That's Hooey! Trivia Quiz

Answer: pointing to another wrong

In this situation, you did something wrong in buying that Harley. Your only defense, and a weak one at that, is to point to another wrong, the buying of the kayak. This argument does not negate your error.

Answer: post hoc ergo propter hoc

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, loosely translated means "After this therefore because of this." Here's another example: A man sees fluid leaking from beneath his car and decides to take it to the repair shop. Backing out of the driveway he realizes he's forgotten something. Pulling forward, he crashes into the garage. Why? The logical answer is he slipped on the leaked fluid, or the brake lines were broken.

In fact, blind as a bat, the man returned for his glasses which is why he hit the garage. The driveway slick had nothing to do with it. Just because something occurs after an event does not mean it was caused by the event.

Answer: jumping on the bandwagon

"Come on, everybody's doing it." "All your friends and neighbors are voting for Turner." No one likes to be hanging out there like a lox, standing on her/his own, but to capitulate is to simply jump on the bandwagon like the rest of the sheep. (Apologies for the mixed metaphor.)

Answer: appeal based on authority

An appeal based on authority is anything from some jock selling a sports drink to an unknowable group of 2000, unverifiable doctors who approve some whacko diet. "3 out of 4 dentists..." is another well-known appeal based on authority.

Answer: hasty generalization

Any generalization needs ample evidence to back it up. The train has been late 2 times that you know of but that's not enough of a sample to state that the train is always late. Politicians use hasty generalizations in much of their rhetoric: "The polls show that all Democrats (or Republicans ) are blah, blah."

Answer: I smell the cookies.

Empirical evidence is evidence collected by observation. Observation is our interaction with the world through our five senses, thus "I smell the cookies" is a direct observation - an empirical statement. X = X is an axiom, a convention that we accept as truth. "Lincoln was a great president" and the delicious soup are nothing more than opinions and not factual, though most would agree that Lincoln WAS a great president and the soup was delicious.

Answer: false analogy

To compare household money management to government money management is a false analogy. The differences between the two far outweigh the similarities, e.g. the way the entities raise money, the function of spending, etc. So, it's a bogus comparison.

Answer: circular reasoning

Circular reasoning goes something like this: Used car dealers are honest. They're honest because they always give you a fair deal. The first statement, car dealers are honest, should be followed up with a statement that demonstrates honesty. In the example, the first statement is followed up by another unproveable statement, taking us around and around using circular logic.

Answer: deductive logic

All goons have blue hair. Barkley is a goon. Therefore, Barkley has blue hair. Deductive reasoning takes several facts, weighs them and comes to a logical conclusion.

Technically, the logical conclusion from the two premises is "If I eat dessert, I will be sick." When that is used as a premise and joined to "I do not want to get sick", the ultimate conclusion is the one given in the question.

Answer: argumentum ad hominem

When you can't attack the person's position, attack the person. References to a person's homelife (divorced) or personal habits are considered ad hominem, irrelevent to the important issues. In recent years the ad hominem argument has taken center stage in elections everywhere. Unfortunately.