Logical Fallacies Examples

Ad Hoc Rescue (aka, "Special Pleading")

"...But apart from better sanitation, medicine, education, irrigation, public health, roads, a fresh water system and public order... what have the Romans done for us?"

Appeal to Authority

"A commercial claims that a specific brand of cereal is the best way to start the day because athlete Michael Jordan says that it is what he eats every day for breakfast.."

Circumstance Ad Hominem

"A study into the health risks of mobile phone involved mobile phone companies. Therefore, the study cannot be trusted."

Undistributed Middle

"A theory can mean an unproven idea. Scientists use the term evolutionary theory. Therefore, evolution is an unproven idea."

Illegal Reversal (aka, converse)

"All dogs are mammals. Therefore, all mammals are dogs."

Composition

"American colleges now are 60% female, so each American college student is 60% female."

Burden of Proof

"An employee goes to her boss and claims that she has been harassed at work. The boss asks her for evidence to support the claims. She argues that he needs to prove that she wasn't harassed and that she shouldn't have to provide evidence."

Appeal to Fear

"Argument by a politician that if we do not raise taxes, the country will default on its debts."

Appeal to Novelty

"Awesome! The latest version of this operating system is going to make my computer faster and better..."

Appeal to Spite

"Don't you just hate how those rich Liberal Hollywood actors go on TV and promote their agendas?"

Ad Hominem

"Donald Trump has proven to be a coward. He's proven to be a small man."

Ignoring a Common Cause

"Every time I go to sleep, the sun goes down. Therefore, my going to sleep causes the sun to set."

Appeal to Ridicule or Appeal to Mockery

"Faith in God is like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy."

Illegal Negation (aka, inverse)

"Fish live in the ocean. Therefore, if it's not a fish, it doesn't live in the ocean."

Begging the Question/Circular Reasoning

"God is real because the Bible says so, and the Bible is from God."

Unfalsifiability

"He lied because he's possessed by demons."

Tu Quoque (too-KWO-kwee)

"Helga: You should not be eating that... it has been scientifically proven that eating fat burgers are no good for your health. Hugh: You eat fat burgers all the time so that can't be true."

Complexe Question / Loaded Question

"How many times per day do you beat your wife?"

Lie

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

Non Sequitur

"I don't support the murder of innocents; therefore I don't vote Republican, since Republicans often support the Second Amendment."

Hasty Gneralization

"I just got cut off by the woman driver in front. Women can't drive."

Middle Ground

"I rear-ended your car but I don't think I should pay for the damage. You think I should pay for all the damage. A fair compromise would be to split the bill in half."

Equivocation Flaw / Term Shift

"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."

Anecdotal Evidence

"I'm going to carry on smoking. My grandfather smoked 40 a day and he lived until he was 90!"

Gambler's Fallacy

"I've flipped this coin 10 times in a row, and it's been heads. Therefore, the next coin flip is more likely to come up tails."

Appeal to Tradition

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Appeal to Money

"If it costs more, it must be better."

Appeal to Popular Believe / Bandwagon Fallacy

"If the NRA opposes and uses its PAC money to block something that 97% of Americans support then they are arguably an antidemocratic organization because they are blocking the will of the people."

Slippery Slope

"If we legalize marijuana, more people will start using crack and heroin. Then we'd have to legalize those too."

Denying the Antecedent

"If you get a degree, you'll get a good job. If you don't get a degree, you won't get a good job."

Misleading Vividness

"In Detroit, there is a 10-year-old living on the street selling drugs to stay alive. In Los Angeles, a 19-year-old prostitute works the streets. America's youth is certainly in serious trouble."

Appeal to Flattery

"Intelligent and sophisticated readers will of course recognize a fallacy like this when they read one."

Appeal to Nature

"It is ok to throw poo because I saw some monkeys throwing poo at the zoo."

