A politician argues: “We must implement my economic plan. If we don’t, our nation will fall into a terrible depression and millions will suffer.” This statement primarily represents:

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question presents a statement from a politician that warns of a terrible depression and millions suffering if their plan isn’t adopted. This setup aims to influence judgment by triggering fear rather than presenting evidence.
Option a: Hasty generalization. This would be drawing a broad conclusion from insufficient or unrepresentative evidence. The quoted statement does not attempt to generalize a broad claim about a whole population based on limited data; it uses fear to persuade, so this option mischaracterizes the tactic.
Option b: Circular reasoning. This involves using the conclusion as part of the premise (begging the question). Here, the claim does not restate its conclusion as a premise; instead, it invokes fear of catastrophic outcomes, so circular reasoning is not the underlying structure.
Option c: Appeal to fear. This describes persuasion by arousing fear of a negative outcome to motivate action, without offering substantive argument or evidence. The politician’s claim—without concrete data—tries to instill dread of an economic collapse to push support for the plan, matching this tactic.
Option d: False authority. This would involve citing or implying expertise or authority where none is present or relevant to support the claim. The statement relies on fear about consequences rather than appealing to an authority’s expertise, so this option doesn’t fit.
Thus, the statement best aligns with an appeal to fear, as it leverages looming disaster to sway opinion rather than presenting logic or evidence.

25_4 MGT3600 Ethical Leadership & Moral Development

A politician argues: “We must implement my economic plan. If we don’t, our nation will fall into a terrible depression and millions will suffer.” This statement primarily represents:

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