fallacy

1. Poisoning the Well: Discrediting someone’s argument in advance by attacking their character or motives.

Example: “You can’t trust anything he says; he’s a liar.”

2. Equivocation: Using ambiguous language or shifting the meaning of a term in an argument.

Example: “The sign says ‘fine for parking here,’ so it must be fine to park.”

3. False Analogy: Comparing two things that are not sufficiently similar to make the comparison valid.

Example: “Running a business is just like running a family—everyone should have the same role.”

4. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: Assuming that because one event followed another, the first caused the second.

Example: “I wore my lucky socks, and we won the game!”

5. Appeal to Ignorance: Claiming something is true because it hasn’t been proven false (or vice versa).

Example: “No one can prove aliens don’t exist, so they must be real.”

6. Straw Man: Misrepresenting or oversimplifying someone’s argument to make it easier to refute.

Example: “You want to cut military spending? So you think we shouldn’t defend ourselves?”

7. Slippery Slope: Arguing that one action will inevitably lead to a chain of events with disastrous outcomes.

Example: “If we allow students to redo tests, next they’ll demand no deadlines at all!”

8. False Dilemma: Presenting only two options when more exist.

Example: “You’re either with us or against us.”

9. Ad Hominem: Attacking the person making the argument instead of the argument itself.

Example: “Why should we listen to you? You didn’t even finish college.”

10. Hasty Generalization: Drawing a conclusion based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence.

Example: “My neighbor is rude, so all people in this neighborhood must be unfriendly.”