Logical Fallacies

Reductionism

(also, Oversimplifying, Sloganeering): The fallacy of deceiving an audience by giving simple answers or bumper-sticker slogans in response to complex questions, especially when appealing to less educated or unsophisticated audiences. E.g., "If the glove doesn't fit, you must vote to acquit." Or, "Vote for Smith. He's tough on terrorism!" In science, technology, engineering and mathematics ("STEM subjects") reductionism is intentionally practiced to make intractable problems computable, e.g., the well-known humorous suggestion, "First, let's assume the cow is a sphere!".

They're All Crooks

The contemporary fallacy of refusing to get involved in public politics because all politicians and politics are allegedly corrupt, ignoring the fact that if this is so in a democratic country it is precisely because "decent" people like you and I refuse to get involved, leaving the field open to the "crooks" by default. An example of Circular Reasoning.

The Appeal to Heaven

"Argument from the Club." Also, "Argumentum ad Baculam," "Argument from Strength," "Muscular Leadership," "Non-negotiable Demands," Bullying, Fascism, Resolution by Force of Arms. asserting that God (or History, or a higher power) has ordered or anointed, supports or approves of one's own standpoint or actions so no further justification is required and no serious challenge is possible. Example: "We need to take away your land, since God [or Manifest Destiny, or Fate, or Heaven] has given it to us as our own."

The Argument from Inertia

"Stay the Course," The fallacy that it is necessary to continue on a mistaken course of action even after discovering it is mistaken, because changing course would mean admitting that one's decision (or one's leader, or one's faith) was wrong, and all one's effort, expense and sacrifice was for nothing, and that's unthinkable.

Argumentum ex Silentio

( argument from silence) The fallacy that if available sources remain silent or current knowledge and evidence can prove nothing about a given subject or question this fact in itself proves something about the truth of the matter. E.g., "Science can tell us nothing about God. That proves God doesn't exist."

Argumentum ad Mysteriam

("Argument from Mystery."): A darkened chamber, incense, chanting or drumming, bowing and kneeling, special robes or headgear, holy rituals and massed voices reciting sacred mysteries in an unknown tongue have a quasi-hypnotic effect and can often persuade more strongly than any logical argument. publicly chanting Holy Scriptures in their original (most often incomprehensible) languages, preferring the Greek, Latin, Assyrian or Old Church Slavonic Christian Liturgies over their vernacular versions, or using classic or newly invented Latin names for fallacies in order to support their validity. See also, Esoteric Knowledge.

Argumentum ad Baculum

("Argument from the Club." Also, "Argumentum ad Baculam," "Argument from Strength," "Muscular Leadership," "Non-negotiable Demands," Bullying,) Example: General;"If we accept capitulation, the enemy will take the chance to slaughter us all." Colonel: "So far they have treated captives adequately." General: "This time they won't. And you better believe me if you don't want to find yourself rotting in a mass grave."

Political Correctness

("PC"): A postmodern fallacy, a counterpart of the "Name Calling" fallacy, supposing that the nature of a thing or situation can be changed by simply changing its name. E.g., "Today we strike a blow for animal rights and against cruelty to animals by changing the name of 'pets' to 'animal companions.'" Or "Never, ever play the 'victim' card, because it's so manipulative and sounds so negative, helpless and despairing. Instead of saying 'victims,' we are proud to be 'survivors.'" (Of course, when "victims" disappear then perpetrators conveniently vanish as well!)

tu quoque

("You Do it Too!"; aka, Two Wrongs Make a Right, Your Mother) You avoided having to engage with criticism by turning it back on the accuser - you answered criticism with criticism. Pronounced too-kwo-kwee. Literally translating as 'you too' this fallacy is also known as the appeal to hypocrisy. It is commonly employed as an effective red herring because it takes the heat off someone having to defend their argument, and instead shifts the focus back on to the person making the criticism. Example: Nicole identified that Hannah had committed a logical fallacy, but instead of addressing the substance of her claim, Hannah accused Nicole of committing a fallacy earlier on in the conversation.

