LOGICAL FALLACIES

• Logical Fallacies


  Common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your argument. Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, and are often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim.
• Logical Fallacies


  • False Dilemma
  • Appeal to Ignorance
  • Slippery Slope
  • Complex Question
  • Appeal to Force
  • Appeal to Pity
  • Bandwagon
  • Inconsistency
  • Attacking the Person
  • Appeal to Authority
  • Anonymous Authority
  • Hasty Generalization
  • False Analogy
  • Accident
  • Post Hoc
  • Wrong Direction
  • Irrelevant Conclusion
• False Dilemma


  This occurs when an arguer presents an argument as one of only two options despite the presence of multiple possibilities.
• False Dilemma


  • In politics, either you are with us or against us.
  • In relationship, be my friend or be my enemy.
• Appeal to Ignorance


  This occurs when something is instantly concluded to be true just because it is not proven to be false, and vice versa.
• Appeal to Ignorance


  • She hasn't said she doesn't like you, right? So she's probably interested.
  • Since you haven't been able to prove your innocence, I must assume you're guilty.
• Slippery Slope


  This occurs when a series of increasingly superficial and unacceptable consequences is drawn.
• Slippery Slope


  • If we ban computer shops, then students will not be able to do research. And, if they do not have tools for research, these students will fail their subjects.
• Complex Question


  This occurs when two or more points are rolled into one and the reader is expected to either accept or reject both at the same time, when one point may be satisfactory while the other is not.
• Complex Question


  • Is your stupidity inborn?
  • Did John ever give up his bad habits?
  • Have you stopped cheating on exams?
• Appeal to Force


  Argumentum ad baculum. This occurs when a threat, instead of reasoning, is used to argue.
• Appeal to Force


  • Melvin: Boss, why do I have to work weekends when nobody else in the company does?

  Boss: Am I sensing insubordination? I can find another employee very quickly, thanks to Craigslist, you know.
• Appeal to Pity


  Argumentum ad misericodiam. This occurs when the element of pity is used instead of logical reasoning.
• Appeal to Pity


  • When you did not finish an assignment on time, you tell your teacher about how your printer was out of ink, but that you didn't want to ask your mom to go to the store because she works nights, doesn't get much sleep, and she was sleeping.
• Bandwagon


  Argumentum ad populum. This occurs when an argument is considered to be valid because it is what the majority thinks.
• Bandwagon


  • During the obstacle course, Tanner believes that going left will get them out of the maze, but everyone else thinks they should go right. So, Tanner goes with the group.
• Inconsistency


  Ad Hominem Tu Quoque. This occurs when arguments contradict one another.
• Inconsistency


  • Frank is older than Jake, Jake is older than Noli, and Noli is older than Frank.
• Attacking the Person

  This occurs when someone tries to refute an argument by attacking the character of a person instead of attacking the ideas of the argument.
• Attacking the Person


  • I cannot accept your argument because, unlike me, you were not educated at Harvard University.
• Appeal to Authority


  Argumentum ad verecundiam. This occurs when the argument quotes an expert who is not qualified in the particular subject matter.
• 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.
• Anonymous Authority


  This occurs when the authority in question is not mentioned or named.
• Anonymous Authority


  • Scientists have found that eating cooked meat causes cancer.

  Most doctors agree that people in America take too many unnecessary drugs.
• Hasty Generalization


  This occurs when a sample is not significant or enough to support a generalization about a population.
• Hasty Generalization


  • My roommate said her philosophy class was hard, and the one I'm in is hard, too. All philosophy classes must be hard!
• False Analogy


  This occurs when a writer assumes that two concepts that are similar in some ways are also similar in other ways.
• False Analogy


  • The Universe is like a watch. A watch must have a watchmaker. The Universe, being like a watch, must have a maker designer.
• Accident

  This occurs when a general rule is applied to a situation, even when it should be an exception.
• Accident


  • "Thou shalt not kill;" therefore, you should not fight for your country or control weeds in your garden.
• Post Hoc

  This occurs when the arguer claims that since event A happened before event B, A is the cause of B.
• Post Hoc


  • Lois and Jan did a "snow dance" one afternoon, and it snowed that night. They claimed to have brought the snow.
• Wrong Direction


  This occurs when the direction between cause and effect is reversed.
• Wrong Direction


  • Cancer causes smoking.

  The increase in AIDS was caused by more sex education.
• Irrelevant Conclusion


  Ignoratio elenchi. This occurs when an argument which is supposed to prove something concludes something else instead.
• Irrelevant Conclusion


  • Grizzly bears can't be dangerous to humans, because they look so cute.