The fallacy is distinguished by an attack on alleged character flaws of a person instead of the persons argument.
- You should not believe what he says about our economy because he is left-leaning, card-carrying liberal.
- She is old, out of touch with reality, and belongs in a loony bin. So you cannot accept her advice on marriage.
- Don’t listen to his criticism of our senator. After all, he is too young and probably experimented with drugs when he was in college.
Ad Hominem Abusive
When someone’s argument is rejected based on the circumstances of the person’s life.
- Of course Senator Hilltop argues that my administration’s tax proposals are bad for the country. But since his party lost the last election, his opinions have no credibility.
- You told us why you are against raising taxes. But we know the real reason is that you are a billionaire, and you want to hold on to as much of your of money as you can.
Ad Hominem Circumstantial
The fallacy occurs when a person is attacked before she has a chance to present her case.
- Before you read her article “Stop All Wars,” you should know that she was arrested six times for protesting in front of the Pentagon and White House. She also has been investigated by the FBI for possible ties to peace movements in other countries, some of which resulted in violence. It is crystal clear that these kinds of people are dangerous and want to destroy our Constitution and take away our basic freedoms. We must not let them.
Poisoning the Well
is distinguished by the specific attempt of one person to avoid the issue at hand by claiming the other person is a hypocrite.
- You have been lecturing me about not joining a gang. But Dad, you were a gang member, and you never went to jail. So, i’ll make my own decision about joining a gang.
Tu Quoque
Occurs when an argument manipulates a psychological need or desire so a reader or listener will accept the conclusion
- We must not let our country be taken over by illegal aliens. After all, they knowingly and brazenly broke the law by entering illegally, so they are nothing but criminals. They will continue to flaunt our laws, steal our jobs, and threaten our very way of life.
Appeal to the people
The fallacy results from an exclusive reliance on a sense of pity or mercy for support of a conclusion.
- Your honor, before you sentence my client for the murder of his parents, I ask you to consider his situation. He is an orphan. Perhaps you can give him the Lightest punishment possible.
Appeal to pity
A threat of harmful consequences (physical or otherwise) used to force acceptance of a course of action that would otherwise be unacceptable.
- You had better get straight A’s on your next report card. If you don’t, then we will have to punish you. You will not be allowed to go out with your friends For a month.
Appeal to fear or force
arises when a generalization is inappropriately applied to the case at hand
- I cant believe the police didn’t give the driver of that ambulance any citations. He was speeding, he went through a red light, and the ambulance swerved from lane to lane without using any turn signals.
- My cousin’s illegal drug supply was stolen last week. Luckily, the thief was caught. Therefore, the police have to return my cousin’s stolen drug supply to him.
Rigid application of a generalization
An argument that relies on a small sample that is unlikely to represent the population.
- saw a fraternity guy act rudely to a fast-food employee in the food court. Probably most fraternity and sorority members are rude and arrogant.
- The first two students whose exams I graded each got an A. Thus, I expect all fifty students in the class to get A’s on the exam.
Hasty generalization
There are two forms of the fallacy: (1) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of the individual parts of an object to the object as a whole and (2) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of the individual members of a class to the class itself.
- (1) all the cells in his body are tiny, thus, he is tiny.
- (2) more noise is produced by a motorcycle than by a car. therefore, more noise is produced on US roadways by motorcycles than by cars.
Composition
There are two forms of the fallacy: (1) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of an object as a whole to the individual parts of the object and (2) the mistaken transfer of an attribute of a class to the individual members of the class.
- (1) He is huge, so he must have huge cells.
- (2) That is a wooden chair, so the legs are made of wood.
Division
An argument that uses a non-representative sample as support for a statistical claim about an entire population.
- Recently, a sample of 1000 Catholics in the United States revealed that 85% believe that abortion is morally wrong. Therefore, evidence shows that approximately 85% of all Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong.
Biased Sample
The fallacy occurs from the mistaken assumption that just because one event occurred before another event, the first event must have caused the second event
- Last week I bought a new car, and today I found out that I am being laid off at work. I shouldn’t have bought that car: it brought me bad luck.