Equivocation

(aka Ambiguity) The fallacy of deliberately failing to define one's terms, or knowingly and deliberately using words in a different sense than the one the audience will understand. (E.g., President Bill Clinton stating that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman," meaning no sexual penetration, knowing full well that the audience will understand his statement as "I had no sexual contact of any sort with that woman.") This is a corruption of the argument from logos, and a tactic often used in American jurisprudence.

Bandwagon

(aka Argument from Common Sense, Argumentum ad Populum) A appeal to popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation. The flaw in this argument is that the popularity of an idea has absolutely no bearing on its validity. If it did, then the Earth would have made itself flat for most of history to accommodate this popular belief. E.g., Shamus pointed a drunken finger at Sean and asked him to explain how so many people could believe in leprechauns if they're only a silly old superstition. Sean, however, had had a few too many Guinness himself and fell off his chair.

begging the question

(aka Circular Reasoning, The Vicious Circle, Catch 22, Circulus in Probando) You presented a circular argument in which the conclusion was included in the premise. This logically incoherent argument often arises in situations where people have an assumption that is very ingrained, and therefore taken in their minds as a given. Circular reasoning is bad mostly because it's not very good. Example: The word of Zorbo the Great is flawless and perfect. We know this because it says so in The Great and Infallible Book of Zorbo's Best and Most Truest Things that are Definitely True and Should Not Ever Be Questioned.

slippery slope

(aka Domino Theory) You said that if we allow A to happen, then Z will eventually happen too, therefore A should not happen. The problem with this reasoning is that it avoids engaging with the issue at hand, and instead shifts attention to extreme hypotheticals. Because no proof is presented to show that such extreme hypotheticals will in fact occur, this fallacy has the form of an appeal to emotion fallacy by leveraging fear. In effect the argument at hand is unfairly tainted by unsubstantiated conjecture. Example: Colin Closet asserts that if we allow same-sex couples to marry, then the next thing we know we'll be allowing people to marry their parents, their cars and even monkeys.

The Straw Man

(also "The Straw Person" ""The Straw Figure"): The fallacy of setting up a phony, weak, extreme or ridiculous parody of an opponent's argument and then proceeding to knock it down or reduce it to absurdity with a rhetorical wave of the hand. E.g., "Vegetarians say animals have feelings like you and me. Ever seen a cow laugh at a Shakespeare comedy? Vegetarianism is nonsense!" Or, "Pro-choicers hate babies!" Or, "Pro-lifers hate women and want them to spend their lives barefoot, pregnant and chained to the kitchen stove!" This fallacy is only too common in American politics and popular discourse.

Where there's Smoke, there's Fire

(also Hasty Conclusion; Jumping to a Conclusion): The dangerous fallacy of drawing a snap conclusion and/or taking action without sufficient evidence. E.g., "Captain! The guy sitting next to me in coach has a dark skin and is reading a book in some funny language all full of weird squiggles like 'ñ 'and '¿'. It must be Arabic! Get him off the plane before he blows us all to kingdom come!" A variety of the "Just in Case" fallacy. The opposite of this fallacy is the "Paralysis of Analysis."

Overgeneralization

(also Hasty Generalization; Totus pro Partes Fallacy; the Merological Fallacy): A fallacy of logos where a broad generalization that is agreed to be true is offered as overriding all particular cases, particularly special cases requiring immediate attention. E.g., "Doctor, you say that this time of year a flu vaccination is essential. but I would counter that ALL vaccinations are essential" (implying that I'm not going to give special attention to getting the flu shot). Or, attempting to refute "Black Lives Matter" by replying, 'All Lives Matter," the latter undeniably true but still a fallacious overgeneralization in that specific and urgent context. "Overgeneralization" also includes the the Pars pro Toto Fallacy,. the stupid but common fallacy of incorrectly applying one or two true examples to all cases.

