Logical Fallacies

What is a logical fallacy

errors in reasoning that lead to weak arguments. The breakdown in logic most often occurs in the evidence used to support a claim.

Ad Hominem (name calling, personal attack)

latin for “to the man”; occurs when a speaker tries to shift focus away fro an issue or claim by attacking the opponents character rather than argument

What is a logical fallacy

errors in reasoning that lead to weak arguments. The breakdown in logic most often occurs in the evidence used to support a claim.

Ad Hominem (name calling, personal attack)

latin for “to the man”; occurs when a speaker tries to shift focus away fro an issue or claim by attacking the opponents character rather than argument

Straw Man

occurs when a speaker intentionally oversimplifies or distorts an opponents argument easier to refute

slippery slope

occurs when a relatively minor first event is said to inevitably lead to a larger (often disastrous) final event

false dilemma (either or fallacy, black-white fallacy, false dichotomy)

occurs when a speaker pretends there are only two possible choices or outcomes when in fact, many exist

false analogy

occurs when a speaker makes the false assumption that because two things are alike in one respect, they must be alike in others

circular reasoning

occurs when a speaker uses the claim itself as evidence for the claim

hasty generalization

occurs when a speaker draws broad conclusions based on a relatively small set of examples

bandwagon (ad poplum, appeal to common belief)

occurs when a speaker attempts to persuade based on the fact that everyone is doing it or everyone thinks this

Tu Quoque

Latin for you also; a type of ad hominim fallacy that occurs when a speaker tries to invalidate an argument by claiming the speaker is hypocritical

Post hoc ergo propter hoc (correlation doesn’t equal causation)

Latin for after this, therefore, because of; occurs when a speaker claims that because two events occured in succession, one must have caused the other

poisining the well

a type of ad hominim fallacy; occurs when negative information is presented about a speaker ahead of time in order to discredit the argument

appeal to tradition

occurs when a speaker claims that something is correct because it has traditionally been true or “always been” correct

appeal to emotion

occurs when a speaker intentionally manipulates an audiences emotions in order to win an argument especially in the absence of factual information

appeal to false authority

occurs when a speaker uses an alleged “authority” as evidence, when that “authority” actually has little or no expertise on the topic

appeal to fear (scare tactics)

a type of appeal to emotion, occurs when a speaker attempts to scare an audience into accepting claim, rather than providing logical evidence