The following arguments each contain a distinctive reasoning vulnerability. Match each flawed argument on the left with the statement on the right that most accurately describes the flaw in its reasoning.
- Anthropologist: Every ancient language that remained in active use for over two millennia produced a formalized grammatical treatise. Because archaeologists discovered a formalized grammatical treatise for the ancient dialect of Oritan, Oritan must have remained an active spoken language for more than two millennia.Treats a condition that is required for a certain outcome as if it were enough to guarantee that outcome.
- Urban Sociologist: Surveys show that neighborhoods with dedicated public chess tables experience lower rates of minor property vandalism than neighborhoods without them. Therefore, installing public chess tables in a neighborhood will directly prevent residents from committing acts of vandalism.Infers that one phenomenon causally influences another merely because a statistical association exists between them.
- Management Consultant: Sterling Fleet operates with the lowest administrative overhead cost ratio of any logistics firm in the freight shipping sector. It follows that every regional branch office managed by Sterling Fleet must also operate with an exceptionally low administrative cost ratio.Presumes that an attribute belonging to an organization as a collective entity must apply to each of its constituent parts.
Answer
The argument about the ancient language matches with treating a necessary condition as sufficient; the argument about neighborhood chess tables matches with inferring causation from correlation; and the argument about Sterling Fleet matches with presuming an attribute of an organization applies to each of its parts.
Each flawed argument corresponds directly to its abstract fallacy description: the first exhibits conditional reversal (treating a necessary condition as sufficient), the second commits a correlation-to-causation error, and the third commits the fallacy of division (attributing a collective property to each component part).
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identifying formal and informal flaws in reasoning: confusing necessary and sufficient conditions, inferring causation from correlation, and the fallacy of division.