5

CROOKED AND FALLACIOUS THINKING

he development of critical reading skills entails the advancement of a clear and perceptive out-look, and the advancement of a clear and perceptive outlook necessitates the ability to think logically and to recognize and analyze instances of crooked and fallacious thinking. Much human misunderstanding and blunder arises because many people are not aware of the fact that their trends of thoughts, and thus their communication processes, are frequently muddled, illogical and fallacious. But while such innocent, though troublesome, blunders may well be good-humouredly regarded as part of human weaknesses, we should be aware that there are thinking people who consciously take advantage of general ignorance and weaknesses of others. In persuasions and discourses, such people subtly use crooked tricks of argument to insidiously influence their readers or listeners. It would therefore be wise to look at the more common forms of crooked and fallacious trends of thought. A. Hasty or Over-Generalizations Many opinions are generalizations, or conclusions about whole groups drawn from knowledge of individual cases. A generalization will be accepted if it is supported by an appropriate amount of facts or individual cases. In other words, the number of individual cases or examples cited to support the opinion is extremely important. If an author does not show that he has examined a large number of individual cases to support his generalization, we call that statement of opinion a hasty or over-generalization. This is the converse of the fallacy of supposing the whole to be like the parts (See Point J below). What is true of the whole need not necessarily be true for the individual parts. America is a rich nation but that does not mean that John Brown, an American tramp is also rich. So, if an author has insufficient evidence for the opinion, a critical reader should seriously question his position. The followings are some examples of hasty generalizations: 1) Most Indonesians are truly democratic. Their last general election was peacefully and successfully carried out. 2) Marriage just cannot survive these days. Three of my friends from school are already divorced. 3) Cycling is more popular than swimming. When I was in the sport hall yesterday no one was swimming. Every body was cycling. 4) Oh, hes a film star. He must be tall and handsome! 5) John must be a very playful and talkative student, for he belongs to Class 1B the most disputable class in this school. 6) As a Moor, Othello must be thick-lipped and lascivious. In all these examples, the writers provide factual statements that could be checked in order to support their opinions. However, there just arent enough of them. A single successful election does not prove that a nation daily life is democratic. By the same token,
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 39

three couples with marital problems do not confirm that all marriages are doomed to failure. And would any one accept the claim that cycling is more popular than swimming though it based on a one-day observation? To be accepted by a critical reader, all of these generalizations would have to be supported by many more factual statements citing specific examples. To be meaningful, generalizations must be backed by a large body of concrete, factual evidence. When they are not, you should think twice about their value. To help you see the difference between accepted and hasty generalizations, compare the following three passages. The first one is worth considering, while the last two deserve to be thought twice. 1) American courts are finally beginning to take drunk driving seriously. In forty-eight of our fifty states, penalties for the offense of drunk driving have been much more severe, with thirty states set to institute jail terms in addition to heavy monetary fines. 2) Government welfare programs are filled with people who are cheating the taxpaying public. In todays newspaper, for example, there are stories about three different cases of welfare fraud. 3) Whats wrong with todays schools? The secretaries I hire dont know how to spell in transcribing my legal documents. When I went to school, we really learned to spell. Today they spend too much time on nonessentials. Be especially wary of generalizations that use the words always, never, and all. They are particularly questionable because very few generalizations hold true for all cases all of the time. B. Attack on the Person Some writers or speakers sometimes do not bother to support their opinions with facts due to their lack of factual support for their positions. In such a situation, to convince their readers they can attack the character, life, career, or background of the person they are discussing. Look at this example: Although Professor Z insisted during a hearing that defense spending by the government must be cut, I cannot take seriously the proposals of someone who is an acknowledged draft dodger. The issue at hand is a cut in defense spending. Yet the author does not deal with that question at all, but instead attacks the person proposing the cut. However, the professors military career is not relevant to defense spending, which is the subject that should be criticized. Sometimes there are cases where a person and a position are so closely linked that character cannot be overlooked. Take, for example, the following memorandum: Ms. Miller, I was very impressed with your suggestion for revising our bookkeeping procedures. But it has been brought to my intention that your past record contains two convictions for embezzlement. I am afraid that must influence my final decision.
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 40

