Flaw Questions and Logical Flaws IV
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Common Question Types
Summary
This lesson concludes our exploration of the standard logical flaws tested on the LSAT, focusing on the last three: appeal to authority, personal attack, and the part to whole or whole to part fallacy.
- The appeal to authority flaw occurs when an argument relies on the opinion of an expert without independent verification of the claim, especially problematic if the expert's field does not match the claim's subject.
- Personal attack, or ad hominem, criticizes the source of a claim rather than the claim itself, suggesting that past behavior or character flaws invalidate current statements.
- The part to whole fallacy (and vice versa) assumes that what is true for individual parts will be true for the whole, or that qualities of the whole necessarily apply to its parts, without sufficient evidence.
- Understanding these flaws is crucial for mastering logical reasoning sections of the LSAT, as they appear frequently across various question types.
Chapters
00:00
Appeal to Authority
02:37
Personal Attack
05:07
Part to Whole Fallacy