Untitled Flashcards Set

Ad hominem: attacking a person or their character rather than making a claim based on
reasoning. Ad hominem arguments include name-calling, labeling, and being offensive
and show little intelligent thought.
Example: “Vegetarians don’t have a clue about culinary sophistication. When it comes to
food, you just can’t trust a tree-hugger.”
2. Straw Man: concocting a false or made-up scenario and then attacking that scenario in
order to make an opponent look bad; person A has position X, then person B uses
position Y (distortion of X) to attack A.
Example: Brooke: Nasa is spending too much money on space exploration.
Harold: What are you, anti-American? Space is the future of human
exploration
3. Either-Or (False Dilemma): suggesting only two alternate conclusions exist when, in
reality, several possibilities exist.
Example: The U.S. needs to either triple its production of oil to reduce costs or require
automobile manufacturers to make cars than get 75 miles to the gallon. There’s no
other way the economy can survive with these gas prices.
4. Post Hoc, Ergo Prompter Hoc: Latin for “it happened after, so it was caused by it.”
Someone assumes that because one event happened before another, the first event
must have caused the second event
Example: The financial meltdown happened after Republicans took office, so we can
blame the Republicans for the crisis we’re in.
5. Appeal to Authority: when someone argues that a claim must be true simply because a
recognized authority figure, like a celebrity, expert, or politician, supports it, without
providing sufficient evidence or reasoning to back up the claim.
Example: Grad school admissions counselor: To get into grad school at our
university, you need at least a 3.5 GPA.
Applicant: My adviser told me I’m a stronger candidate for grad school if I
take advanced writing courses.

6. Slippery Slope: arguing that a change in procedure, law, or action will create a domino-
effect of adverse consequences.
Example: If fast food restaurants continue to increase portion sizes, the next thing we’ll
know, McDonald’s will be serving gallon-sized Cokes and burgers as wide as large pizzas.
7. Bandwagon: Claiming something to be true or accurate simply because most people
believe it to be true or accurate.
Example: Ninety-three percent of the students surveyed said they believe the tuition spike
was to pay for the college president’s salary. How could it not be true?
8. Red Herring: Diverting attention by changing the subject.
Example: Interviewer: Have you been overcharging customers without them knowing?
Business owner: We take our business seriously and we do everything we can to
build a quality product.
9. Equivocation: when a key term or phrase is used in an ambiguous way
Example: I don't see how you can say you're an ethical person. It's so hard to get you to
do anything; your work ethic is so bad.
10. Appeal to Ignorance: Using human ignorance or the inability to prove something in
order to make a claim.
Example: No one’s every been able to prove that ghosts exist, so it’s obvious that they
don’t.
11. Circular Argument: Using evidence that hasn’t been proven in order to prove something
else, then using that something else to prove the original claim; using X to prove Y, then
using Y to prove X
Example: The President of the United States is a good leader because she is the leader
of this country.
12. Appeal to Pity: when someone attempts to persuade others by provoking feelings of
guilt or pity.
Example: You need to pass me in this course, since I'll lose my scholarship if you don't.
13. Appeal to Hypocrisy: Also known as tu quoque. Avoiding engagement with another’s
argument by arguing something unrelated in return, answering criticism with criticism.

Example: Stephanie: Vegetarianism is the best approach to ending animal cruelty in
this country.
Drew: Well, I just watched you eat a pepperoni pizza last week, so
anything you say about vegetarianism might as well be thrown out the
window.