Analyze the following four arguments. Match each flawed argument stimulus with the abstract description that most accurately identifies its reasoning error.
- Sports Physiologist: A recent decade-long study found that athletes who frequently use cryogenic recovery chambers are significantly less likely to suffer from chronic joint pain. This demonstrates that cryogenic therapy directly prevents joint degradation.Takes for granted that an observed association between two phenomena establishes a causal connection without considering potential alternative explanations.
- Software Developer: The lead engineer claims that our new authentication protocol is vulnerable to attacks because it lacks rate limiting. However, she is just upset about being passed over for a promotion last month, so her security assessment should be ignored.Dismisses a claim by attacking the motives of its proponent rather than evaluating the substance of the claim itself.
- Acoustics Engineer: Each individual acoustic panel installed in the new concert hall is lightweight and absorbs only a small fraction of ambient noise. Therefore, the concert hall's soundproofing system as a whole must be highly ineffective at absorbing noise.Assumes that a characteristic of the components of a composite entity must necessarily be a characteristic of the entity as a whole.
- Chief Financial Officer: Either we completely freeze all hiring across every department this quarter, or the company will inevitably go bankrupt by the end of the year. We desperately need to fill several key vacant roles, so bankruptcy is unavoidable.Ignores the possibility that a problem might be solved by a course of action other than the two extreme alternatives presented.
Answer
The correct pairings are: the Sports Physiologist commits a correlation-causation error, the Software Developer makes an ad hominem attack, the Acoustics Engineer commits a composition (part-to-whole) error, and the Chief Financial Officer relies on a false dilemma.
Each argument stimulus perfectly demonstrates a classic logical fallacy. The Sports Physiologist jumps from correlation to causation. The Software Developer attacks the speaker's motives instead of the argument. The Acoustics Engineer applies properties of individual parts to the collective whole. The Chief Financial Officer creates a false dichotomy.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identifying Abstract Flaws in Reasoning