions a certain action should be taken with a claim that the action need not be taken in the absence of those conditions"

• PT67S2Q09 *Thanks akistotle
  "treats a statement whose truth is required for the conclusion to be true as though it were a statement whose truth ensures that the conclusion is true"

• PT68S3Q21 *Thanks akistotle
  "takes for granted that the speech could not be inappropriate if it was not inflammatory"

• PT89S4Q20 *canihazJD
  "mistakes necessary conditions for sufficient condition"

8) False dichotomy

• PT22S4Q09 *Thanks keets993
  "treats two things, neither one of which can plausibly be seen as excluding the other, as though they were mutually exclusive"

• PT38S1Q11 (Thanks to @"Slow is Fast" for finding it!) @"Burden.of.Floof"
  "fails to consider that some students may be neither fascinated by nor completely indifferent"

• PT39S4Q26 *Thanks keets993
  "Since there is a storm moving in, the outside temperature cannot rise this afternoon. Therefore, it must fall."

• PT59S3Q20 @cldennis94

9) Confusing probability for certainty

• PT54S4Q16 *Thanks keets993
  "It takes for granted that the economic incentive to construct colonies on the Moon will grow sufficiently to cause such a costly project to be undertaken."

10) Confusing "is" for "ought"

PT60S3Q16 *thanks @"cole.davis10"

"Takes for granted that preserving a currently endangered species in a habitat does not have higher priority than preserving species in that habitat that are not endangered"

11) Percentages v. quantity

• PT39S2Q5 (not a flaw question but RRE) *Thanks keets993
  "Far more pedestrians cross at corners than jaywalk"

12) Surveys and samplings to reach a general conclusion

• PT 63S1Q3
  “It relies on the opinions of a group unlikely to be representative of the group at issue in the conclusion”

• PT51S1Q4
  “fails to state the number of dermatologists surveyed, which leaves open the possibility that the sample of doctors is too small to be reliable”

• PT31S2Q03 *Thanks keets993
  "Those who are best able to provide answers to the question are patients, rather than physicians"

• PT39S4Q21 *Thanks keets993
  "that there may be few if any other plumbers working in Moore's town"

13) Hasty generalization

• PT51S3Q6
  “draws a generalization that is broader than is warranted by the findings cited”

• PT30S2Q13 *Thanks samantha.ashley92
  "Treats a claim about what is currently the case as if it were a claim about what has been the case for an extended period"

• PT39S2Q2 *Thanks samantha.ashley92
  “draws a conclusion about all cases of a certain kind on the basis of evidence that justifies such a conclusion only about some cases of that kind”

• PT18S4Q25 *Thanks keets993
  "He attempts to refute a general claim by reference to nonconforming cases, although the claim is consistent with the occurrence of such cases"

14) Experiments to reach a general conclusion

• PT35S4Q08 *Thanks keets993
  "playing the study's card game perfectly requires fairly low levels of perception and memory"

15) Your argument fails therefore the opposite of your conclusion must be true

• PT47S1Q8
  “takes for granted that the fact that a claim has not been demonstrated to be false establishes that it is true”

• PT51S1Q15 *Thanks samantha.ashley92
  “the argument, in its attempt to refute one theory of species classification, presupposes the truth of an opposing theory

16) Relative v. absolute

• PT 53S1Q22 *Thanks keets993
  "mistakes a merely relative property for one that is absolute"

• PT 85S3Q24
  "takes for granted that there are not significantly more households with a dog than ones with a cat"

17) Confusing one possible solution for the only solution

• PT30S4Q6 *Thanks samantha.ashley92
  "Confuses being an adequate solution with being a required solution"

• PT59S2Q8 *canihazJD
  "fails to consider alternative explanations of the decline in sales of ice cream"

18) Red herring

• PT26S2Q11
  "it appeals to the emotion of pity rather than addressing the issue raised"

• PT18S4Q11 *Thanks keets993
  "relies on an irrelevant reason for rejecting the civil libertarian's argument"

• PT18S2Q04 *Thanks keets993
  "He argues against a point that is not one that Marianna was making"

19) Tradition fallacy and novelty fallacy

• PT51S1Q10 *Thanks samantha.ashley92
  “fails to show that a certain conclusion of the recent report is better justified than an opposing conclusion reached in older studies”

20) Confusing part v. whole

• PT 47S3Q25 *Thanks keets993
  "To put together this year's two All-Star Teams, the best players in the league were selected. Half of them were put on Team One, and half were put on Team Two. Since each player on the two teams was one of the best players in the league this year, it follows that the two All-Star Teams are the two best teams this year."
  I also describe this is as 'falsey transfers attributes that can't be transferred' *Thanks keets993

• PT17S3Q19 *Thanks keets993
  "Of all the flowers grown in the university's botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful. Since the university's botanical garden is the most beautiful . Since the university's botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region, the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region."

• PT17S3Q16 *Thanks keets993
  "assuming that because something is true each of the parts of a whole it is true of the whole itself"

• PT62S2Q7 *Thanks LCMama2017
  "This paragraph is long. So the sentences that comprise it are long."

• PT87S3Q7 *canihazJD
  "infers that a food will have a certain property simply because one of the foods ingredients has that property"

21) Beliefs v. facts

• PT 80.S1.Q19 @cldennis94
  "opposing higher taxes is not a factor contributing to good leadership."
  Note: a Weaken question, but belief vs. facts is the flaw here in the argument.

• PT 28.S1.Q19 @cldennis94
  "infers that something is the case because it is believed to be the case."

