Logical Fallacies

Red Herring

An irrelevant distraction, attempting to mislead an audience by bringing up an unrelated but usually emotionally loaded issue. "In regard to my recent indictment for corruption let's talk about what's really important instead: Taxes! Vote for me and I'll cut your taxes!"

Lying with Statistics

Using true figures and numbers to "prove" unrelated claims. "College tuition costs have actually never been lower. When taken as a percentage of the nation debt, the cost of getting a college education is actually far lower today than it was in 1965!"

Heroes All

a contemporary fallacy that everyone is above average or extraordinary. Everyone wins, no one loses

Transfer

a corrupt argument hat falsely associates a famous person or thing with an unrelated standpoint. (Putting a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an advertisement for mattresses)

Excluded Middle

a corrupted argument that proposes that since a little of something is good more must be better (or that if less of something is good, none at all is even better). There's no middle ground, it's one or the other extreme

Appeal to Heaven

a dangerous fallacy that asserts that God or a higher power has ordered, supports or approves one's own standpoint or actions so no further justification is required and no serious challenge is possible. "God ordered me to kill my children".

Just In Case

a fallacy by which one's reasoning is based on a far-fetched or completely imaginary worse-case scenario rather than reality. This plays on fear rather than reason. "Because terrible things can happen, just don't go out at all"

Testimonial

a fallacy in which support for a standpoint or product is provided by a well-known or respected figure who is not an expert and who was probably well paid to make the endorsement

Argument from Consequences

a fallacy of arguing that something cannot be true because if it were the consequences would be unacceptable. "Global climate change cannot be caused by human burning of fossil fuels, because if it were, switching to non-polluting energy sources would bankrupt the American industry".

Appeal to Tradition

a fallacy that a standpoint, situation, or action is right, proper, and correct simply because it has "always" been that way, because people have "always" though that way, or because it continues to serve one particular group well. "Just because we have been doing something doesn't mean we ought to continue"

Sending the Wrong Message

a fallacy that attacks a given statement or action, no matter how true, correct, or necessary, because it will "send the wrong message". "We're actually losing the war on drugs, but if we publicly admit it we'll be sending the wrong message."

Shifting the Burden of Proof

a fallacy that challenges opponents to disprove a claim rather than asking the person making the claim to defend his/her own argument.

Law of Unintended Consequences

a fallacy that declares a priori that since we can never know everything or foresee anything, sooner or later in today's "complex world" unforeseeable adverse consequence and negative side-effects will always end up blindsiding and overwhelming, defeating and vitiating any and all "do-gooder" human efforts to improve the world. "There's evil in the world, what's the point of doing good"

Either-Or Reasoning

a fallacy that falsely offers only two possible options even though a broad range of possible alternatives are always really available. " Either you're 100% straight or you are queer as a $3 bill, it's a simple ast hat and there's no middle ground"

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. "All terrorists are monsters, and will still be terrorist monsters even if they live to be 100". Also argues that something is a certain way "by nature", an empty claim that no amount of proof can refute

The Paralysis of Analysis

a fallacy that since all data is never in any conclusion is always provisional, no legitimate decision can ever be made, and any action should always be delayed until forced by circumstances. "Just because there is more data doesn't mean you should keep looking"

Appeal to Closure

a fallacy that states that an argument, standpoint, action or conclusion must be accepted, no matter how questionable, or else the point will remain unsettled and those affected will be denied "closure".

Political Correctness

a fallacy that the nature of a thing or situation can be changed simply by changing its name "Never use the word 'victim' because it sounds so negative. Instead use the word 'survivor'"

Appeal to Pity

a fallacy that urges an audience to "root for the underdog" regardless of the issues at hand

They're Not Like Us

a racist argument where facts, arguments, experiences or objections are arbitrarily disregarded, ignored, or put down without consideration because those involved "are not like us" or "don't think like us"

Scare Tactic

a raw appeal to fear. A variety of Playing on Emotions. "If you don't do what I saw, we're all going to die!"

The Pout

an Argumentum ad Baculam that rejects reasoned dialogue, or responds to an opponent's rejection

TINA (There Is No Alternative)

contemporary extension of the either/or fallacy, squashing critical though by announcing that there is no realistic alternative to a given standpoint, status or action

Diminished Responsibility

contemporary fallacy of applying a specialized judicial concept (that criminal punishment should be less if one's judgment was impaired) to reality in general. "You can't count me absent on Monday, I was hung over and couldn't come to class, so it's not my fault".

MYOB (Mind Your Own Business)

contemporary fallacy of arbitrarily terminating any discussion of one's own standpoints or behavior, no mater how absurd, dangerous, evil, or offensive, by drawing a phony curtain of privacy around oneself and one's actions. "Yeah, I littered, you're not a cop mind your own business"

Zero Tolerance

contemporary fallacy of promising to devote unlimited resources to solve a limited or even imaginary problem

Big Lie Technique

contemporary fallacy of repeating a lie, slogan or deceptive half-truth over and over until people believe it without further proof or evidence

"E" for Effort

contemporary fallacy that something must be right, true, valuable, or worthy of credit simply because someone has put so much sincere good-faith effort or even sacrifice and bloodshed into it. "But I showed up to every class and somewhat participated, can't you please pass me"

Begging the Question

falsely arguing that something is true by repeating the same statement in different words. " the witchcraft problem is the most urgent spiritual crisis in the world today. Why? Because witches threaten our very souls"

No Discussion

pure Argumentum ad Baculam that rejects reasoned dialogue, leaving either instant unconditional compliance/surrender or death as the only two options for settling even minor differences.

Blood is Thicker than Water

reverse of Ad Hominem fallacy. A fallacy where a corrupt argument, statement, or action is automatically regarded as true, correct and above challenge because one is related to, knows and likes, or is on the same team as the individual involved. "My brother-in-law says he saw you goofing off on the job. You're a hard worker but who am I going to believe, you or him? You're fired!"

