"More laws have been added on the books in past five years than ever before,…
2023
"More laws have been added on the books in past five years than ever before, yet the number of crimes committed during the same period has significantly increased. Therefore, to bring the crime rate down, we must eliminate the laws". Which fallacy is committed in the above statement ?
- A.
Red herring
- B.
Straw man
- C.
Slippery slope
- D.
False cause
Attempted by 14 students.
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Correct answer: D
The argument commits the False Cause fallacy. It incorrectly assumes that because crime rates increased after laws were added, the laws caused the increase. This confuses correlation with causation and ignores other contributing factors.