In this example, it makes sense to challenge Ms. Millers proposal on the basis of her past conduct, although the proposal should be evaluated on its own merits before being completely discounted. C. Appeal to the Emotions Another tactic someone can use to convince their readers or listeners when he or she lacks of factual support for their positions is appeal to the emotions. An appeal to the emotions occurs when a speaker or writer tries to persuade by playing on the audiences emotions instead of by supplying them with factual information. Imagine reading the following speech by a defense lawyer: The defendant is accused of serving liquor to those under the age of eighteen, thereby contributing to the delinquency of minors. Yet this is a man with two children of his own, a family man who has worked hard for over twenty years to earn a decent living. Only by the sweat of his brow has he managed to put enough bread on the table to feed those hungry mouths. This is a case where the defense should either convince the jury that the accuse is not guilty or else explain the circumstances of the crime. The man serving the liquor, for example, may not have known the age of the peopledrinking. But no argument or explanation of this type is used; instead, the lawyer attempts to arouse pity by evoking the image of a man who has struggled to make a living for his children. The intention is to stir up enough emotion so that the members of the jury do not think clearly about the crime itself. Appeals to the emotions are certainly not restricted to jury trials. They occur any time that someone thinks emotion might be more effective than fact. In 1982, for example, when Argentina invaded the Falkland islands, English newspapers published many speeches like the following: This is an open act of vicious aggression on the part of Argentinean military forces, one that will not be tolerated by a people whose history testifies to Englands honor and greatness. We are ready to answer force with force, and we will not flinch from once again taking up arms in the name of freedom. Here the author might have justified the need for war by arguing that British residents of the islands were not safe under Argentinean rule. This at least would have been an attempt to give reasons for the assertion that war was necessary. There is, however, no suggestion of reason in this brief illustration: the entire emphasis is the arousal of strong patriotic emotions.
EXERCISE 51: Decide whether the author of each of the following passages has adequately supported his or her opinion or not. If not, put a check mark to the error in reasoning that makes you suspicious of the authors position.

1. The poet Ezra Pound has again been suggested as a candidate for a posthumous literary award. The suggestion has caused an uproar among many members of the literary community, and there are those who insist that Pounds name be withdrawn
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 41

because of his treasonous behavior during World War II, when he made broadcasts for Hitlers supporters. a. hasty generalization c. appeal to the emotions b. attack on the person d. no error. 2. Our schools should now substitute books with cartoons and comics, because the use of cartoons and comics gives many advantages. First of all, cartoons and comics are interesting. All my three children and the children next doors like reading cartoons and comics. Secondly, compared to books, cartoons and comics are easier to perceive due to the presence of pictures and illustrations. Finally, the massive use of cartoons and comics will open many job opportunities for illustrators and cartoonists. a. hasty generalization b. attack on the person 3. c. appeal to the emotions d. no error.

Renewal of the so-called Civil Rights bill by the Senate should be absolutely prevented. This bill would do no good to anyone and would destroy all our rights by turning our government into a dictatorship. No doubt the dictator would place our country under one-world government under the UN. Because this organization is Communistconceived and Communist-controlled, we would really be under Communist slavery. a. hasty generalization b. attack on the person c. appeal to the emotions d. no error.

4.

There have been many complaints about cuts in social services. It has been pointed out that the cuts were both unnecessary and unfair. That is, however, quite untrue. If money has been withdrawn, it has been withdrawn with good reason. This is a country built on the self-reliance of the individual, and the pioneer spirit of the past was not fueled by money from the government. That spirit must live again. a. hasty generalization c. appeal to the emotions b. attack on the person d. no error. In the last years, the state legislature approved the allocation of more than fifty thousand dollars for the improvement of city jails. This decision was ill-timed, illconceived, and above all misguided. The men and women inside those jails are guilty of robbery, rape, and murder. As free individuals, they were a menace to the society, and they have been placed in prison in order to be punished. They should not be rewarded with fancy surroundings. a. hasty generalization b. attack on the person c. appeal to the emotions d. no error.

5.

