UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

The ad populum fallacy appeals to the popularity of a belief as though widespread acceptance were decisive evidence of its truth. It confuses social agreement with logical justification. Truth, however, depends on facts and reasoning, not merely on the number of believers. Thus the fallacy described in the stem is ad populum.

Option A:
Option A, slippery slope, warns without sufficient support that a small step will lead to disastrous outcomes. It has nothing to do with counting believers. So slippery slope is not the correct answer.

Option B:
Option B, false dilemma, restricts options to two extremes when more alternatives exist. This misrepresentative framing differs from appealing to popularity. Hence false dilemma does not fit the question.

Option C:
Option C, equivocation, relies on shifting the meaning of a key term within an argument. It is a linguistic fallacy, not one based on majority opinion. Therefore equivocation is not appropriate here.

Option D:
Option D correctly identifies ad populum as arguing that a claim is true because many people accept it. Such appeals to popularity are logically weak and may hide lack of evidence. Thus ad populum is the best choice.