The Snow Job

(also Information Bias): The fallacy of "proving" a claim by overwhelming an audience with mountains of marginally-relevant facts, numbers, documents, graphs and statistics that look extremely impressive but which they cannot be expected to understand or evaluate. This is a corrupted argument from logos. See also, "Lying with Statistics." The opposite of this fallacy is the Plain Truth Fallacy.

The Big Lie Technique

(also the Bold Faced Lie; "Staying on Message"): The contemporary fallacy of repeating a lie, fallacy, slogan, talking-point, nonsense-statement or deceptive half-truth over and over in different forms (particularly in the media) until it becomes part of daily discourse and people believe it without further proof or evidence. Sometimes the bolder and more outlandish the Big Lie becomes the more credible it seems to a willing, most often angry audience. E.g., "What about the Jewish Question?" Note that when this particular phony debate was going on there was no "Jewish Question," only a "Nazi Question,"

The "Draw Your Own Conclusion" Fallacy

(also the Non-argument Argument; Let the Facts Speak for Themselves): In this fallacy of logos an otherwise uninformed audience is presented with carefully selected and groomed, "shocking facts" and then prompted to "draw their own conclusions." E.g., "Drug arrests are more than twice as high among middle-class Patzinaks than among any other similar population group--draw your own conclusions." It is well known that those who are allowed to "come to their own conclusions" are generally much more strongly convinced than those who are given both evidence and conclusion up front. However, Dr. William Lorimer points out that "The only rational response to the non-argument is 'So what?'

Default Bias

(also, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it;" Acquiescence; "Making one's peace with the situation;" "Get used to it;" "Whatever is, is right;" "It is what it is;" "Let it be, let it be;" "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know."): The logical fallacy of automatically favoring or accepting a situation simply because it exists right now, and arguing that any other alternative is mad, unthinkable, impossible, or at least would take too much effort, expense, stress or risk to change. The opposite of this fallacy is Nihilism ("Tear it all down!"), blindly rejecting what exists in favor of what could be, the infantile disorder of romanticizing anarchy, chaos, "permanent revolution," or change for change's sake.

The Worst-Case Fallacy

(also, "Just in case;" "We can't afford to take chances."): A pessimistic fallacy by which one's reasoning is based on an improbable, far-fetched or even completely imaginary worst-case scenario rather than on reality. This plays on pathos (fear) rather than reason. E.g., "What if armed terrorists were to attack your county grain elevator tomorrow morning at dawn? Are you ready to fight back? Better stock up on assault rifles and ammunition today, just in case!" The opposite of this is the Positive Thinking Fallacy.

The Job's Comforter Fallacy

(also, "Karma is a bi**h;" "What goes around comes around."): The fallacy that since there is no such thing as random chance and we (I, my group, or my country) are under special protection of heaven, any misfortune or natural disaster that we suffer must be a punishment for our own or someone else's secret sin or open wickedness. The opposite of the Appeal to Heaven, this is the fallacy employed by the Westboro Baptist Church members who protest fallen service members' funerals all around the United States. See also, Magical Thinking.

The Post Hoc Argument

(also, "Post Hoc Propter Hoc;" "Too much of a coincidence," the "Clustering Illusion," and Texas Sharpshooter): The classic paranoiac fallacy of attributing imaginary causality to random coincidences, concluding that just because something happens close to, at the same time as, or just after something else, the first thing is caused by the second. E.g., "AIDS first emerged as a problem back in the very same era when Disco music was becoming popular--that's too much of a coincidence: It proves that Disco caused AIDS!" Aka false cause You presumed that a real or perceived relationship between things means that one is the cause of the other.