D. Circular Argument Circular argument is a trick used by a crooked thinker when he wants to give the impression that he is saying something meaningful and logical when he is in fact not proving anything. He is simply drawing his conclusion from a premise which is itself dependent on what is asserted in the conclusion. In such a case, he tries to prove that A
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 42

is correct by using B as a support; however B also needs to be supported. So he proposes C, which necessitates the support of A to be sound correct. Take, for example the following statements. 1) Walter Scott is certainly a better writer than Jane Austeen because my teacher who is an expert told me so. I am sure my teacher is an expert! Who other than an expert would prefer Scott to Austeen? 2) To read books about religion is better than to read books about atheism, because all critics, i.e. those who believed that books about religion are better than books about atheism, unanimously approved that books about religion surpass books about atheism. The first statement needs to be questioned by asking, How expertise is the teacher? Whereas the second statement should be tested by asking, What do the criticswho are probably as many as those who support atheismthink about it? The circularity of the argument in these examples is obvious, but in an instance when the circle of the argument is a big one, the fallacy may be hard to detect. Indeed, the argument in this type may extend over a long article or even a book. E. False Analogy Like circular argument, a false analogy used to support an argument in fact proves nothing. In a false analogy, there is only a superficial or chance similarity between the things that are compared, but a crooked thinker may use the small degree of similarity to give the impression that the things are in all ways alike. An advertisement may, for example, read as follows: John Lee aimed high. So, he took our Made-simple Business Management Course. Now he is the Director of a big money-making enterprise, and he lives happily with his beautiful wife and children in a luxurious seaside bungalow. You too aim high! Remember: what Mr. John Lee has achieved, you also can! Careful reading of the advertisement would enable one to see that even if the John Lee (a very common name) referred to in the advertisement does really exist, the fact that the readers of the advertisement too aim high does not necessarily mean that they have the other relevant characteristics of John Lee. To be sure, the keen interest and aptitude John Lee had for the course, the financial backing he had, and his business luck might, among other things, have been more important reasons for his success than the ambition he shares with all those who bother to read the advertisement. Thus when we come across an analogy in an argument we should see that the things compared are really similar in the characteristics that are relevant to the conclusion. F. Equivocation It is a well-known fact that a single word may have a variety of meanings. There is usually no harm in this fact, for the context usually determines which of the several meanings is intended. For instance, the word table has one meaning in which it refers to furniture and another in which it refers to lists (as in table of contents or table of
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 43

logarithms), but this multiplicity of meanings could hardly ever lead to confusion. There are cases, however, in which a word is used in such a way that we cannot tell which of its several meanings is intended. In such cases, we say that the word is being used ambiguously, for the statement in which it occurs is open to at least two distinct interpretations. In the absence of additional context, the statement Jane is dusting her plants may mean that she is cleaning the plants by removing dust from them or it may mean that she is protecting them by applying an insecticidal dust. Indeed ambiguous use of words can give rise to a lot of fruitless disputes and misunderstanding. Questions such as Does a table continue to exist when there is no one in the room to see it? and When a white horse not a white horse? cannot be properly answered unless the key terms of the questions are properly defined. Thus, the only way to check fallacies of equivocation is to get the key term used in a discourse or argument aptly defined. Look at the following example. Only man is rational. No woman is a man All women are irrational. This argument would be valid if the term man had the same meaning each time it occurred. However, for the first premise to be true, man must mean human, whereas, for the second premise to be true, man must mean human male. Thus, if the premises are to have any plausibility whatever, the term man must shift its meaning. We would surely be misconstruing the premises if we understood the term man to mean the same in both. The result is an equivocation that destroys the validity of the argument. G. Either-or Assumption The either-or fallacy is also committed by many people due to the tendency to think in extremes (often been called black-white thinking). We are all too familiar with the people who believe their nation can do no wrong, whereas other nations can do no right, except when they cooperate with our goals. Likewise, we are all too familiar with the person who believes that his political party is on the right side in every political dispute, while the opposition party is always in the wrong. Thus, a candidate standing in a political election may proclaim: it is common knowledge that my opponent is not quite normal in his behavior. How then, my friends, can we entrust an abnormal person with heavy responsibilities? This candidate plays a trick by assuming that the demarcation of the opposite states is absolute and complete. If a listeners power of understanding were not blurred by the diction of the speaker or by anything else, he would see clearly that between the extreme states of normality and abnormality are different degrees of normality. Indeed, if a person wants to be clear and perceptive in outlook, he should, among other things, always remember that when a thing is not black it need not necessarily be white, for it could be of many different shades of gray.

