What fallacy involves treating a non-exclusive choice as if it were exclusive?

What fallacy involves treating a non-exclusive choice as if it were exclusive?

• A. Affirming a disjunct
• B. Begging the question
• C. Ad hominem attack
• D. False dilemma

Answer: (A)

The fallacy that involves treating a non-exclusive choice as if it were exclusive is known as a false dilemma. This logical fallacy occurs when an argument presents two options as the only possibilities, when in fact there are other viable alternatives available. For example, if someone claims, "You can either support the new policy or you don't care about progress," they are presenting a false dilemma by ignoring the possibility that someone might have a neutral position, is undecided, or might support a different policy entirely. Affirming a disjunct, on the other hand, is a fallacy that arises when one incorrectly concludes that if one disjunct of a disjunctive proposition is true, the other must be false. This is distinct from presenting limited options and involves a misunderstanding of logical implications. Therefore, while both fallacies deal with reasoning and choices, only false dilemma accurately describes the misrepresentation of non-exclusive options as being exclusive.

The fallacy that involves treating a non-exclusive choice as if it were exclusive is known as a false dilemma. This logical fallacy occurs when an argument presents two options as the only possibilities, when in fact there are other viable alternatives available.

For example, if someone claims, "You can either support the new policy or you don't care about progress," they are presenting a false dilemma by ignoring the possibility that someone might have a neutral position, is undecided, or might support a different policy entirely.

Affirming a disjunct, on the other hand, is a fallacy that arises when one incorrectly concludes that if one disjunct of a disjunctive proposition is true, the other must be false. This is distinct from presenting limited options and involves a misunderstanding of logical implications. Therefore, while both fallacies deal with reasoning and choices, only false dilemma accurately describes the misrepresentation of non-exclusive options as being exclusive.