Two Wrongs Make a Right

"It looks like the waiter forgot to charge us for the expensive bottle of champagne. Let's just leave -- after all, if he overcharged us, I doubt he would chase us down to give us our money back that we overpaid."

Jumping to Conclusions

"It's getting late, and we still have to decide on the school budget. What do you say we just leave it as is and we can call it a night?"

Confirmation Bias

"It's obvious 9-11 was an American-government led conspiracy to justify war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No plane hit the Pentagon. The Twin Towers collapse was a controlled demolition... etc."

Relative vs Absolute

"Jack got a raise of 5% and Jill got a raise of 10%. Therefore, Jill now has a higher salary. What if Jack started with a salary of $1,000,000 and Jill started with $50,000? Then, the argument is false. If they had started with the same salary, then it would be true."

Division

"Many Conservatives wish to ban gay marriage, discredit climate change, and deny evolution. Therefore, all conservatives are homophobic, anti-environmental creationists."

Affirming the Consequent

"Marriage often results in the birth of children. So that's the reason why it exists."

Prescription vs. Description / Naturalistic Fallacy

"Nature gives people diseases and sickness; therefore, it is morally wrong to interfere with nature and treat sick people with medicine."

No True Scotsman

"No true Muslim would kill people at random."

Appeal to Ignorance

"Nobody has proved to me there is a God. So there is no God."

Biased/Hasty Generalizing

"Our website poll found that 90% of internet users oppose online piracy laws."

Guilt by Association

"Paul is a Democrat, and he supports school choice for parents. Paul learns that the Republican party is a champion of school choice. So, he reverses his position."

Straw Man

"Senator Smith says that the nation should not add to the defense budget. Senator Jones says that he cannot believe that Senator Smith wants to leave the nation defenseless."

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

"Since the election of the President more people than ever are unemployed. Therefore, the President has damaged the economy."

Circular Logic (Begging the Question)

"Stripping privacy rights only matters to those with something to hide. You must have something to hide if you oppose privacy protection."

Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

"Teenagers in gangs listen to rap music with violent themes. Rap music inspires violence in teenagers."

Appeal to Consequences of a Belief

"That can't be the Senator on that sextape. If it were, he'd by lying about knowing her. And he's not the kind of man who would lie."

Relativist Fallacy

"That's perhaps true for you. But it's not true for me."

Appeal to Wishful Thinking

"The President wouldn't lie. He's our leader and a good American."

Red Herring

"The Senator needn't account for irregularities in his expenses. After all, there are other senators who have done far worse things."

Appeal to Incredulity

"The eye is an incredibly complex bio-mechanical machine with thousands of interlocking parts. How could that exist without an intelligent designer?"

Appeal to Pity

"The former dictator is an old, dying man. It's wrong to make him stand trial for these alleged offenses."

Suppressed Evidence

"The makers of Sugarette Candy Drinks point to research showing that of the five countries where Sugarette drinks sell the most units, three of them are in the top ten healthiest countries on Earth, therefore Sugarette drinks are healthy."

Appeal to Probability

"There are billions of galaxies with billions of stars in the universe. So there must be another planet with intelligent life on it."

Design Fallacy

"There are biological structures that have not been fully explained by evolution, therefore a powerful intelligent designer must have created them."

Appeal to Anonymous Authority

"They say that it takes 7 years to digest chewing gum."

Appeal to Common Practice

"This bank has some problems with corruption. But there's nothing going on here that doesn't go on in all the other banks."

Spotlight

"This large shoe manufacturer employs children in sweatshops. Therefore, all shoe companies are evil child-slave owners."

Sweeping Generalization

"Those young men rioted because they lacked morally responsible fathers."

False Dilemma/ False Dichotomy

"We're going to have to cut the education budget or go deeper into debt. We can't afford to go deeper into debt. So we'll have to cut the education budget."

Perfectionist Fallacy

"What's the point of banning abortion? Women are still going to have abortions no matter what."

Genetic Fallacy

"You only believe that because of where you were born."