Logical fallacies:arguments to avoid when writing

Appeal to lack of evidence

" argument from ignorance"appealing to a lack of information to prove a point, or arguing that, since the opposition cannot disprove a claim the opposite stance must be true. An example of such an argument is the assertion that ghosts must exist because no one has been able to prove that they do not exist. Logicians know this is logically false because no competing argument has yet revealed itself.

Either/Or fallacy

"Black and white fallacy" or "false Dilemma" this fallacy occurs when a writer builds a argument upon the assumption that there are only two choices or possible outcomes when actually there are several.either you will drink Boopsie cola, or you will have no friends and no social life.

Bandwagon approach

"Everybody is doing it"this argument asserts that since the majority of people believe choose a particular course of action the argument must be true or a particular action must be followed.popular acceptance of an argument does not prove it to be valid nor does popular use of any product necessarily prove it the best one.

Hasty generalization

"Jumping to conclusions" or "converse accident"mistaking use of inductive reasoning when there are too few samples to prove a point. Example Susan field biology 101 Herman field biology 101 Egbert field biology therefore conclude that most students who take biology 101 will fail it.you would need a larger sample to test. If that isn't possible she will need to go out of her way to prove to the reader that three samples are somehow representative of the norm of society.

Non sequitur

"Literally does not follow" any argument that does not follow from the previous statements. Usually what happened is the writer would leap from A to B and jump to D, leaving out step C .

Complex question

"Loaded question " phrasing a question or statement in such a way as to imply another unproven statement is true without evidence or discussion.this fallacy often overlaps with begging the question.such a question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no answer. It is not a simple question but consist of several questions rolled into one.

Red herring

A deliberate attempt to change the subject or Divert the argument from the real question at issue to some side point; four instance Sen. Jones should not be held accountable for cheating on his income tax. After all, there are other senators who have done far worse things

Circular reasoning

Closely related to begging the question. Often the writers using this fallacy would take one idea and phrase it into two statements. The assertions differ sufficiently to obscure the fact that the same proposition occurs as both the premise and the conclusion. The speaker or author then tries to prove his or her assertion by merely repeating it in different words.

False cause

This fallacy establishes a cause-and-effect relationship that does not exist. There are various Latin names for various analyses of the fallacy.

Personal attack

attacking or praising the people who make an argument rather than discussing the argument itself.this practice is fallacious because the personal character of an individual is logically irrelevant to the truth or falseness of the argument itself.the statement 2+2=4 is correct no matter if a criminal,pastor or child states it.