Fallacies - Bad Argument

  • Affirming the Consequent

    • If P then Q.

    • Q

    • Therefore, P.

    • ex: If its rains, the groun getes wet. The groun is set, so it must have rained.

    • The ground could be wet from a lot of reasons, therefor ethe ground being wet does not mean that it rains

  • Denying the Antecedent

    • If P then Q

    • not-P

    • Therefore, not Q

    • If you did study hard you will pass the exam. You didn’t study hard, so you will not pass the exam.

    • Just becasue ti didnt rain doesn’t mean the ground isnt wet, the ground could get wet form everything

  • Circular Reasoning

    • P

    • Therefore, P

    • ex: God exists, therefore God exists

      • not a good defense

  • Begging the Questions

    • P

    • Q (reason→R)

    • Therefore, R

    • conclusion assumes that one of teh premises is true already, not necessarily true but can happen

  • Ad Hominen

    • S, who is (undesirable characteristics), believes P.

    • Therefore, not PYou can’t belive John’s argument on environmental policy, he drives a gas-guzzling truck.

  • Ad Hoc

    • P (reason: answer to a challenge)

    • Therefore Q

    • “My car wouldn’t start this morning. It’s probably because I was thinking about cancelling my road trip

  • Hasty Generalization

    • Some F’s are Gs

    • Therefore, all Fs are Gs

    • Every person I met at the party was a law student. Law students must be very sociable people

    • ex: what are those white things? → those white things are ducks→ i saw duks today and they were white, therefore all ducks must be white

  • Ti Quoque

    • You say that P ( being true) is bad and that I believe that P

    • You believe that P

    • therefore, P (being true) is not bad

    • you also can’t explain

    • “ how can you argue against smoking when you used to smoke yourself?”.

  • Strawman

    • P is highly impossible (P is not a chartiable characteristization of the view)

    • therefore, not P

    • ex: choosing the weakest point of an argument to respond

      • someone gives scientific evidence for the existence of bigfoot. you say they believe in a magical creature, which is clearly impossible

  • Genetic Fallacy

    • Someone dismisses or accepts an idea, argument or claim becasue of its origin, histroy, or source, rather than on its actual merits or truth

    • can work with accepting or arguing against an idea