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Help with Flaw Type Examples
alyhobbs
Alum Member
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"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
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"
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"
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"
- PT39S4Q26 *Thanks keets993
"Since there is a storm moving in, the outside temperature cannot rise this afternoon. Therefore, it must fall."
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"
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"
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."
21) Beliefs v. facts
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"
- Eh. Idk.
Comments
OMG. I want to kiss you right now
. I am going over flaw right now because that is a big weakness... can I just cry tears of happiness? 
More:
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"
Eh. Idk.
PT30S4Q6: "Confuses being an adequate solution with being a required solution"
Confusing one possible solution for the only solution
PT30S2Q13: "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"
Hasty generalization-- like what happened over the past year is representative of what has happened forever.
Can you tell I just did PT30? Haha.
My thoughts:
PT39S2Q2 is a hasty generalization.
PT47S1Q8 is your argument fails therefore the opposite of your conclusion must be true
PT51S1Q10 is traditional fallacy/novelty fallacy
PT51S1Q15 is your argument fails therefore the opposite of your conclusion must be true
And I'm going to stop looking because I just realized that I haven't done PT 51+ yet lol.
Thank you!!! I edited my original post to add your changes and the ones you have questions about.
No worries! You helped a lot. Haha you can tell which PTs I did also. I tried to add some different ones but it's super time consuming and I think I was able to get a good variety of flaws.
Is there a specific PT range you want them in (below 50) or just in general?
No just in general. I just took examples from recent PTs I've done but any examples will be great.
Buckle in! I'll update as I find more...I know I've done most of these types before. Some of the ones I found are more flexible in terms of how they fit in but they give you the general gist.
1) Attacking the source of the argument (PT19, S2, Q14; PT25, S4, Q04; PT39, S4,Q11)
2) Uses terms unclearly/equivocation (PT53, S1, Q12; PT22, S2, Q24)
3) Analogies that really aren’t analogous enough (PT24, S3, Q02)
4) Appealing to authority in an area outside their expertise
5) Causation confusions (PT30, S2, Q25; PT47, S1, Q23; PT18, S4, Q9; PT39, S4, Q20)
6) Circular Reasoning (PT17, Section 2, Q2; PT17, S2, Q20)
7) Confusing necessary and sufficient conditions (PT22, S2, Q25; PT17, S2, Q11; PT17, S3, Q9; PT18, S4, Q3)
8) False dichotomy (PT22, S4, Q09; PT39, S4, Q26)
9) Confusing probability for certainty
10) Confusing "is" for "ought"
11) Percentages v. quantity
12) Surveys and samplings to reach a general conclusion (PT31, S2, Q03; PT39, S4, Q21)
13) Hasty generalization (PT18, S4, Q25)
14) Experiments to reach a general conclusion (PT35, S2, Q08)
15) Your argument fails therefore the opposite of your conclusion must be true
16) Relative v. absolute (PT 53, Section 1, Q22)
17) Confusing one possible solution for the only solution
18) Red herring (PT 18, S4, Q11; PT18, S2, Q04)
19) Tradition fallacy and novelty fallacy
20) Confusing part v. whole (PT 47, Section 3, Q25) I also describe this is as 'falsey transfers attributes that can't be transferred' (PT17, S3, Q19); (PT17, S3, Q16)
21) Beliefs v. facts
22) Relies on people's opinions as fact (PT28, S1, Q09)
Woooowww! This is so great thank you! I will go through them and update the OP so others can have a merged list. You're awesome!!
I once tried to make a list of all the common flaws.....But then I gave up.
So here is a partial list:
5) Causation confusions (correlation-causation flaws)
PT20.S1.Q10; PT20.S4.Q14; PT30.S2.Q25; PT31.S2.Q9 ; PT64.S1.Q5; PT65.S1.Q8; PT66.S4.Q25
6) Circular reasoning
PT6.S3.Q8; PT17.S2.Q2 ; PT17.S3.Q20; PT24.S2.Q8; PT49.S2.Q23
7) Confusing sufficient and necessary conditions (sufficiency-necessity confusion)
I think there is at least one sufficiency-neccesity confusion per PT.
