IENG 2201 Assignment 9 – Logical Fallacies
For this lab assignment, you will be asked to name the logical fallacy associated with each of the statements/word problems below. Each was written with a single fallacy in mind, though sometimes it might seem like more than one might apply, so choose the fallacy that you think fits best, or if you are stuck, you can list your top two choices.
Your answer for each statement/word problem should be 1 to 2 sentences explaining the fallacy and 1 to 2 sentences explaining how to respond to the fallacy and situation in a productive fashion.
- Mordecai has found what he believes to be a perfect inventory system to replace the current one for the
popular beers won’t be able to be tracked with this new system. They have spent half of the meeting
today arguing about this. Is there a fallacy here? What should be done about it?
- Ahmad works at a university and has surveyed 500 random undergraduate engineering students. He found that 88% of these students thought using Facebook as their learning management software would be a good idea instead of BrightSpace. Therefore, he argues that we should stop using Brightspace and start using Facebook immediately. What fallacy is this? What should be done?
- Jane suggests it might be a good idea to refine the standard operating procedures and make them more detailed for the soap-making process at the Soaps Are Us Super Soap store. She says that it seems the same soap is being made differently depending on who happens to be working that day. Will seems frustrated and claims that “all this red tape is just going to ruin people’s work lives, and no one can be expected to do any work of any good quality if they have someone breathing down their neck all day and demanding they do everything they say every second of the day.” What logical fallacy is Will falling victim to (or trying to trick others into falling victim)? What IE tools that you have learned about in the course can they use to help them navigate this disagreement?
Jack feels his department needs to be more active and hire at least one more person to help reduce workload and avoid periodic burnout. He met with his boss, Barbara, to discuss the problem and secure 4.
the funding to hire the additional worker. However, during the meeting, Barbara seems to largely disregard what he has to say and begins to ask Jack if the team enjoyed the office picnic last summer and is looking forward to the picnic again this year. Jack left the meeting feeling confused and disoriented. What logical fallacy happened here? What should Jack and his team do about it?
- Last September, there was a big hurricane, and Canadian negatively affecting their operations and losing significant Contractors Inc. (CCI) lost power for 3 days,
revenue. Amy suggests that their company should buy a 1MW generator. She knows it costs $90,000 but says that if they lose power again, all their clients will drop CCI as a contractor immediately, their revenue will drop to 0 for months, and they will then become bankrupt and must lay off almost all their employees. What logical fallacy is at play here? What can be done about it?
- Oscar says his designs are “good enough,” but Janis says she is uncomfortable signing off on the work as she doesn’t want to be held liable if something goes wrong. Oscar claims she is just a “perfectionist” and is trying to push her to sign the paperwork and move on. What fallacy is Oscar trying to convince Janis of (besides simply being rude and pushy)? What response could Janis have to make it more obvious what Oscar is doing (either to him or to their supervisor)
- A company’s automated potato-fry conveyor system is poorly working. Mihkel says that they will begin to lose money soon and “there are only two ways out of this mess” – to either buy a new machine or fire some workers. Pedro thinks this may be jumping to conclusions but isn’t sure what is happening. What fallacy might Mihkel have been tricked by? What may IE tools from this course be useful in moving forward?
- Mohammed is working on a consulting project with Islam. Islam says he found somewhere on the web
thinks Islam is probably right but hesitates to agree too quickly. What fallacy might Islam be falling victim
to? How can Mohammed respond to this?
- Raffi noted that the last 3 people he talked to working at his greenhouse seemed ill or tired. He ran back to the office and announced that everyone should go home immediately since a quick-spreading virus was going through their workplace like wildfire. What is this logical fallacy? What could be done about it?
- Johnny says one of these graphs below is misleading (or at least far more deceptive than the other).
Which one? Why? How can it be fixed?
- Alexis noticed that there seemed to be many more defects per engine on the Tuesday after the long weekend than usual. She then decided to go to her boss immediately and suggest they no longer allow anyone to take Mondays off and pay people overtime to come in on Holiday weekends. What fallacy is this?
