Entry 4 _ Nguyễn Thị Anh _10031110

Item 1:

"Smith, who is from England, decides to attend graduate school at Ohio State University. He has never been to the US before. The day after he arrives, he is walking back from an orientation session and sees two white (albino) squirrels chasing each other around a tree. In his next letter home, he tells his family that American squirrels are white."

Soure: http://quizlet.com/20667785/ap-english-fallacies-and-examples-flash-cards/

• Hasty generalization
• Analysis: what’s true for two members is true for the whole group (two squirrels chasing each other around a tree in Ohio State are white => all American squirrels are white) 
• => False premise because two white squirrels in Ohio State is a very small sample taken from graduate school at Ohio state University, a very small part of America.

Item 2:

“You should never gamble. Once you start gambling you find it hard to stop. Soon you are spending all your money on gambling, and eventually you will turn to crime to support your earnings.”

Source: http://www.wutsamada.com/alma/crithink/slipheap.htm

Structure:

Premise 1: If you start gambling 

Premise 2: You find it hard to stop 

Premise 3: Soon you spend all your money on gambling 

Premise 4: You will return to crime to support your earnings 

=> Conclusion: You should never gamble 

=> Slippery slope

• Analysis: you start gambling, it doesn’t mean that you could not stop it, so all the premises after the first premise is insufficient. Thus, the conclusion is also incorrect.

Item 3:

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amayabella/3928444011/

=>   False dilemma

• Analysis: The picture shows only 2 choices between corn dogs and death. It means that if you don’t eat corn dog, you will die. As you can see, there are many kinds of food for us to eat, not just only corn dogs.