EXERCISE 52: Decide whether the author of each of the following passages has adequately supported his or her opinion or not. If not, put a check mark to the error in reasoning that makes you suspicious of the authors position.

1.

It is cruel to kill fowls for food because no human beings would like to be killed.
Page 44

Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only)

a. equivocation b. circular argument 2.

c. false analogy d. either-or assumption

Strawberry beverages are pink in color. The liquid content of this glass is pink. It must be strawberry. a. equivocation c. false analogy b. circular argument d. either-or assumption The normal college freshman has a lively interest in athletics and liquor and a consuming preoccupation with sex. These things engulf his attention. Poetry, for instance, leaves him cold. Once in a while, however, you run across a freshman who is entirely different. He spends much of his free time reading, and perhaps even writing, poetry. He does so because he likes to. He is an abnormal case. Often he has an abnormally high IQ. He is not interested in the things that interest normal boys of his age. He is a boy set a part from other boys. When we encounter boys of this kind we ask ourselves, What can be done for them? Surely there must be some way to help them achieve a normal adjustment to life! a. equivocation c. false analogy b. circular argument d. attack on the person If you think that a brick wall is solid, you are quite wrong. Modern science has shown that things like brick walls are made of atoms. An atom is something like the solar system; electrons revolve around the nucleus much as the planets revolve around the sun. Like the solar system, an atom is mostly empty space. What common sense regards as solid, science has shown to be anything but solid. a. equivocation c. false analogy b. circular argument d. appeal to the emotion A man who was rising from his bed asked his wife, Is it raining, darling? No, it isnt, the wife replied. Good! said the man. Pack up and well go to the beach to sun-bathe. a. equivocation c. false analogy b. circular argument d. appeal to the emotion Lawyers know all the laws. Since you cant understand what your lecturers have told you about Newtons laws, you should consult lawyers in John and Paul Law Firm. a. equivocation c. false analogy b. circular argument d. attack on the person A Woman would make a better member of the House of Representative than a man, because she, not he, is a mother. a. equivocation c. false analogy b. circular argument d. appeal to the emotion When two of his editorials offering contradictory views were republished in another paper, the editor of the Tribune defended himself. He accused the editor of the other newspaper of being immoral, mean and deceitful, and of printing his newspaper on poor paper with poor type. He blasted his opponents for daring to
Page 45

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only)

accuse him of inconsistency. a. equivocation b. circular argument

c. false analogy d. attack on the person

H. Talking What is to be What ought In order to be heard persuasive, some people try to treat What is as What to be. A fashion designer, for instance, may speak in favor of a particular form of dress in the following way: Wearing the see-through Ultra-mini is certainly not immoral, because most woman like it. Large numbers of such dresses are sold every day! This argument appears to be persuasive but one must remember that What is is not necessarily the same as What to be. After all, human beings are not perfect. In reality, people are more easily persuaded by their weaknesses than by reason. Thus, the fact that many people smoke cigarettes does not mean that smoking is good. Similarly, the availability and effectiveness of modern contraception does not mean that human beings should be sexually promiscuous. I. Jumping from a Non-Inclusive Proposition to an Inclusive Conclusion The most convenient way to study this form of fallacious or crooked thinking is, perhaps, to consider the following invalid syllogism: All tall people are brave. All brave people are highly educated. Therefore, all highly educated people are tall. A little careful thinking would enable one to see that the flaw of the argument lies in the fact that not all highly educated people are referred to in the second premise. All brave people are highly educated is certainly not the same as All highly educated people are brave. It is therefore wrong to refer to all highly educated in the conclusion. However, in our daily conversation, arguments of this type are often more deceptive because they are expressed in a more concise manner. Thus, the above argument may be put as All highly-educated people are tall because they are brave. With one premise All tall people are brave, regarded as tacit, a crooked thinker speeds through the whole course of his argument and thus easily deceives those listeners or readers who are not fully alert. So, the best way to avoid being deceived whenever one is confronted with this type of argument is to ask if the conclusion necessarily follows from the premise or premises. J. Supposing the Whole to be Like the Parts. At a general meeting of farmers, the president of a farmers association may give the following piece of advice: Everyone of you should raise more chickens if you hope to increase your income. Since the beginning of last year Farmer Lee has been spending his time only on his large flock of chickens and he has earned quite a fortune. His chickens produce 1000 eggs a day, and he sells 90% of that! Hundred of chicks are hatched every week in his farm and so he, as the chief supplier for the chicken dealers at our market, is able
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 46