The Pollyanna Principle

(also, "Projection Bias," "They're Just Like Us," "Singing 'Kumbaya.'") A traditional, often tragic fallacy of ethos, that of automatically (and falsely) assuming that everyone else in any given place, time and circumstance had or has basically the same wishes, desires, interests, concerns, ethics and moral code as "we" do. This fallacy practically if not theoretically denies both the reality of difference and the human capacity to chose radical evil. E.g., arguing that "The only thing most Nazi Storm Troopers wanted was the same thing we do, to live in peace and prosperity and to have a good family life," when the reality was radically otherwise. Dr. William Lorimer offers this explanation.

Just Plain Folks

(also, "Values"): This corrupt modern argument from ethos argues to a less-educated or rural audience that the one arguing is "just plain folks" who is a "plain talker," "says what s/he is thinking," and thinks like the audience, and is thus worthy of belief, unlike some "double-domed professor," "Washington bureaucrat," "tree-hugger" or other despised outsider who "doesn't think like we do" or "doesn't share our traditional values."

Availability Bias

(also, Attention Bias, Anchoring Bias): A fallacy of logos stemming from the natural tendency to give undue attention and importance to information that is immediately available at hand, particularly the first or last information received, and to minimize or ignore broader data or wider evidence that clearly exists but is not as easily remembered or accessed. E.g., "We know from experience that this doesn't work," when "experience" means the most recent local experience, ignoring multiple instances in other places and times where it has worked and doeswork.

The Worst Case Negates the Bad

(also, Be Grateful for What You've Got): The logical fallacy that a bad situation stops being so bad because it could be far worse, or because someone, somewhere has it even worse. E.g., "I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw someone who had no feet." Or, "You're protesting because you earn only $7.25 an hour? You could just as easily be out on the street! I happen to know there are people in Uttar Pradesh who are doing the very same work you're doing for one tenth of what you're making, and they're pathetically glad just to have work at all. You need to shut up, put down that picket sign, get back to work and thank us each and every day for giving you a job!"

Scapegoating

(also, Blamecasting): The ancient fallacy that whenever something goes wrong there's always someone other than oneself to blame. Although sometimes this fallacy is a practical denial of randomness or chance itself , today it is more often a mere insurance-driven business decision ("I don't care if it was an accident! Somebody with deep pockets is gonna pay for this!"), though often scapegoating is no more than a cynical ploy to shield those truly responsible from blame. A particularly corrupt and cynical example of this is Blaming the Victim,in which one falsely casts the blame for one's own evil or questionable actions on those affected, e.g., "If you move an eyelash I'll have to kill you and you'll be to blame!" or "You bi**h, you dressed immodestly and made me rape you! Then you went and snitched on me and now I'm going to prison and every bit of it is your fault!" See also, the Affective Fallacy. See Leviticus 16:8 KJV.

The Red Herring

(also, Distraction): An irrelevant argument, attempting to mislead an audience by bringing up an unrelated but emotionally loaded issue. E.g., "In regard to my several bankruptcies and recent indictment for corruption let's be straight up about what's really important: Terrorism! Vote for me and I'll fight those terrorists anywhere in the world!" Also applies to raising unrelated issues as falsely opposing the issue at hand, e.g., "You say 'Black Lives Matter," but I would rather say 'Zika Matters!'" when the two contentions are in no way opposed, only competing for attention. See also Availability Bias.

Venting

(also, Letting off Steam; Loose Lips): In the Venting fallacy a person argues that her/his words are or ought to be exempt from criticism or consequence because s/he was "only venting," even though this very admission implies that the one "venting" was, at long last, freely expressing his/her true, heartfelt and uncensored opinion about the matter in question. This same fallacy applies to minimizing, denying the significance of or excusing other forms of frank, unguarded or uninhibited offensive expression as mere "Locker-room Talk," "Alpha-male Speech" or nothing but cute, adorable "Bad-boy Talk." See also, the Affective Fallacy.

