Write a short note on read the following arguments carefully. Identify the formal fallacy committed by each and give suitable justifications to support your answer : All elephants are vegetarians. No lions are elephants. Therefore, no lions are vegetarians.
Write a short note on read the following arguments carefully. Identify the formal fallacy committed by each and give suitable justifications to support your answer : All elephants are vegetarians. No lions are elephants. Therefore, no lions are vegetarians.
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Identifying the Formal Fallacy:
The argument presented is an example of the formal fallacy known as the Fallacy of the Undistributed Middle.
Explanation of the Fallacy:
The Fallacy of the Undistributed Middle occurs when the middle term in a syllogism (the term that appears in both premises but not in the conclusion) is undistributed. In other words, the fallacy arises when the relationship between the subject and predicate terms is not established across all instances of the middle term.
Analysis of the Argument:
Justification:
In the given argument, the middle term "elephants" is undistributed because it appears only once in the premises. While the first premise states that all elephants are vegetarians, it does not establish any relationship between lions and vegetarians. Similarly, the second premise states that no lions are elephants, but it does not establish any direct relationship between lions and vegetarians either.
Therefore, the conclusion that "no lions are vegetarians" is not logically supported by the premises. The argument fails to establish a valid connection between the subject term "lions" and the predicate term "vegetarians" through the middle term "elephants." The fallacy lies in assuming that because lions are not elephants and elephants are vegetarians, therefore lions cannot be vegetarians. However, there is no direct logical connection between being an elephant and being a vegetarian, and hence, this argument commits the Fallacy of the Undistributed Middle.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the argument provided commits the formal fallacy of the Undistributed Middle. This fallacy occurs when the middle term in a syllogism is undistributed, leading to an invalid conclusion. In this case, the argument fails to establish a valid logical connection between the subject and predicate terms through the middle term, resulting in an invalid inference.