Logical fallacies
Ad hominem
Ex: "All murderers are criminals, but a thief isn't a murderer, and so can't be a criminal."
Appeal to Authority (false authority)
Ex: "Einstein said 'God does not play dice with the universe,' therefore God must exist."
Weak or Faulty Analogy
Ex: "Guns are like hammers—they're both tools with metal parts that could be used to kill someone.''
Missing the Point or Irrelevant Conclusion
Ex: "The seriousness of a punishment should match the seriousness of the crime. Right now, the punishment for drunk driving may simply be a fine.
Either/Or (false dilemma/false dichotomy)
Ex: "You could either pursue your dream job or stay where you are and be miserable for the rest of your life."
Post hoc
Ex: "after this, therefore because of this"
Ignoring the Question
Ex: Argument: Cutting people is a crime.
Snob Appeal
Ex: Cigarette ads which show big pictures of tough cowboys sucking on their cigarettes
Appeal to Pity
Ex: Commercials that show starving children in Africa before asking for donations to feed them.
Bandwagon
Ex: Everyone is going to get the new smart phone when it comes out this weekend.
Equivocation
Ex: I have the right to watch "The Real World." Therefore it's right for me to watch the show.
Begging the Question (begging the claim) (circular reasoning)
Ex: Jane is an intelligent, insightful, well-educated and personable individual, which begs the question: why does she stay at that dead-end job?
Tu quoque (you're another)
Ex: Mother: You should stop smoking.
Red Herring
Ex: Son: "Wow, Dad, it's really hard to make a living on my salary." Father: "Consider yourself lucky, son. Why, when I was your age, I only made $40 a week."
Straw man
Ex: The children's winter concert at the school should include non-Christmas songs too.
Hasty Generalizations
Ex: if my brother likes to eat a lot of pizza and French fries, and he is healthy, I can say that pizza and French fries are healthy and don't really make a person fat.
Slippery Slope
Ex: legalizing prostitution is undesirable because it would cause more marriages to break up, which would in turn cause the breakdown of the family, which would finally result in the destruction of civilization.
Non Sequitur (it doesn't follow)
Ex: propositional logic.
Weak or Faulty 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.
Ignoring the Question
When an arguer responds to an argument by not addressing the points of the argument.
Hasty Generalizations
a fallacy in which a conclusion that is reached is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence.
Appeal to Pity
a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent's feelings of pity or guilt.
Appeal to Authority (false authority)
a form of argument in which the opinion of an authority on a topic is used as evidence to support an argument.
Either/Or (false dilemma/false dichotomy)
a statement falsely claims or assumes an "either/or" situation
Post hoc (false cause)
after the event.
Slippery Slope
an idea or course of action which will lead to something unacceptable, wrong, or disastrous.
Equivocation
an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word/expression in multiple senses within an argument.
Bandwagon
form of Ad Populum- all about getting people to do or think something because "everyone else is doing it" or "everything else thinks this."
Snob Appeal
form of Ad Populum-makes the case that using the product means the consumer is better/smarter/richer than everyone else.
Straw man
having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the proper idea of argument under discussion was not addressed or properly refuted.
Missing the Point or Irrelevant Conclusion
informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may or may not be logically valid and sound, but fails to address the issue in question.
Non Sequitur (it doesn't follow)
is a pattern of reasoning rendered invalid by a flaw in its logical structure that can neatly be expressed in a standard logic system,
Red Herring
logical fallacy where someone presents irrelevant information in an attempt to distract others from a topic that's being discussed, often to avoid a question or shift the discussion in a new direction.
Ad hominem
someone attacks the person instead of attacking his or her argument.
Tu quoque (you're another)
the appeal to hypocrisy, is an informal fallacy that intends to discredit the opponent's argument by attacking the opponent's own personal behavior
Begging the Question (begging the claim) (circular reasoning)
when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it.