Finish the Job

the dangerous contemporary fallacy that an action or standpoint may not be questioned or discussed because there is "a job to be done", falsely assuming all "jobs" are meaningless but never to be questioned. Don't think, just act

Bribery

the fallacy of "persuasion" by bribery, gifts, or favors. The reverse of Argumentum ad Baculam.

Argumentum ad Baculam

the fallacy of "persuasion" by force, violence, or threats. Also applies to indirect forms of threat. "give me your money, or I'll knock your head off". "Join our religion if you don't want to burn in hell forever and ever"

Snow Job

the fallacy of "proving" a claim by overwhelming and audience with mountain of irrelevant facts, numbers, documents, graphs and statistics that they cannot be expected to understand or evaluate

Bandwagon

the fallacy of arguing that because "everyone" supposedly think or does something, it must be right.

Reductionism

the fallacy of deceiving an audience by giving simple answers or slogans in response to complex questions, especially when appealing to less educated or unsophisticated audiences. "If the glove doesn't fit, you must aquit."

Argument from Motives

the fallacy of declaring a standpoint or argument invalid solely because of the evil, corrupt or questionable motives of the one making the claim. Even evil people with corrupt motives sometimes say the truth

Tu Quoque (Two Wrongs Make a Right)

the fallacy of defending a shaky or false standpoint or excusing one's own bad action by pointing out tat one's opponent's acts or personal character are also open to question, or are perhaps even worse than one's own. "Sure we torture and kill, but we don't chop off heads like they do"

Equivocation

the fallacy of deliberately failing to define one's terms or deliberately using words in a different sense than the one the audience will understand. You don't quite say what you really mean, there's a huge range of things that you can mean

The Complex Question

the fallacy of demoing a direct answer to a question that cannot be answered without first analyzing or challenging the basis of the question itself.

Where there's Smoke there's Fire (Jumping to a Conclusion)

the fallacy of drawing a snap conclusion and/or taking action without sufficient evidence. "My neighbor wears a long beard, a turban, and speaks a funny language. That's all the evidence I need that he's a terrorist. Let's burn down his store!" Variety of Just In Case

Overgeneralization (Hasty Generalization)

the fallacy of incorrectly applying one or two example to all cases. Stereotyping

False Analogy

the fallacy of incorrectly comparing one thing to another in order to draw a false conclusion. "Just like an alley cat needs to prowl, a normal adult can't be tied down to one single lover". Don't compare two unrelated things

Non Sequitur

the fallacy of offering reasons or conclusions that have no logical connection to the argument at hand. "The reason I flunked your course is because the government is printing out purple $5 bills"

Playing on Emotion

the fallacy of pure argument form pathos, ignoring facts and calling on emotion alone. Making an emotional argument

I Wish I Had a Magic Wand

the fallacy of regretfully and falsely proclaiming oneself powerless to change a bad or objectionable situation. "What can we do about high gas prices? As secretary of energy I wish I had a magic wand, but I don't"

Straw Man

the fallacy of setting up a phony, ridiculous version of an opponent's argument and then proceeding to know it down with a wave of the hand. "Vegetarians say animals have feelings like you and me. Ever seen a cow laugh at a Shakespeare comedy? Vegetarianism is nonsense!"

The Half Truth

the fallacy of telling the truth but deliberately leaving out important key details in order to falsify the larger picture and support a false conclusion

Reifying

the fallacy of treating imaginary categories as actual, material "things". When you think of human qualities as things

Guilty by Association

the fallacy of trying to refute or condemn someone's standpoint, arguments or actions by evoking the negative ethos of those with whom one associates or of a group, religion or race to which he or she belongs. "Don't listen to her. She's a Republican, so you can't believe anything she says"

Taboo

the fallacy of unilaterally declaring certain arguments, standpoints, or actions "sacrosanct" or not open to discussion, or arbitrarily taking some standpoints or options "off the table" beforehand

Slippery Slope

the fallacy that "one thing inevitably leads to another"

Soldier's Honor

the fallacy that all who wore a uniform, fought hard and followed orders are worthy of some special honor or glory or are even "heroes", whether they fought for freedom or fought to defend slavery.

Blind Loyalty

the fallacy that an argument or action is right simply and solely because a respected leader or source (President, expert, parent, boss, etc) say it is right

Ad Hominem Argument

the fallacy that attempts to refute an argument by attacking the opposition's personal character or reputation. "He's so evil that you can't believe anything he says!"

Post Hoc Argument

the fallacy that because something comes at the same time or just after something else the first thing is caused by the second. "AIDS first emerged as a problem during the exact same time that Disco music was becoming popular, that's too much of a coincidence: It proves that Disco caused AIDS"

Argumentum ex Silentio

the fallacy that if sources remain silent or can say nothing about a given subject or question this in itself proves something about the truth of the matter. " science can tell us nothin about God. That proves God doesn't exist."

We Have to Do Something

the fallacy that in moments of crisis one must do something, anything, at once, even if it is an overreaction, is totally ineffective or makes the situation worse rather than just "sit and do nothing"

Argument from Inertia

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 one's decision was wrong, and all one's effort, expense and sacrifice was for nothing, and that's unthinkable.

Name-Calling

the fallacy that simply because of who you are, any and all argument, disagreements or objections against your standpoint or actions are automatically racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, bigoted, discriminatory or hateful. Labeling people

Argument from Ignorance

the fallacy that since we don't know or cannot prove whether a claim is true or false, it must be false (or it must be true). "Scientists are never going to be able to positively prove their theory that humans evolved from other creatures, because they weren't there to see it! That proves the Genesis six-day creation account is literally true as written."