Logical fallacies

Moving the goalposts

Demanding from an opponent that he or she address more and more points after the initial counter-argument has been satisfied refusing to conceded or accept the opponent's argument. Ex. "In order for my opponent to be correct, he needs to have a proper education. And if he does then he also needs to have a well paying job"

Ad hominem

"Against the man," directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining. Ex. "He doesn't even like children, how can we trust the opinions of a man who hates children?"

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.

Division

A fallacy of division occurs when one reasons logically that something true for the whole must also be true of all or some of its parts. Ex.

Straw man

A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent. One who engages in this fallacy is said to be "attacking a straw man". Ex. After Will said that we should put more money into health and education, Warren responded by saying that he was surprised that Will hates our country so much that he wants to leave it defenceless by cutting military spending.

Appeal to force

An appeal to force is an attempt to persuade using threats. Ex. "If you don't agree with me I'll beat you"

Guilt by association

An association fallacy is an informal inductive fallacy of the hasty-generalization or red-herring type and which asserts, by irrelevant association and often by appeal to emotion, that qualities of one thing are inherently qualities of another. Ex. "I've seen you talk to Sara, and anyone who talks to Sara should not be trusted."

Appeal to tradition

Appeal to Tradition is 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." Ex. "Same sex marriage was never legal before, why make t legal now?"

Ignoring the question/red herring

Avoid answering questions by changing the subject. Also known as: Red Herring. Dodging the question. Ex. "I failed because mercury was in retrograde"

Hasty generalization

Hasty generalization is an informal fallacy of faulty generalization by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence—essentially making a hasty conclusion without considering all of the variables. Ex. "My man hasn't texted me in sixty-four minutes. I think I he's being disloyal"

Special pleading

Special Pleading is a fallacy in which a person applies standards, principles, rules, etc. to others while taking herself (or those she has a special interest in) to be exempt, without providing adequate justification for the exemption. Ex. "Yes, I do think that all drunk drivers should go to prison, but your honor, he is my son! He is a good boy who just made a mistake!"

Slippery slope

The Slippery Slope is 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. Ex. "We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester!"

Texas sharpshooter

The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy which is committed when differences in data are ignored, but similarities are stressed. From this reasoning, a false conclusion is inferred. Ex. Example #1: The "prophet" Nostradamus wrote about 500 years ago: Beasts wild with hunger will cross the rivers, The greater part of the battle will be against Hister. He will cause great men to be dragged in a cage of iron, When the son of Germany obeys no law.

Bandwagon - appeal to the popular

The belief that an argument is valid because a majority of people accept it. Ex. "Everyone I know likes ice cream, so obviously Ice cream is good to everyone"

Cause and effect/post Hoc

The counter-assumption, that "correlation proves causation," is considered a questionable cause logical fallacy in that two events occurring together are taken to have a cause-and-effect relationship.

Faulty analogies

This fallacy consists in assuming that because two things are alike in one or more respects, they are necessarily alike in some other respect. Examples: Medical Student: "No one objects to a physician looking up a difficult case in medical books. Ex. Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so must employees

Non-sequitur

a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement. Ex. "Jamie drives a car, she must be wealthy"

Poisoning the well

To commit a preemptive ad hominem attack against an opponent. That is, to prime the audience with adverse information about the opponent from the start, in an attempt to make your claim more acceptable, or discount the credibility of your opponent's claim. Ex. "Don't listen to him he's horrible"

Equivocation

Using an ambiguous term in more than one sense, thus making an argument misleading. Ex. "I want to have myself a merry little Christmas, but I refuse to do as the song suggests and make the yuletide gay. I don't think sexual preference should have anything to do with enjoying the holiday."

False authority

Using an authority as evidence in your argument when the authority is not really an authority on the facts relevant to the argument. Ex. "Well I'm a cop so I know a lot about rights"

Genetic fallacy

a fallacy of irrelevance where a conclusion is suggested based solely on someone's or something's history, origin, or source rather than its current meaning or context. Ex. "I was brought up to believe in God, and my parents told me God exists, so He must."

Begging the question/circular argument

a form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim is assumed to be true without evidence other than the statement or claim itself. Ex. "Well I read that Abraham Lincoln chopped down a cherry tree, and the internet never lies"

Either-or arguments/false dilemma

an illegitimate use of the "or" operator. Putting issues or opinions into "black or white" terms is a common instance of this fallacy. Ex. "it's my way or the high way"