to earn lots of money from the sale of chicks and chickens. Even the chicken droppings bring him gold from fertilizer shops! So, my friends why dont you learn from him? The bitter irony is that if all the farmers followed the advice of the well meaning but unperceptive president, they would find the markets flooded with large supplies of chickenfarm products. They would have to sell their goods at very low prices and would thus suffer loses. This clearly shows that what is true for one person alone is not necessarily true for all the farmers taken together. All the sides of a triangle or a square are straight lines, but they do not make a triangle or a square a straight line.
EXERCISE 53: Decide whether the author of each of the following passages has adequately supported his or her opinion or not. If not, put a check mark to the error in reasoning that makes you suspicious of the authors position.

1.

The campaign showing smoking is bad should be restricted or even banned. More than 70% of men in the world smoke cigarettes, and more and more women consume cigarettes, too. That means the majority of adults smoke. How can we say it is bad? a.Talking what is to be what ought. b. Jumping from a non-inclusive proposition to an inclusive conclusion. c. Supposing the whole to be like the parts. d. No error. The best football players in the world are now playing for Real Madrid F.C. There is no doubt that Real Madrid F.C. is the best football team in the world. a. Talking what is to be what ought. b. Jumping from a non-inclusive proposition to an inclusive conclusion. c. Supposing the whole to be like the parts. d. No error. Singing is the most prospective career today. Michael Jackson and Siti Nurhalizah have proved that to sing is to be materially prospered and socially popular. This also true to Celine Dion, West life, Ruth Sahanaya, and many other individual and groups. Why dont we push our children to profess singingthe career that surely guarantees both prosperity and popularity? a. Talking what is to be what ought. b. Jumping from a non-inclusive proposition to an inclusive conclusion. c. Supposing the whole to be like the parts. d. No error. Many Americans who have conservative beliefs about life are now campaigning to put pressure on the people on the local school boards in order to stop sex education and the use of books describing the lives of working mothers or parents who are divorced. They emphasize that, as decent, God-fearing parents, they know what their children should be taught and what books they should be read.
Page 47

2.

3.

4.

Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only)

a.Talking what is to be what ought. b. Jumping from a non-inclusive proposition to an inclusive conclusion. c. Supposing the whole to be like the parts. d. No error. 5. The winners and nominators of the latest Academy Awards are assigned to star The Best Mentor. Due to this fact, this cinema will undoubtedly hit the box office. a.Talking what is to be what ought. b. Jumping from a non-inclusive proposition to an inclusive conclusion. c. Supposing the whole to be like the parts. d. No error. K. Asking False Questions In this case the crooked thinker makes an unfair assumption in his question. Thus, a teacher who likes her students to be mentally agile may ask her class, How many corners has a football? She will not be surprised if the students become dumbfounded for a while. This is because she tricks them with a false question that pre-supposes that a football has corners. Lawyers often ask misleading questions of this sort when they make their crossexaminations. Instead of asking, Were you with the accused at midnight?, a lawyer may trick the witness with, Why were you with the accused at midnight? The only way to get round the trick of false questions is to analyze their assumptions carefully. Another variation of this type of misleading question is false statement, by which a crooked thinker makes bald statement of a highly questionable fact to shock or frighten the reader into following the writers suggestion. For example, consider the following statement, written by Rudolf Flesch in the preface to Why Johnny Cant Read and What You Can Do About It: What I found is fantastic. The teaching of readingall over the United States, in all the schools, in all the textbooksis totally wrong and flies in the face of all logic and common sense. Johnny couldnt read until half a year ago for the simple reason that nobody ever showed him how. Johnnys only problem was that he was unfortunately exposed to an ordinary American school. You know that I was born and raised in Austria. Do you know that there are no remedial reading cases in Austrian schools? Do you know that there are no remedial reading cases in Germany, in French, in Italy, In Norway, In Spainpractically anywhere in the world except in the United States? Do you know that there was no such thing as remedial reading in this country either until about thirty years ago? Do you know that the teaching of reading never was a problem anywhere in the world until the United States switched to the present method around about 1925? Actually, Flesch is offering all these implications without a shred of proof. It is his purpose to prepare us to believe these implications by first destroying any faith we may have in the American system. Then it will be easier to convince us of the infallibility of European (his) reading instruction. The administrators of European school might profoundly
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 48