They're Not Like Us

(also, Stereotyping, Xenophobia. Ethnic Prejudice, Othering): A badly corrupted, discriminatory argument from ethos where facts, arguments, experiences or objections are arbitrarily disregarded, ignored or put down without serious consideration because those involved "are not like us," or "don't think like us." E.g., "It's OK for Mexicans to earn a buck an hour in the maquiladoras. If it happened here I'd call it brutal exploitation and daylight robbery but south of the border, down Mexico way they're not at all like us." Or, "You claim that life must be really terrible over there for terrorists to ever think of blowing themselves up with suicide vests just to make a point, but always remember that they're different from us. They don't think about life and death the same way we do." A vicious variety of the Ad Hominem Fallacy, most often applied to non-white or non-Christian populations. A variation of this fallacy is the "Speakee" Fallacy ("You speakee da English?"), in which an opponent's arguments are mocked, ridiculed and dismissed solely because of the speaker's alleged or real accent, dialect, or lack of fluency in standard English, e.g., "He told me 'Vee vorkers need to form a younion!' but I told him to come back when he learns to speak proper English." A dangerous, extreme example of "They're Not Like Us" is Dehumanization, where opponents are dismissed as mere cockroaches, lice, apes, monkeys, rats, weasels or bloodsucking parasites who have no right to speak at all and probably should be "squashed like bugs." This fallacy is the "logic" behind genocide and gas ovens. See also "Name Calling" and "Olfactory Rhetoric." The opposite of this fallacy is the "Pollyanna Principle" above.

Playing on Emotion

(also, the Sob Story; the Pathetic Fallacy; the "Bleeding Heart" fallacy): The classic fallacy of pure argument from pathos, ignoring facts and calling on emotion alone. E.g., "If you don't agree that witchcraft is a major problem just shut up, close your eyes for a moment and picture in your mind all those poor moms crying bitter tears for their innocent tiny children whose cozy little beds and happy tricycles lie all cold and abandoned, just because of those wicked old witches! Let's string'em all up!" The opposite of this is the Apathetic Fallacy (also, Cynicism; Compassion Fatigue), where any and all legitimate arguments from pathos are brushed aside because "I don't give a damn," or as sung by country music singer Jo Dee Messina (2005), "My give-a-damn's busted."

the romantic rebel

(also, the Truthout Fallacy; the Brave Heretic; Conspiracy theories; the Iconoclastic Fallacy):The contemporary fallacy of claiming truth or validity for one's standpoint solely or primarily because one is supposedly standing up heroically to the prevailing "orthodoxy," the current Standard Model, conventional wisdom or politics, or whatever may be the Bandwagon of the moment; a corrupt argument from ethos. E.g., "Back in the day the scientific establishment thought that the world was flat, until Columbus proved them wrong! Now they want us to believe that ordinary water is nothing but H2,O. Are you going to believe them? The government is frantically trying to suppress the truth that our drinking-water supply actually has nitrogen in it and causes congenital vampirism! And what about Area 51? Don't you care? Or are you just a kiss-up for the corrupt corporate Washington establishment?" The opposite of the Bandwagon fallacy.

The A Priori Argument

A corrupt argument from logos, starting with a given, pre-set belief, dogma, doctrine, scripture verse , "fact" or conclusion/ Example: "If George V reigned at least four days, then he reigned more than three days." This is something that one knows a priori, because it expresses a statement that one can derive by reason alone.

Tone Policing

A corrupt argument from pathos and delivery, the fallacy of judging the validity of an argument primarily by its emotional tone of delivery, ignoring the reality that a valid fact or argument remains valid whether it is offered calmly and deliberatively or is shouted in a "shrill" or even "hysterical" tone, whether calmly stated in professional, academic language or screamed through a bull-horn and peppered with vulgarity. Conversely, a highly urgent emotional matter is still urgent even if argued coldly and rationally. This fallacy creates a false dichotomy between reason and emotion and thus implicitly favors those who are not personally involved or emotionally invested in an argument, e.g., "I know you're upset, but I won't discuss it until you calm down," or "I'd believe what you write were it not for your adolescent use of exclamation points throughout the text." Or alternately, "You seem to be way too calm about the death of your spouse. You're under arrest for homicide. You have the right to remain silent..." Tone Policing is frequent in contemporary discourse of power, particularly in response to discourse of protest.

