Logical Fallacies

Plain Folk

A fallacy that is urging readers to accept an idea or take an action because it is suggested by someone who is just like they are.

Appeal to Tradition

A fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that something is better or correct simply because it is older, traditional, or "always has been done."

Begging the Question

An example of this logical fallacy is: Bill: "God must exist." Jill: "How do you know." Bill: "Because the Bible says so." Jill: "Why should I believe the Bible?" Bill: "Because the Bible was written by God."

Appeal to Patriotism

An example of this logical fallacy is: Uncle Sam, Rosie the Riveter: "We Can do it because it's for our country".

Appeal to Pity

Attempts to persuade using emotion—specifically, sympathy—rather than evidence. Often is highly effective.

Straw Man

When a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position.

Appeal to Patriotism

When people ask for support of a cause based on your love of your country.

Slippery Slope

A fallacy in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question. In most cases, there are a series of steps or gradations between one event and the one in question and no reason is given as to why the intervening steps or gradations will simply be bypassed.

Sweeping Generalization

A fallacy in which a writer claims that something applies to all situations and instances without exception.

Red Herring

A fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another topic.

Appeal to Belief

A fallacy that has this general pattern: 1. Most people believe that a claim, X, is true. 2. Therefore X is true This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because the fact that many people believe a claim does not, in general, serve as evidence that the claim is true.

Begging the Question

Also referred to as circular reasoning, it is where the conclusion is believed to be true based upon repeated evidence by the person who believes the conclusion.

False Dilemma

Also referred to as either-or-fallacy, when someone is asked to choose between two options when there is at least one other option available.

Name Calling

An attempt to discredit an opponent by labeling or describing him with words that have unfavorable connotations

Non Sequitur

An example of this logical fallacy is: "Bill lives in a large building, so his apartment must be large."

Appeal to Fear

An example of this logical fallacy is: "I don't think a Red Ryder BB rifle would make a good present for you. They are very dangerous and you'll put your eye out. Now, don't you agree that you should think of another gift idea?"

Appeal to Popularity

An example of this logical fallacy is: "I read the other day that most people really like the new gun control laws. I was sort of suspicious of them, but I guess if most people like them, then they must be okay."

Sweeping Generalization

An example of this logical fallacy is: "I think all computers are easy to use. I have never had any problems with them." "Everyone has an iphone".

Appeal to Pity

An example of this logical fallacy is: "I'm positive that my work will meet your requirements. I really need the job since my grandmother is sick"

Bandwagon

An example of this logical fallacy is: "It's alright for me to cheat on my taxes because everyone else does it."

Straw Man

An example of this logical fallacy is: "Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that."

Slippery Slope

An example of this logical fallacy is: "We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester!"

Plain Folk

An example of this logical fallacy is: "You need to believe me. I am just like you, a regular man who struggles to make the ends meet every day."

Name Calling

An example of this logical fallacy is: A cynical individual might say: "Don't believe anything Dexter says; he's psycho freak."

Two Wrongs Make a Right

An example of this logical fallacy is: After leaving a store, Jill notices that she has underpaid by $10. She decides not to return the money to the store because if she had overpaid, they would not have returned the money. Terrorists killing people because land was taken from them.

False Analogy

An example of this logical fallacy is: Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so must employees.

Post Hoc

An example of this logical fallacy is: Every time I log online to play interactive games, I get stupid partners, therefore my logging online causes stupid people to join the games I want to play.

Appeal to Belief

An example of this logical fallacy is: God must exist. After all, I just saw a poll that says 85% of all Americans believe in God.

Appeal to Tradition

An example of this logical fallacy is: Of course this mode of government is the best. We have had this government for over 200 years and no one has talked about changing it in all that time. So, it has got to be good.

Hasty Generalization

An example of this logical fallacy is: Sam is riding her bike in her home town in Maine, minding her own business. A station wagon comes up behind her and the driver starts beeping his horn and then tries to force her off the road. As he goes by, the driver yells "get on the sidewalk where you belong!" Sam sees that the car has Ohio plates and concludes that all Ohio drivers are jerks.

False Dilemma

An example of this logical fallacy is: Senator Jill: "We'll have to cut education funding this year." Senator Bill: "Why?" Senator Jill: "Well, either we cut the social programs or we live with a huge deficit and we can't live with the deficit."

Appeal to Authority

An example of this logical fallacy is: The Pope told me that priests can turn bread and wine into Jesus' body and blood. The Pope is not a liar. Therefore, priests really can do this.

Appeal to Emotion

An example of this logical fallacy is: The new UltraSkinny diet will make you feel great. No longer be troubled by your weight. Enjoy the admiring stares of the opposite sex. Revel in your new freedom from fat. You will know true happiness if you try our diet! When you say you don't want to eat something and your parents make you feel bad about children starving in other countries.

Red Herring

An example of this logical fallacy is: Argument" for making grad school requirements stricter: "I think there is great merit in making the requirements stricter for the graduate students. I recommend that you support it, too. After all, we are in a budget crisis and we do not want our salaries affected."

Ad Hominem

An example of this logical fallacy is: What do you know about labor laws? You don't even have a job.

Post Hoc

Interpreted as "After this, therefore because of this." This fallacy is committed when it is concluded that one event causes another simply because the proposed cause occurred before the proposed effect.

Ad Hominem

Latin for "against the man". It is an attempt to discredit an opponent by attacking the person instead of the argument.

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Logical fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that if one wrong is committed, another wrong will cancel it out.

Non Sequitur

Means "it does not follow"- occurs when no logical relationship exists between two or more ideas.

Bandwagon

Places en emphasis on current trends, while appeal to popularity doesn't; it appeals to the growing popularity of an idea as a reason for accepting it as true. They take the mere fact that an idea suddenly attracting adherents as a reason for us to join in with the trend and become adherents of the idea ourselves.

Appeal to Popularity

The basic idea is that a claim is accepted as being true simply because most people are favorably inclined towards the claim. Similar to appeal to belief.

False Analogy

This fallacy consists in assuming that because two things are alike in one or more respects, they are necessarily alike in some other respect.

Hasty Generalization

This fallacy is committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough (isolated example).

Appeal to Emotion

This fallacy is committed when someone manipulates peoples' emotions in order to get them to accept a claim as being true.

Appeal to Fear

This type of "reasoning" is fallacious because creating fear in people does not constitute evidence for a claim.

Appeal to Authority

Using an authority as evidence in your argument when the authority is not really an authority on the facts relevant to the argument.