logical fallacies

Fallacy

Definiton

Example

Visual

Ad Hominem

Attacking a person instead of his or her arguments

“You only believe that because you’re undereducated.”

Bandwagon

Acceptina position because most people agree with it

“Most people don’t vote, so there’s no point to it.”

Circular Reasoning

Using an argument’s conclusion as an assumption

“It’s alright to yell when you’re angry because angry people yell.”

False Dilemmma

Presenting only two possible conclusions to a complex argument.

“If you love your country, you’ll vote against this amendment.”

False Analogy

Comparing two things that are not similar.

“People who like free samples are just like thieves who like money.”

Hasty Generalization

Forming a general conclusion based on a few examples.

“I’ve been bitten by dogs, so I know that dogs usually bite people.”

Non Sequitur

A conclusion that does not follow from the evidence.

“Cars should be illegal because moving too fast is bad for people.”

Post hoc

Assuming cause and effect simply because one thing followed another.

“She ate a peanut butter sandwich yesterday, so that’s what made her sick.”

Red herring

A conclusion that changes the subject.

“I shouldnt have to write this paper because other people have already explored this topic.”

Slippery Slope

Concluding that accepting something will lead ti accepting something else.

“Letting children eat candy bars will lead to widespread obesity among young people.”

Stereotyping

Arbitraty statements about groups of people or things.

“French people don’t like Americans very much.”

Straw man

Misrepresenting an opponen’ts position and then refuting that misrepresentation.

“While my opponent says she wants to lower income taxes, I support public school teachers, who are paid by our property taxes.”