PHI 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: John Travolta, Liability Insurance, Zicam

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Sascha Maicher

Document Summary

Arriving at a general statement or rule by citing too few supporting cases. Example: the food in l. a. is lousy, judging from this meal. The claim is too general and does not have enough evidence to make the claim true. Just because there was one bad restaurant in the area, does not mean that all of the food in l. a. is lousy. The support for the claim is too weak. Example: the police stopped me for driving five miles over the speed limit. This claim is also too general, and does not have strong enough evidence to support the conclusion that is being presented. Just because the person making the claim got stopped for a small offence does not provide adequate evidence that the police in the area will stop you for anything. A version of hasty generalization: argument by anecdote fallacy: when a speaker or writer is attempting to support a general claim by offering a story.