ECON 1P92 Key Terms

Economics

The study of how people allocate limited resources

Science

Is the attempt to empirically falsify theories about the world

Deductive Reasoning

Universal Statement —> Particular Statement

Inductive Reasoning

Particular Statement —> Universal Statement

An argument consists of:

Premises and Conclusions

Premise

Statements assumed to be true

Conclusions

Statements desired from premises

Sound Argument

A valid argument with true premises

Logical Fallacy

Type of invalid argument

Logical Fallacy - Ad Hominem

When the person making the argument is attacked instead of the argument itself

Logical Fallacy - Ad Populum

Appeal to popularity instead of logic

Logical Fallacy - Appeal to Emotion

Using emotion instead of logic

Logical Fallacy - Appeal to Authority or Experts

Using experts opinions to make an argument instead of facts and logic

Logical Fallacy - Straw Man

When you twist your opponents words into something that they did not mean, and which is easy to argue against

Logical Fallacy - Red Herring

An attempt to redirect the conversation away from its original topic

Logical Fallacy - Genetic Fallacy

Is the act of rejecting or accepting an argument on the basis of its origin rather than its content

Logical Fallacy - Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Assuming that one thing caused another merely because the first thing preceded the other

Logical Fallacy - Begging the Question

An argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion

Logical Fallacy - Appeal to Novelty

In which one prematurely claims that an idea or proposal is correct or superior, exclusively because it is a new and modern

Logical Fallacy - Appeal to Tradition

To ignore the evidence that we should change something because we have been doing something for a long time

Statistical Fallacy - Biased Samples

Drawing a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is biased, or chosen in order to make it appear the population on average is different than it actually is

Statistical Fallacy - Overgeneralization

Making a claim based on evidence that is just too small

Statistical Fallacy - Correlation Implies Causation

In which two events occurring together are taken to have established a cause-and-effect relationship

Statistical Fallacy - Base Rate Fallacy

The tendency to ignore relevant statistical information in favour of case-specific information

Statistical Fallacy - Berkson’s Paradox

Finding a conclusion about something that isn’t necessarily true