Logical Fallaices

Ad hominem

Attacking the character, motives, or circumstances of the arguer instead of the argument itself.

Fallacious appeal to authority

Citing an authority outside their expertise, presenting a fringe position as consensus, or using authority where it cannot settle the question.

Genetic fallacy

Treating the origin of an idea or term as a verdict on its truth or meaning.

Appeal to popularity

Offering the number of people who hold a belief as evidence that the belief is true.

Begging the question

Assuming in the premises the very thing the argument is supposed to prove.

False dilemma

Presenting two options as though they exhausted the possibilities when they actually do not.

Equivocation

Shifting the meaning of a key term partway through the argument.

Non sequitur

A conclusion that simply does not follow from the premises, even if every premise is true.

Post hoc

Inferring that one event caused another merely because the second followed the first.

Correlation mistaken for causation

Treating the fact that two things vary together as proof that one produces the other.

Straw man

Replacing an opponent's position with a weaker or cruder version to refute it more easily.

No true Scotsman

Redefining a category on the spot so that an inconvenient counterexample falls outside it.

Appeal to emotion

Offering pity, fear, outrage, or sentiment in the place where evidence belongs.

Appeal to tradition or novelty

Treating the age of a belief, whether longstanding or new, as evidence that it is correct.

Hasty generalization

Drawing a broad conclusion from too few cases, or from cases unrepresentative of the group.

Anecdote as data

Letting a single vivid case stand in for a broader pattern.