Fallacies

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Logical Fallacies

• Potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses in arguments that occur in the use of evidence, usually with a failure to create logical connnections between the claim and evidence 

1. Fallacies of Relevance — Irrelevant Evidence

2. Fallacies of Accuracy — Innaccurate Evidence

3. Fallacies of Insuffiency — Insufficient Evidence

What are the three types of logical fallacies?

Red Herring

At a type of relevance fallacy where evidence is irrelevant to the claim and can attempt to redirect attention away from the relevant issue to avoid the topic of discussion

Ad Hominem Attack

A type of red herring that is a diversionary tactic of switching the argument from the issue at hand to the character of a person in an irrelevant way.

Ex.) We cannot support this man's proposal for a new city park because we all know he cheated on his wife!

Faulty Analogy

A fallacy of relevence in which you try to compare two unlike things for effect, but they are not comparable/too different

Straw Man Fallacy

Fallacy of accuracy in which the speaker chooses to use a deliberately poor or oversimplified example in order to ridicule and refute an opponent's viewpoint

False Dilemma (Either/or)

Fallacy of accuracy In which the speaker only presents two extreme options as possible choices, limiting viewpoints on complicated issues

Equivocation

Fallacy of accuracy in which a speaker is intentionally misleading the audience by using words with a double or ambiguous meaning

Ex.) Billboard saying "Looking for a sign? This is it!" 

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Fallacy of accuracy in which one event is said to be the cause of a later event simply because it occurred earlier; correlation is not causation

Hasty Generalization

Fallacy of insufficieny when there is not enough evidence to support a particular conclusion.

Ex.) Smoking isn’t bad for you because my great aunt smoked a pack a day and lived until 90.

Circular Reasoning (Begging the Question)

Fallacy of insuffiency which involves repeating the claim as a way to provide evidence, resulting in no evidence at all

Bandwagon (appeal to popularity; ad populum)

Fallacy of insufficiency based on the assumption that the opinion of the majority is always valid; everyone believes it, so you should too

Appeal to False Authority

Fallacy of insufficiency in which we rely on supposed authorities (influencers, celebreties, etc) for reason where they have no credentials at all

Slippery Slope

Fallacy of insufficiency in which a claim is made that one event will lead to another event, to another, and finally to an awful or disastrous conclusion