"Environmentalists are continually harping about the dangers of nuclear power. Unfortunately, electricity is dangerous no matter where it comes from. Every year hundreds of people are electrocuted by accident. Since most of these accidents are caused by carelessness they could be avoided if people would just exercise greater caution." Which fallacy is committed in the above argument?
Red Herring
Concept: A Red Herring is an informal fallacy in which the arguer introduces an irrelevant point to divert attention away from the original issue, so that the real question is never actually addressed.
Analysis of the argument: The environmentalists' concern is specifically about the dangers of nuclear power. Instead of answering that concern, the speaker shifts the topic to the claim that electricity from every source is dangerous and that most electrocutions happen because of personal carelessness. This changes the subject entirely and never engages with the safety of nuclear power. Distracting from the real issue with a side issue is the classic mark of a Red Herring.
Why the other choices are wrong:
The 'slippery slope' fallacy claims that one small step will inevitably lead to a chain of extreme consequences; here no such chain of events is asserted, so it does not apply.
The 'strawman' fallacy misrepresents or distorts an opponent's position and then attacks the weakened version; the speaker does not restate the environmentalists' claim in a distorted form, so this is not it.
The 'hasty generalization' fallacy draws a broad conclusion from insufficient or unrepresentative evidence; the passage is diverting the topic, not generalizing from a small sample.
Takeaway: Dodging the actual question by raising an unrelated but plausible-sounding point is a Red Herring.
Correct answer: Red Herring
Similar Questions
Which fallacy is exemplified in the following statements: "Of course gun ownership should not be prohibited. You can kill someone with hockey stick, but no one proposes to ban ownership of hockey sticks."?
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Which fallacy is committed in this arguments?Given below are two statements:
Statement I: Formal fallacies are those that can be detected only through analysis of the content of the arguments.
Statement II: Formal fallacies pertain to deductive arguments that have identifiable forms.
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Which informal fallacy is committed in the following statement - "Of course you want to buy XYZ toothpaste. There must be a reason, why, 90 per cent of India brushes with XYZ toothpaste"
Which informal fallacy is committed in the following argument - "Scientists have been trying for centuries to disprove the claims of astrology, and none of them has ever succeeded. Therefore, we must conclude that astrology's claims are true" ?
A fallacy in which an opponent's position is depicted as being more extreme or unreasonable than is justified by what was actually asserted is called
“In the hospital, some nurses don't wear white dress, some doctors have private practice and medicines prescribed are of high cost. Therefore, treatment in this hospital is of poor quality”. What fallacy does this argument make?
Important Questions from Formal and Informal Fallacies
Which logical fallacy is committed in the following statement - "I do not believe that serial killers ought to be allowed to live. They have forfeited their right to live because anyone who kills lots of people has lost that right".
Which of the following statements are logically equivalent?
A. Some physicists are outstanding professors.
B. Some physicists are not non-outstanding professors.
C. No outstanding professors are physicists.
D. Some non-outstanding professors are not non-physicists.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
According to classical Indian School of Logic (Nyāya) which fallacy is committed in the following statement - "The hill has fire because it is knowable"?
- Which fallacy is committed in the following statement - "God exists since it is written in the scriptures. Since the scriptures are the words of God, whatever is written in them is true."?
- "This is the richest fraternity on the campus; therefore Mr. X who is a member of this fraternity must be one of the richest young man on the campus." Which fallacy is involved in this argument ?