22) Relies on people's opinions as fact

• PT28S1Q09 *Thanks keets993
  "a claim is inferred to be false merely because a majority of people believe it to be false"
  Match the flaw

• PT47S1Q23
  “ignores the possibility that an increase in theta waves may not always be accompanied by a state of profound creativity”

• PT51S1Q6
  “It fails to take into account that what brings someone happiness at one moment may not bring that person happiness at another time”

• PT51S1Q18
  “overlooks the possibility that most people may have voted for small cities even though a large city received more votes than any other single city”

• PT51S3Q4
  “fails to consider that the total amount of money spent on education may be much greater than the total spent on sports”

• PT51S3Q9
  “fails to consider the possibility that the vehicle related fatality rates in other areas are also rising”

• PT67S2Q9
  "treats a statement whose truth is required for the conclusion to be true as though it were a statement whose truth ensures that the conclusion is true"

• PT67S2Q21
  "the argument fails to consider that bees might be present even in the absence of a particular condition that would ensure their presence"
  More added by @samantha.ashley92

• PT30S4Q8: "The argument presumes that no other evidence is relevant to the issue at hand"
  Relative v. absolute? I have no idea.

• PT30S4Q14: "It mistakes something that is necessary for its conclusion to follow for something that ensures that the conclusion follows"

23) Unrepresentative sample

• PTM20S3Q18 *canihazJD
  "making a generalization on the basis of a sample that is likely to be unrepresentative"

• PT88S4Q19 *canihazJD
  "draws a conclusion on the basis of a biased sample"

24) Sneaking something in (dont have a good name/category for this yet).

• PT92S1Q25 (weaken)

cldennis94

Belief vs. Facts:
PT 80.S1.Q19
"opposing higher taxes is not a factor contributing to good leadership."
Note: a Weaken question, but belief vs. facts is the flaw here in the argument.

PT 28.S1.Q19
"infers that something is the case because it is believed to be the case."

canihazJD

Bump. Anyone have something for #4 improper appeal to authority?

WickedLost

@canihazJD said:
Bump. Anyone have something for #4 improper appeal to authority?

I think the June 2007 PT Section 2 Question 17 is one (hospital conference question)

Granger Danger

Improper appeal to authority: June 2007 test section 2 question 17. We don't know if the computer experts really have any idea about what they are talking about. This flaw isn't outside of the computer experts' authority so to speak, but the flaw is that the argument accepts the computer experts' statements and makes a broad conclusion that might not be true if the computer experts's claims are untrue.

20.4.20. More of a classic appeal to authority than the other example.

Hope this helps!

yunonsie

@canihazJD i remember a parallel flaw question with two flaws. one was inappropriate appeal to the wrong authority (i vaguely remember a zoologist being mentioned) and your classic sufficient/negation mix up. hopefully i can find it or maybe someone knows what i'm talking about?

Burden.of.Floof

False Dichotomy: PT38 S1 Q11 (Thanks to @"Slow is Fast" for finding it!)
fails to consider that some students may be neither fascinated by nor completely indifferent

Fun fact: for those of you who have read Informal Logic by Nolt, he uses a verrry similar example in his book. Coincidence? Probably not...

canihazJD

@"Burden.of.Floof" said:
False Dichotomy: PT38 S1 Q11 (Thanks to @"Slow is Fast" for finding it!)
fails to consider that some students may be neither fascinated by nor completely indifferent

Fun fact: for those of you who have read Informal Logic by Nolt, he uses a verrry similar example in his book. Coincidence? Probably not...

Yes, IIRC a former content writer cited that book as a reference.

canihazJD

Added! Thanks everyone. Keep it going please. If you run into a good example or have a category to add let's continue to make this better. Please, if possible follow this format so I can just past it in:

• PTXXSXQXX
  "answer choice language"

While this is obviously good practice, it will be a valuable resource for people coming after us. Remember, its not what you take, but what you leave behind.

WickedLost

I'm not sure if this thread is the right place or whether it would be more of a study-buddy exercise for whoever might be interested but I've started taking note of specific weaken/strengthen questions where I wasn't sure which of two method of reasonings it could fall under. Happy to post them here to get the discussion going/assign them to the right one, or start a separate thread?

canihazJD

You could do it here... I dont see an issue with that. Then we can reach a consensus and add it in, benefiting in multiple ways. But a new thread is fine too. Your preference I guess.

Slow is Fast

@WickedLost Perhaps the questions you're looking at fall under a third method of reasoning category? There are three main ones on this test: conditional reasoning, causal reasoning, and comparative reasoning.

cldennis94

False dichotomy. LSAT 59 - Section 3 - Question 20.

cole.davis10

Confusing "is" for "ought" Flaw:
PT60S3Q16
"Takes for granted that preserving a currently endangered species in a habitat does not have higher priority than preserving species in that habitat that are not endangered"

@canihazJD, this is a fantastic thread, and I wanted to make a contribution to help keep it alive. I am fairly confident the question listed above is committing the Confusing "Is" for "ought" Flaw since it derives a prescriptive conclusion from exclusively descriptive premises.

canihazJD

@"cole.davis10" said:
Confusing "is" for "ought" Flaw:
PT60S3Q16
"Takes for granted that preserving a currently endangered species in a habitat does not have higher priority than preserving species in that habitat that are not endangered"

@canihazJD, this is a fantastic thread, and I wanted to make a contribution to help keep it alive. I am fairly confident the question listed above is committing the Confusing "Is" for "ought" Flaw since it derives a prescriptive conclusion from exclusively descriptive premises.

Got it, thanks! Note to all: I'll continue updating this as long as practical for me but feel free to copy it all and start your own!

canihazJD

"sneaking something in" added.

canihazJD

bump for @bukaokoye

AJamal22

PT 81.1.22
"the argument relies on a premise that pressuposes what the argument attempts to show in the conclusion"

AJamal22

PT 88.1.14
"infers a specific causal relationship from a correlation that might well have arisen from another cause"

canihazJD

bumping with original thread