logical fallacies

name-calling

A person attacks someone who makes an argument rather than evaluating the flaws in the argument itself. ex: Terrorists - This title is reserved for the pinnacle of evil. For this reason it's more easily applied to Islamic groups such as Hezbollah or Hamas

slippery slope

A person concludes that just because one thing happened, a bunch of other things will definitely happen too (think of a group of events running down a slope). ex: 1--If you allow the students to redo this test, they are going to want to redo every assignment for the rest of the year. 2--If we allow gay marriage, the next thing we know, people will want to marry their dogs, or their cats, or what about their pigs?

stereotyping

A person is making a generalization about an entire group of individuals based on misinformation, misconceptions, or insufficient evidence. ex: Saying that all women are bad drivers

circular reasoning

A person is restating an opinion in different words and trying to pass it off as a reason or evidence. ex: I deserve to have a later curfew, so you should let me stay out until 10pm! This argument says the person should stay out until 10pm because he/she deserves a later curfew.

hasty generalization

A person makes statements that are too broad. They are not true, do not apply in all cases, or are not based on enough evidence. ex:My father smoked four packs of cigarettes a day since age fourteen and lived until age sixty-nine. Therefore, smoking really can't be that bad for you. Explanation: It is extremely unreasonable (and dangerous) to draw a universal conclusion about the health risks of smoking by the case study of one man.

either or fallacy

A person provides only two possible options or sides, without considering all other possible choices. ex: An example of an either-or fallacy is "Do people need water or air?" This is an either-or fallacy because people actually need both water and air to survive.

red herring

Presents an irrelevant topic to divert attention away from the original issue ex: The mother of a young child tells him to go to bed, and he begins to ask questions, say that he is hungry, or say that he needs to go to the bathroom-all to avoid bed and distract mom.