Logical Fallacies AP Seminar

If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers.

Slippery Slope

Even though it's only the first day, I can tell this is going to be a boring course.

Hasty Generalization

Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so must employees.

False Analogy

Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such films as The Day the Peacock Died. After filming scenes with feathered co-stars all day, there's nothing I enjoy more than a bucket of Buster's Chicken. It's chickentastic!

Appeal to Authority

Pledge to support the animal shelter or I'll kick you in the kneecaps.

Appeal of Force

Donate to the animal shelter to save the poor, blind puppies.

Appeal of Pity

I drank bottled water and now I am sick, so the water must have made me sick.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Maria drives a car. She must be a wealthy person.

Non sequitur

We can either stop using cars or destroy the earth.

False dilemma/black and white/either-or

Greenpeace's strategies aren't effective because they are all dirty, lazy hippies.

Ad hominem

"Now to present the statistics for our county's correctional facility is Bill, a man who knows his way around a prison."

Poisoning the Well

The level of mercury in seafood may be unsafe, but what will fishers do to support their families?

Red Herring

People who don't support the proposed state minimum wage increase hate the poor.

Straw Man

If you were a true American you would support the rights of people to choose whatever vehicle they want.

Ad Populum

George Bush is a good communicator because he speaks effectively.

Circular Reasoning/begging the question

Any law can be repealed by the proper legal authority. The law of gravity is a law. Therefore, the law of gravity can be repealed by the proper legal authority.

Equivocation

The death penalty is wrong because its murder.

Circular Reasoning/begging the question

My dad caught me smoking, and he said that I should quit because smoking is bad for you. That hypocrite smokes two packs a day!

Ad hominem

As every Iowan knows, Iowa has seen some major flooding in the last few years. Now some ivory tower academics are saying that these floods are because we have changed the landscape so much - draining fields with pipes, straightening streams, filling in wetlands, and whatever else we do. But this is just stupid. The reason for floods is pretty obvious: it's been raining cats and dogs. Rivers don't flood like this just because someone put in a parking lot.

red herring

Many people criticize Thomas Jefferson for being an owner of slaves. But Jefferson was one of our greatest presidents, and his Declaration of Independence is one of the most eloquent pleas for freedom and democracy ever written. Clearly these criticisms are unwarranted.

straw man

We can either let people immigrate into this country or secure our borders so no one can come in who lives in a foreign country.

False dilemma

During the Ebola breakout in West Africa during 2014, there were ten confirmed cases of Ebola in the United States. Before Obamacare became the law of the land, there had never been a single case of Ebola in the United States. So as you can see, Obamacare has led to Americans getting Ebola.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk…Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area" cause they don't give a care. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the rear. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from…

Slippery slope