Confirmation bias

A fallacy of logos, recognizing the fact that one always tends to notice, search out, select and share evidence that confirms one's own standpoint and beliefs, as opposed to contrary evidence. This fallacy is how "Fortune Tellers" work--If I am told I will meet a "tall, dark stranger" I will be on the lookout for a tall, dark stranger, and when I meet someone even marginally meeting that description I will marvel at the correctness of the "psychic's" prediction. In contemporary times Confirmation Bias is most often seen in the tendency of various audiences to seek out and follow solely those media outlets that confirm their common ideological and cultural biases, sometimes to an extreme that leads a the false (implicit or even explicit) conclusion that "everyone" agrees with that bias.. See also, "Half Truth," and "Defensiveness."

The Shopping Hungry Fallacy

A fallacy of pathos, a variety of Playing on Emotions, making stupid but important decisions (or being prompted, manipulated or forced to "freely" take public or private decisions that may be later regretted but are most often difficult to reverse) "in the heat of the moment," when under the influence of strong emotion (hunger, fear, lust, anger, sadness, regret, fatigue, even joy, love or happiness). E.g., Trevor Noah, current (2016) host of the Daily Show on American television attributes approval of draconian measures of the Patriot Act and the creation of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security to America's "shopping hungry" immediately after 9/11.. See also "We Have to Do Something."

Either/Or Reasoning

A fallacy that falsely offers only two possible options even though a broad range of possible alternatives are always readily available. E.g., "Either you are 100% Simon Straight-arrow or you are as queer as a three dollar bill--it's as simple as that and there's no middle ground!" Or, "Either you're in with us all the way or you're a hostile and must be destroyed! What's it gonna be?" Also applies to falsely contrasting one option or case to another that is not really opposed

Essentializing

A fallacy that proposes a person or thing "is what it is and that's all that it is," and at its core will always be the way it is right now (E.g., "All terrorists are monsters, and will still be terrorist monsters even if they live to be 100," or "'The poor you will always have with you,' so any effort to eliminate poverty is pointless."). Also refers to the fallacy of arguing that something is a certain way "by nature," an empty claim that no amount of proof can refute. (E.g., "Americans are cold and greedy by nature," or "Women are naturally better cooks than men.") See also "Default Bias." The opposite of this is the fallacy of Relativizing, blithely dismissing any and all arguments against one's standpoint by shrugging one's shoulders and responding that "Everything's relative," or falsely invoking Einstein, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle or Quantum Weirdness to confuse, mystify or "refute" an opponent. See also, "Red Herring" and "Appeal to Nature."

Paternalism

A serious fallacy of ethos, arbitrarily tut-tutting, dismissing or ignoring another's concerns as "childish" or "immature;" taking a condescending attitude of superiority toward opposing arguments or toward opponents themselves. E.g., "Your argument against the war is so infantile. Try approaching the issue like an adult for a change," "I don't argue with children," or "Somebody has to be the grownup in the room, and it might as well be me. Here's why you're wrong..." Also refers to the sexist fallacy of dismissing a woman's argument because she is a woman, e.g., "Oh, it must be that time of the month, eh?" See also "Ad Hominem Argument

Gaslighting

A vicious fallacy of logic, deliberately twisting or distorting known facts, memories, scenes, events and evidence in order to disorient a vulnerable opponent and to make him or her doubt his/her sanity. This fallacy is named after British playwright Patrick Hamilton's 1938 stage play "Gas Light," also known as "Angel Street."