wish that Dr. Flesch were correct. But unfortunately, he is not. In several of these countries, there are, as in America, organized societies of professional teachers who devote a good deal of their time to the cure or prevention of current failures in reading. Several of those associations regularly publish journals describing the extent of the reading problem in their respective countries and the research being conducted in this field. Failures in reading are peculiar neither to America nor to the last thirty years. Why would a skilled, professional writer make such statements? Simply because he knows that the average reader is unable to confirm or refute his facts and will be shocked into attending carefully to the authors program for curing this imaginary problem. Who would believe these unsupported allegations ? Fleschs book was on the best-seller lists for an unfortunately long period of several months after its publication. L. Taking what are Mere Coincidences to be the Causes (The Non Sequitur) This fallacy normally follows the following thinking pattern: X precedes Y; therefore X causes Y. For example, a man may say, Soon after I saw Jane, I had severe stomachache. Jane must have caused my trouble and she must be a witch. Another person may say, Poor John! He walked under a ladder this morning, and at noon he met with an accident. Its unlucky to walk under a ladder. Certain causation cannot be so simply and irrationally determined. Night follows day but night is not caused by day. Similarly, lightning does not cause thunder even though it flashes before the thunder roars. Yet, many people commit this fallacy unconsciously, and crooked thinkers who use this trick find as they do with other tricks, a lot of simple-minded victims. Read the following political campaign oratory, and see how the speaker expects his listeners to the conclusion that Democratic administrations cause The United States entry into war. Under Wilson we entered World War I, during Roosevelts administration we became embroiled in World War II, and with Truman came the Korean War! My friends, dont you know that they were Democrats?
EXERCISE 54: Decide whether the author of each of the following passages has adequately supported his or her opinion or not. If not, put a check mark to the error in reasoning that makes you suspicious of the authors position.

1.

Suzanne, a young married woman, was working for masters degree. Reading a study of sexual behavior, she learned that intellectuals generally prefer to have the lights on during sexual intercourse, while nonintellectual generally prefers to have the lights off. Since her masters examinations were about to occur, she insisted that her husband to leave the lights on, in the hope that it would improve her chances of passing the examinations. a.The Non-Sequitur b. Supposing the Parts to be Like the Whole (Overgeneralization). c. Asking False Questions d. no error.

2.

A public opinion pollster questions five thousand people in the United States, to determine their opinions about the advisability of admitting Communist China to the
Page 49

Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only)