Post hoc
An argument that attempts to connect a series of occurrences such that the first link in a chain leads directly to a second link, and so on, until a final unwanted situation is said to be the inevitable result.
- If you start smoking marijuana for pleasure, then you will need more and more to achieve the expected high. You will begin to rely on it whenever you feel depressed. Eventually you will experiment with more powerful drugs that act faster and last longer. Of course, the amount of drug intake will have to increase to achieve the desired results. The addiction will take hold and will lead to a loss of ambition, a loss of self-esteem, the destruction of your health, and the dissolution of all social ties. Therefore, you should not start smoking marijuana.
Slippery Slope
In one type, the fallacy occurs when a premise is simply reworded in the conclusion. In a second type, called circular reasoning, a set of statements seem to support each other with no clear beginning or end point. In third type, the argument assumes certain key information that may be controversial or is not supported by facts.
- 1 The Beatles are the greatest band of all time. So it is safe to say that no band has ever been better than the Beatles.
- 2 You can believe him because he never lies. Furthermore, since he always tells the truth, he is someone that you can believe.
- 3 The murder of a human being is always wrong. Therefore, capital punishment is always wrong.
Begging the question
The fallacy occurs when a single question actually contains multiple parts and an unestablished hidden assumption.
- Aren’t you going to do something about your child’s terrible behavior?
Complex question
An argument built on position of ignorance claims either that (1) a statement must be true because it has not been proven to be false or (2) statement must be false because it has not been proven to be true
- UFOs must exist because no one has proven that they don’t exist.
- There is definitely no life anywhere else in the universe. This follows from the fact that we have never received signals from any part of space.
Appeal to ignorance
an argument that relies on the opinions of people who either have no expertise, training, or knowledge relevant to the issue at hand, or whose testimony is not trustworthy.
- I’m Nick Panning, quarterback of the Los Angeles Seals. Ive been eating Oaties for breakfast since l was a kid. Oaties taste great, and they have all the nutrition kids need. You should get some for your kids today.
Appeal to an unqualified authority
A fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that only two choices are possible, when in fact others exist.
- Either we give up some traditional basic freedoms or we lose the war on terror.
False dichotomy
The fallacy occurs when the conclusion of an argument relies on an intentional or unintentional shift in the meaning of a term or phrase in the premises.
- My older brother tries hard to be cool. I told him he has the personality of a cucumber. Since a refrigerator is a good place to keep things cool, he should spend some time in there.
Equivocation
The fallacy occurs when someones argument is misrepresented in order to create a new argument that can be easily refuted. The new argument is so weak that it is “made of straw.” The arguer then falsely claims that his opponents real argument has been defeated.
- “I oppose the law that requires teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolutionary theory in public school biology classes. Evolution is an established scientific theory and deserves to be taught in science classes. Intelligent design is not a scientific theory, and it should not be taught in science classes.”
An opponent of this candidate might criticize her position this way: “She is against the new law that mandates teaching intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution. It should be obvious to anyone that she really wants to eliminate religious beliefs. She wants to destroy one of the basic principles of the Constitution of the United States.”
Straw Man
A fallacy that occurs when someone completely ignores an opponents position and changes the subject, diverting the discussion in a new direction.
- Many people criticize TV as turning America into an illiterate society. How can we criticize the very medium that is the envy of countries all over the world? The entertainment quality and variety of TV programs today are greater than ever before, not to mention the enormous number of cable options available TO members of the viewing audience. Thus, the critics are wrong.
- Person 1: You always leave your stuff all over the room, you don’t lock the door behind you, and the trash is piling up. You’re a slob!
Person 2: Well you never pull your car all the way into the driveway, so I’m always stuck having to park on the street!
Red herring
A claim that appears to be statistically significant but is not.
- Our cookies contain 30% less fat, SO you should start eating them if you want to lose weight.
Misleading precision
When premises that seem to lead logically to one conclusion are used instead to support: unexpected conclusion.
- I read that it can take years to find the “black boxes” that contain crucial flight information regarding an airplane crash, and sometimes they are never found. Given this, all air travel should be suspended.
- The seriousness of a punishment should match the seriousness of the crime. Right now, the punishment for drunk driving may simply be a fine.
Missing the point