Diminished Responsibility

The common contemporary fallacy of applying a specialized judicial concept (that criminal punishment should be less if one's judgment was impaired) to reality in general. E.g., "You can't count me absent on Monday--I was hung over and couldn't come to class so it's not my fault." Or, "Yeah, I was speeding on the freeway and killed a guy, but I was buzzed out of my mind and didn't know what I was doing so it didn't matter that much."

Lying with Statistics

The contemporary fallacy of using true figures and numbers to "prove" unrelated claims. (e.g. "College tuition costs have actually never been lower. When expressed as a percentage of the national debt, the cost of getting a college education is actually far lower today than it was in 1965!"). A corrupted argument from logos, often preying on the public's perceived or actual mathematical ignorance. This includes the Tiny Percentage Fallacy, that an expense that is quite significant in and of itself somehow becomes insignificant simply because it's a tiny percentage of something much larger. E.g., a consumer who would choke on spending an extra dollar for two cans of peas will typically ignore $50 extra on the price of a car or $1000 extra on the price of a house simply because these differences are "only" a tiny percentage of the much larger amount being spent. Historically, sales taxes or value-added taxes have successfully gained public acceptance and remain "under the radar" because of this latter fallacy. See also Half-truth, Snow Job, and Red Herring.

The False Analogy

The fallacy of incorrectly comparing one thing to another in order to draw a false conclusion. E.g., "Just like an alley cat needs to prowl, a normal adult can't be tied down to one single lover."

The Non Sequitur

The fallacy of offering reasons or conclusions that have no logical connection to the argument at hand (e.g. "The reason I flunked your course is because the government is now printing purple five-dollar bills! Purple!"). (See also Red Herring.)

loaded question

You asked a question that had a presumption built into it so that it couldn't be answered without appearing guilty. Loaded question fallacies are particularly effective at derailing rational debates because of their inflammatory nature - the recipient of the loaded question is compelled to defend themselves and may appear flustered or on the back foot. Example: Grace and Helen were both romantically interested in Brad. One day, with Brad sitting within earshot, Grace asked in an inquisitive tone whether Helen was having any problems with a drug habit.

no true scotsman

You made what could be called an appeal to purity as a way to dismiss relevant criticisms or flaws of your argument. In this form of faulty reasoning one's belief is rendered unfalsifiable because no matter how compelling the evidence is, one simply shifts the goalposts so that it wouldn't apply to a supposedly 'true' example. This kind of post-rationalization is a way of avoiding valid criticisms of one's argument. Example: Angus declares that Scotsmen do not put sugar on their porridge, to which Lachlan points out that he is a Scotsman and puts sugar on his porridge. Furious, like a true Scot, Angus yells that no true Scotsman sugars his porridge.

anecdotal

You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence. Example: Jason said that that was all cool and everything, but his grandfather smoked, like, 30 cigarettes a day and lived until 97 - so don't believe everything you read about meta analyses of methodologically sound studies showing proven causal relationships.

The Scare Tactic

also Appeal to Paranoia): A variety of Playing on Emotions, a raw appeal to fear. A corrupted argument from pathos.(E.g., "If you don't shut up and do what I say we're all gonna die! In this moment of crisis we can't afford the luxury of criticizing or trying to second-guess my decisions when our very lives and freedom are in peril! Instead, we need to be united as one!") See also, "We Have to do Something!." See also, the Worst Case Fallacy.

The Ad Hominem Argument

also, "Personal attack," "Poisoning the well." Example: A politician degrading another politician during a political campaign when asked about a specific policy, e.g. "Well, I think we need to look at the other candidate's failures regarding this topic."

The Appeal to Tradition

also, Conservative Bias; "The Good Old Days." The fallacy that a standpoint, situation or action is right, proper and correct simply because it has "always" been that way, because people have "always" thought that way, or because it continues to serve one particular group very well. Example: "In America, women have always been paid less, so let's not mess with long-standing tradition."