PT17.S2.Q11; PT22.S4.Q21; PT23.S2.Q19; PT23.S3.Q17; PT24.S2.Q23; PT30.S4.Q14; PTJ07.S3.Q25; PT64.S1.Q24; PT67.S2.Q09; PT68.S3.Q21; PT79.S1.Q15
I don't blame you it's definitely a lot! That's where team work comes in. I am working on adding Nikita's and I will add yours as well. Thank you soooo much!
Thank you @keets993, @akistotle and @"samantha.ashley92". I have updated the OP.
If anyone else has updated for the flaws that have no examples or know the flaw types listed under match the flaw let me know
Match the flaw:
So these are interesting because they don't use 'key' words that we are trained to look for but you either have to; (1) look at the stimulus or; (2) parse out the english.
PT47S1Q23: Causation/Correlation
“ignores the possibility that an increase in theta waves may not always be accompanied by a state of profound creativity”
I haven't done 51 yet so I'll tag those later if they are still tag-less
PT67S2Q9: "a statement whose truth is required to be true" = necessary; "a statement whose truth ensures that the conclusion is true" = sufficient! I recently figured out (and was going to post about it to verify) that the second one is indicating a sufficient condition, beause when you affirm the sufficient it ensures the conclusion (assuming that conclusion is the necessary statement); either way its necessary/sufficiency confusion.
"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: This is also sufficiency/necessity
"the argument fails to consider that bees might be present even in the absence of a particular condition that would ensure their presence"
I don't know if this is a 'common' type. It's basically stating that the argument is assuming that there is no other evidence that can be relevant to the issue. So, the person making the argument is assuming that they have all the facts/issues at hand and aren't overlooking something that could be used against them.
PT30S4Q8: "The argument presumes that no other evidence is relevant to the issue at hand"
PT30S4Q14: This is also sufficiency/necessisty. Ensures is similar to guarantees. Something that ensures that the conclusion follows = sufficient.
"It mistakes something that is necessary for its conclusion to follow for something that ensures that the conclusion follows"
Also, I think it's okay to put the question stem/AC in the discussion but not the stimulus.
To add to this list - #20 part to whole flaw: PT 62, Sec 2, Q 7.
This is really helpful thank you.
Does anyone have this on a word doc or spreadsheet?
I do. I'll send. Or, I'll try. PM me your email address.
You're a queen.
Okay this is AMAZING!!! Thank you so much. This just made my day
Wow, you people are amazing.
the helpful kindhearted queen jumped out
tysm for this
if anyone has this saved as a pdf/word doc lmk and I'll PM you my email x
I see some of these are still empty so you can add these to your list.
9) Confusing probability for certainty (PT54, Section 4, Question 16)
11) Percentages v. quantity (not a flaw question but RRE; PT39, S2, Q5)
Sorry I got a little behind on this but I have updated the additions from @keets993 and @LCMama2017
Thank you so much for sharing, this is so helpful!
this is great.
Bumping this, this is some great work!
This is so helpful! Thank you to everyone - and thank you @"Leah M B" for turning me on to it.
Beliefs v. facts
PT 58-4-14: "Fails to distinguish between the crime rate's rising actually rising and people's believing that the crime rate is rising"
Confusing part v. whole
PT 58-4-5: "Takes for granted that only the best management consultants have worked for the top management consulting firms"
I have one for red herring:
PT 67-4-21: https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-67-section-4-question-21/
"It does not address the neighbor's claim that pesticides used by the farmer are spreading onto her land"
This should be bumped for how great of a resource it is.
Brilliant!
Incredible resource. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
If anyone has this byword document, please email it to me. Jackson.julien@yahoo.com. thank You.
Just commenting so I can find this post later but ya nice post!
Excellent Resource. It is extremely helpful for me to know what type of argument flaw you are dealing with when doing flaw questions. Thank you!
Heaven. Sent.
this is so helpful
bumping
Super helpful! Thanks for bumping!
Thank you all for doing this! Bumping
Thank you for bumping this
thank you
thank you so much! Adding the other two false dichotomy: (PT35, S4, Q13; PT38, S1, Q11)
this is a pretty old post and I did an updated one a couple years ago here: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/29425/flaw-types-with-example-questions-redux-2021-pandemic-cycle-version
I dont know that the author here is still active but feel free to send me the updates and I can add them to the other post
OR
Please feel free to copy the later version (which includes more examples) wholesale and make it your own. Maybe just keep attribution to the original - this thread.
Point being: keep this updated in some form and pass it on. None of us will be active here forever.