United Nations. Of those questioned, 72 per cent (approximately) of the people in the United States oppose admission of Communist China to the United Nations. a.The Non-Sequitur b. Supposing the Parts to be Like the Whole (Overgeneralization). c. Asking False Questions d. no error. 3. In a certain factory, there is a machine which produces can openers. An inspector examines one-tenth of all the can openers produced by this machine. In his sample, he finds that 2 percent of the can openers are defective. The management concludes, on the basis of this information, that 2 per cent (approximately) of the can openers produced by the machine are defective. a.The Non-Sequitur b. Supposing the Parts to be Like the Whole (Overgeneralization). c. Asking False Questions d. no error. 4. It is reported that the ancient Chinese believed that an eclipse of the moon consisted of a dragon devouring the moon. They shot off fireworks to scare the dragon away, leaving the moon behind. Their attempts were always successful, for the moon always reappeared. They concluded that there was a causal relationship between shooting of fireworks and the reappearance of the moon. a.The Non-Sequitur b. Supposing the Parts to be Like the Whole (Overgeneralization). c. Asking False Questions d. no error. The United States Has No Army, No Navy, No Air Force. For doubting Thomasses who think this statement is not true, Senate Bill No. 2180 entitled The Arms Control and Disarmament Act was proved by the House of Representatives as House Bill 9118 and was signed into effect as Public Law 87-297 on September 26, 1961, by John F. Kennedy, President of the United States. This bill was prepared to expedite a plan already proposed at Geneva by our administration and State Department to affect the legal connotation to disarmament. The only thing that keeps our Army, Navy and Air Force from being wiped out of existence is public opinion. At any time he chooses the President of the United States can now transfer our Army, Navy and Air Force (your husband, son or brother) to the command of Eugene D. Kiselev (Russian) who is secretary of the United Nations Security Council (World Police Force).

5.

(A statement taken from a leaflet distributed by the United Societies of Methodist Laymen, Inc.)
a.The Non-Sequitur b. Supposing the Parts to be Like the Whole (Overgeneralization). c. Asking False Questions (False Statements) d. no error.

Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only)

Page 50

EXERCISE 55: Decide whether the author of each passages has adequately supported his/ her opinion or not. If not, from the list of option at the top, select the most suitable term to determine the error in reasoning makes you suspicious of the authors position.

a) attack on the person d) supposing the whole to be like the parts f) i) talking what is to be what ought equivocation

b) hasty generalization e) either-or assumption g) appeal to the emotion j) l) asking/ making false questions/statements no error

c) circular arguments f) Jumping from a non-Inclusive Proposition to an Inclusive Conclusion h) non-sequitur k) false analogy

1. Dog is the most faithful animal in the world. It is ready to sacrifice its life to guard its master. Realizing this, it is important for scientists to study how to train people like a dog. There is no doubt that if we design such training, the world will be peaceful because all people are faithful one to another. __________ 2. People from Ambon are skillful in singing. Would you please sing La Bamba (a Mexican song) for us? __________ 3. I will never attend the orchestra led by Brama. I dont believe he could conduct some musicians to perform a good music. When he was the captain of our senior high school football team, we never won a trophy. It indicates he will never be a good leader. __________ 4. Malaysians have deported thousands of our workers. Their navy is now trying to invade Ambalat. Moreover, they show no respect to our ambassador. How can we tolerate such disapproval? We are honorable, sovereign, and great nation. We are ready to answer force with force. Never do we flinch from taking up arms for the sake of our honor. __________ 5. My aunt always wears white T-shirts. I couldnt fine my white T-shirt I bought in Bandung last month. My aunt must have taken it without my permission. __________ 6. Bram has just graduated from a post-graduate program majoring in modern languages. I believe he is able to help me any time I find difficulties in translating any foreign languages. __________ 7. Teenagers under seventeen should not be prohibited from driving cars. Most people between fourteen and seventeen are as tall as adults. They are physically able to drive without any difficulty. __________ 8. Rock-music concert should be banned in Indonesia. It is nothing than a killing field. When The Top Marcy, a group of rock-band from Australia, performed a concert in Surabaya in 1982, six persons died in the riot around the stage. In 1984, eleven teenagers died in the car accident on their way home after watching The Hard Rolling,
Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only) Page 51

a rock-group from America, in Cirebon. One year after that, four young girls fell unconscious to the ground when they were watching the concert of another American rock-band, Bad Boys, in Jakarta. __________ 9. The novelist Maman Parwoto has again been suggested as a candidate for Anugrah Sastra 2005 award. This suggestion has caused an uproar among many members of the literary community. Some of them have even insisted that Parwotos name be withdrawn because of his close friendship with the former President Suharto. __________ 10. My sister Windy is a good writer. Although she is still 25 years old, she has produced 22 novels. My English professor asked me to write a paper (of about 15,000 words) that discusses about the teaching of English in elementary schools in Jakarta. In order to finish it in a week, Ill ask for Windys help. __________

Critical Reading by Parlin Pardede (For EESP of UKI Use only)

Page 52