LANG VOCAB

Logical fallacy notes

Ad Hominem

A personal attack. Occurs when someone attacks a person instead of their argument. Used frequently politically to take merit away from someone's argument.

Ambiguity

An unclear phrase with multiple definitions is used in an argument. The definition may not actually support the conclusion.

Appeal to Emotion

Uses emotion in place of reason in order to win the argument. A type of manipulation used in place of valid logic.

Appeal to Ignorance

Assumes as there is no evidence supporting the opposite argument, the original argument must be true.

Bandwagon Appeal

Writers try to convince the audience that everyone believes or is doing something so the reader should too.

Circular Reasoning

A type of reasoning in which the proposition is supported by the premises, which is supported by the proposition. No useful information shared.

Correlation vs. Causation

Assumes that one event has caused the other event to happen just because they are related in a way.

Dicto Simplicitor

Makes a generalization and fails to take into account any exempt circumstances. Oversimplifies an argument/claim.

Equivocation

Using an ambiguous term in more than one sense, thus making an argument misleading.

False Analogy

When an analogy is used to prove or disprove an argument, but the analogy is too unlike the argument for it to work logically.

False Authority

Playing on people’s feeling of respect or familiarity towards a famous person to bypass critical thinking.

False Dichotomy

Also known as a False Dilemma, is an argument that presents two points while ignoring others to narrow the argument in one’s favor.

False Equivalence

An equivalence is drawn between two subjects based on flawed or false reasoning. Comparing two things that cannot reasonably be compared.

No True Scotsman

When a universal (“all”, “every”, etc.) claim is refuted, rather than conceding the point or meaningfully revising the claim, the claim is altered by going from universal to specific and failing to give any objective criteria for the specificity.

Non Sequitur

The conclusion does not follow the evidence. Unrelated conclusion to the previous statement.

Post Hoc

Claiming that because event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X, without properly establishing causality.

Red Herring

A fact, idea, or subject that takes people away from the central point being considered. Distract the audience.

Slippery Slope

The argument takes a current situation and twists it into an illogical future extreme. Instill fear and negative emotions in the audience.

Straw Man

Picks the weakest part of someone's argument to refute, or distorts someone's argument to better refute it. A diversion from another argument.