Ad Hominem

using a personal attack to disprove an argument: name calling, irrelevant character issue, guilt by association

Faulty Analogy

when an analogy compares two things that are not comparable

Ex: "Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven" (pg 34)

"Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel"- " Rebecca nurse murdered seven babies by sending out her spirit on them?" (pg 42)

Red Herring

when an irrelevant topic is introduced to an argument to divert the attention of the listener or reader form the original issue

Ex: Paris changed the argument between him not preaching, to fire wood (pg 17)

Giles blames his reasoning of not saying his prayer on his wife's weird books (pg 22)

Hale questions Proctor about going to church then Proctor says " it tells me that a minister may pray to God without he have golden candlesticks upon the altar" (pg 32)

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (False Causality)

one thing follows another, that thing was caused only by what preceded it

Ex: Putnam and others jumping to conclusion that it is witchcraft (pg 8-11)

He does not know how to feed his pigs so he blames it on the woman for witchcraft (pg 34-35)

(Over)generalization

argument draws a conclusion from a sample that it too small and is made up of too few cases or it applies a worst case scenario to all instances

Ex: Proctor forgot one of the Ten Commandments so people conclude that he is worshipping satan (pg 33)

Ad Populum (Bandwagon)

the main argument is that a person should join because everyone else is doing it

Ex: Proctor confesses, so she should too

Appeal to (False) authority

when someone who has no expertise to speak on an issue is cited as an authority

Circular Reasoning /Begging the question

any form of argument where the conclusion is assumed in the premise, circular reasoning

Ex: There must be witchcraft in this town because people are being accused of witchcraft

Straw Man

a fallacy that occurs when a speaker chooses a deliberately poor or oversimplified example of an idea in order to ridicule and refute the idea

Ex: "There might also be a dragon with five legs in my house, but no one has ever seen it" (pg 46)

Slippery Slope

when a relatively insignificant event is suggested to lead to a more significant event, until it leads to an ultimate epic event, but the connection of the events is unwarranted

Ex: if they do not show obedience to the minister then "the church will burn like Hell is burning" (pg 18)

Invective

Tragic Hero

emotionally violent, verbal denunciation, or ad hominem attack using strong, abusive language

John Proctor

False Dilemma

A fallacy of oversimplification that offers a limited number of options (usually two when in fact more options are available.

Senator Joseph McCarthy

He made a speech that 205 people in the US state department are communist, he never proved anything just threatened

Appeal to Force

Telling the hearer that something bad will happen to him if he does not accept the argument.

Appeal to Fear

Attempt to frighten one into an action or into accepting a belief (Ex:if u dont do X, then Y will happen)

Allegory (and allegory in The Crucible)

-a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning

-the connections of communism to the Salem witch trials

Appeal to Tradition

A proposal that something should continue because it has traditionally existed or been done that way

Composition Fallacy

A fallacy that occurs when we assume that traits inherent in the parts are also present when the parts are combined into a whole.

"The tires on a car are made of rubber, so the car must be made of rubber."

Setting

Salem, Massachusetts

Dramatic Irony

Irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play. We know that Abigail is dishonest, but the court in the Crucible does not.