LRP Final: Informal Fallacy

Ad Hominem (general)

Attacks the person not the argument

Ad Hominem (general) EX:

Don't listen to her argument she dropped out of college

Abusive Ad hominem

A direct insult meant to discredit the speaker

Abusive Ad hominem EX:

Jones is just a nerdy intellectual, so vegetarianism is nonsense.

Circumstantial Ad Hominem

Dismisses argument by pointing to the persons circumstances

Circumstantial Ad Hominem EX:

Of course she supports equal pay- she's a woman and benefits from it.

Tu quoque ('You too') Ad Hominem

Accuses opponent of hypocrisy

Tu quoque ('You too') Ad Hominem EX:

Mom says not to lie, but she lies too, so lying must be ok

Strawman Fallacy

Misrepresenting an argument to make it easier to attack

Strawman Fallacy EX:

The democrats want to kill the babies

Appeal to force

Using threats to enforce agreement

Appeal to force EX:

If you don't agree, something bad will happen to you

Appeal to the people

Appeals to desire for admiration, popularity, and acceptance

Appeal to the people EX

You've always stood apart from the crowd, This lux car is for you!

Appeal to pity

Evokes pity to support a conclusion

Appeal to pity EX

Please give me a good rating- I have 7 kids and a sick dog!

Appeal to ignorance

Claiming something is true because it hasn't been proven false(or vice versa)

Appeal to ignorance EX:

"How can you believe in life on other planets? No one has proof of it."

Red Herring Fallacy

Distracting from the main argument with unrelated info

red herring fallacy example

Yes, i said that- but let's talk about defeating ISIS

Appeal to Unreliable Authority

Using an unqualified person to justify a claim

Appeal to Unreliable Authority EX

Beyonce says Kamala is the best candidate, so she must be.

Fallacy of Equivocation

Uses ambiguous language (same word, different meanings)

Fallacy of Equivocation Example

Premise 1: A feather is light.
Premise 2: What is light cannot be dark.
Conclusion: Therefore, a feather cannot be dark

The fallacy of amphiboly

Ambiguity caused by sentence structure

The fallacy of amphiboly EX

I shot an elephant in pj's

Fallacy of Composition

the false assumption that what is true for a part will also be true for the whole

Fallacy of Composition Ex

A part of the plane is light so the whole plane is light

Fallacy of Division

What's true of the whole is assumed true of the parts

Fallacy of Division EX

The whole plane is heavy so each part must be heavy

Begging the question

Assumes the conclusion in the premises

Begging the question EX

She's innocent because she didn't commit the crime

False Dilemma

Presenting only two options when more exists

False Dilemma EX

Love america or leave it

False cause

(Causation=Correlation) Assuming causation from sequence or correlation

False Cause EX

Crime dropped since I took office, so my policy worked

Complex Question

Asking a question that presumes guilt or a conclusion

Complex question EX

Have you stopped beating your wife?