Item 1:
Sam is riding her bike in her home town in Maine, minding her own business. A station wagon comes up behind her and the driver starts beeping his horn and then tries to force her off the road. As he goes by, the driver yells “get on the sidewalk where you belong!” Sam sees that the car has Ohio plates and concludes that all Ohio drivers are jerks.
Source: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/hasty-generalization.html
Hasty generalization
Jerk persons are people who jell at others
An Ohio driver yells at other
All Ohio drivers are jerks
Analysis:
- Ø Structural fallacy:
All A are B
C is B
C is A
- Ø Content fallacy: Hasty generalization
Sam just based on an Ohio driver who yells at other on the road, and then she concludes that all Ohio drivers are jerks. In the other words, generalization “all Ohio drivers are jerks” is made about the Ohio drivers and based on sample “an Ohio driver”
Item 2:
In the advertisement of AT&T- a cell phone service. The advertisers said that:
If you get AT&T you will then change the direction in which your life is heading finding the love of your life in seconds. If you find the love of your life then you will have the perfect life with an educated child. If your child is well educated then he will become president of the United States.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25Ouo37u4w
Analysis:
Slippery slope:
That changing the direction when getting AT&T must lead to the finding the love of life
The finding of love makes you perfect with an educated child
A well-educated child will become the USA’s President
Your child is well-educated
Your child will become President of United State
AT&T wants people to believe that because its service is faster than other kinds of phone, amazing things can happen. This is a slippery slope, saying that the two seconds you save on the faster phone coverage will eventually leads you fathering the next president of the United Stated.
Item 3
Rooster crow just before the sun rises.
Therefore, roosters crowing cause the sun to rise.
Source: http://www.fallacyfiles.org/posthocf.html
Analysis:
Post-hoc:
Rooster crow precedes the rising of the sun
è Roosters crowing caused the rising of the sun.
Actually, the sun rises for its circulation not because of rooster crowing. Traditionally, rooster is an animal who get up earlier than people, and then he crow as its nature. However, some people attribute the rising of sun to rooster crowing.