Part 2: Informal Fallacies (Lecture 9 and 10) In each dialogue below, determine whether Philips committed any fallacy. If so, explain
what the main fallacy is. If not, you only need to write down "no fallacy".

1. Aurora: Do you believe in the existence of God?
Philips: Either God exists or does not exist. If God exists, and you believe, then you can go
to heaven after your death. If God does not exist, and you believe, then you have nothing to
lose. Obviously, the best bet is to believe in the existence of God.
2. Philips: That is an unpopular book.
Aurora: Why?
Philips: It did not sell well at all.
3. Teacher Aurora: Students who cheat on exams should receive zero mark.
Teacher Philips: I can't agree with you! Why would you insist that students who cheat on
exams should be expelled from school? That's unfair to those students!
4. Mother Aurora: Why do you think that we should not organize a family trip to Taiwan?
Father Philips: I overheard a property expert's conversation last week. He said his company
is going to sell all of his properties in Taiwan because there is a potential earthquake in the
next two years. I think he is right and we should not go to Taiwan.
5. Aurora: What's the color of your favorite sweater?
Philips: My sweater is yellow because the atoms that make up the sweater is yellow.
6. Aurora: Bills holds that smoking is harmful to people's heath.
Philips: Don't listen to him! He never smokes.
7. Aurora: How many foreign languages do you think students from ABC university can
speak?
Philips: I met four guys on a train, and they said they were from ABC university and they
could speak four foreign languages frequently. Almost everyone in ABC university must be
able to speak at least four foreign languages.
8. Aurora: The New York Times reported that Donald Trump had paid no income taxes in 10 of
the past 15 years.
Philips: Come on, you know that's false, the Times is a newspaper controlled by people with
liberal values.
9. Aurora: Why do you think judges should give maximum sentences for all convicted
criminals?
Philips: If they start making exceptions, defenders will start asking for lighter sentences. And
criminals will be getting off with mere warnings. Finally, no one would respect the laws and
the security of the entire society will be in great danger.
10. Aurora: Bill was fired yesterday because he was caught stealing money from the company.
Philips: That's unfair! Why should he be punished when people who did the same things in
other companies did not get fired.​