Dicto Simpliciter
an argument based on an unqualified generalization.
Ex. Exercise is good. Therefore everyone should exercise.
Hasty Generalization
Generalization reached too hastily, too few instances to support
such a conclusion.
Ex. I can't speak French, you can't speak French, Petey Bellows can't
speak French. I must therefore conclude that nobody at the university can speak French.
Post Hoc
Blaming something that has no connection with the problem.
Ex. Let's not take Bill on our picnic. Every time we take him out with us, it rains.
Contradictory Premises
When the premises of an argument contradict each other, there
can be no argument. If God can do anything, can He make a stone so heavy that He won't be able to lift it?
Ad Misericordiam
Instead of answering the question, you appeal to the other person's
sympathy.
Ex. A man applies for a job. When the boss asks him what his qualifications are, he replies that he has a wife and six children at home, the wife is a helpless cripple, the chil
False Analogy
An incorrect comparison of unlike things.
Ex. Students should be allowed to look at their textbooks during examinations. After all,
surgeons have X rays to guide them during operations, lawyers have briefs to guide them
during a trial, etc.
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
Building an argument on a hypothesis or assumption to
prove a fact.
Ex. If Madame Curie had not happened to leave a photographic plate in a drawer with a chunk of pitchblende, the world would not know about radium.
Poisoning the Well
Discrediting the second speaker before he has a chance to speak and
defend himself.
Ex. Two men are having a debate and the first one gets up and says my opponent is a notorious liar. You can't believe a word that he is going to say.
Appeal to authority
Accepting the word of alleged authorities when you shouldn't either because:
It's not likely that they are expert in this field
They might not tell us the truth
Experts disagree on the issue
Ex. Cigarette company executives' denials that smoking their pro
Two wrongs make a right
defending a wrong by pointing out our opponent has done the same (or equally wrong) thing
Ex. White South Africans defending themselves against attacks on their
system of apartheid by stating that the United States was the last major
country to do away wi
Irrelevant reason
NON SEQUITUR (it doesn't follow) - trying to prove something using evidence \ that may appear to be relevant but really isn't.
Ex. "What's so hot about the post office? Years ago the mailman used to get here on foot by 10 in the morning. Now they've got a
Equivocation
When a term in an argument is used in one sense in one place and another sense in another place
Ex. If you say that society is sick, then I'm a member of society, so I'm sick and I don't want to go to school. Cartoon of child explaining to his mother why
Appeal to Ignorance
Argumentum Ad Ignorantium - since we can't prove something is false, it
must be true
Ex. Some have argued fallaciously that there is no intelligent life on other planets anywhere in the galaxy, given that on one has been able to prove that there is.
Ad Hominem
to the person) - Genetic fallacy - irrelevant attack on an opponent, rather than the argument
Provincialism
Assuming that the familiar or close is better or more important - the failure to
look beyond one's own group to the ideas of other cultures.
It tends to make us exclude other cultures
It influences our acceptance or rejection of alleged facts or theories
Lack of proportion
failure to see things in proper perspective or proportion
Tokenism - Mistaking a token gesture for the real thing
Double Standard - evaluate according to inconsistent standard (without some legitimate reason for doing so)
EX. Accepting General Motors' spe
Questionable premises
accepting a premise when there is no good reason to
accept it - not warranted when:
Accept the official myths (leaders don't lie)
Accept parents/authorities as genuine authority
Feelings get bound up with issues
Favor our own interests
Hang on to beliefs
Straw man
misrepresent an opponent's position to make it easier to attack or attack a weaker
opponent or position by ignoring a stronger one
Exaggeration - When intent is to make us believe that the exaggeration of facts is literally true, it is straw man.
Ex. Rich
False Dilemma
either/or - think there are just two plausible solutions when there are more.
Ex. "America - love it or leave it.
Begging the question
asserting without justification all or part of the question at issue or we
aren't answering the question they asked.
Ex. I asked the doctor why my mouth was so dry and he said it was because my salivary glands are not producing enough saliva.
Inconsistency
using or accepting contradictory statements to support a conclusion
By one person at one time
One person at different times w/o explaining why
By different representatives of same organization
Says one thing and does something else
Ex. I believe in the ri
Suppressed evidence
omission from argument known relevant evidence (failure to look for
available evidence)
Ex. AAA advertisement said 23 million can't be wrong, you should join. Suppressed evidence says 47million didn't join so neither should you
Slippery slope
object on grounds that it will lead inevitably to even less desirable action
Ex. If we don't stand up for creation against evolution, we soon won't have any opportunity to worship
Domino Theory
Hasty Conclusion
presents evidence that while relevant to conclusion, is not sufficient to
warrant acceptance of conclusion
Ex. Sherlock Holmes saying that a man is from Afghanistan because his
hands are tanned and he walks with a limp
Small sample
sample is too small to be reliable measure of population
Ex. 50% decrease in aggravated assaults was from 4 to 2
Unrepresentative sample
biased statistic - reasoning from sample that doesn't represent the
population from which it was drawn
Questionable classification
classify something incorrectly, given the evidence we have or
could have
Ex. NOW's classification of divorced women instead of divorced
homemakers
Questionable cause
labeling something as a cause on the basis of insufficient or contrary to
available evidence
Ex. Smoking marijuana leads to heroin use.
Questionable analogy
false analogy - faulty comparison - use of analogy where cases seem
relevantly different
Faulty statistical comparison
Quality of Statistics
Ex. The universe, like a watch, must have a maker.
Unknowable statistics
seem precise and authoritative, but are unknowable
Ex. In the past 5000 years men have fought in 14,523 wars.
Questionable statistics
using statistics that are questionable without further proof or support.
Questionable when:
Sample is too small
Sample is unrepresentative
It asks loaded questions
It asks questions that embarrass respondent
It asks questions they don't know how to answer
Common gambling fallacy
doubling the bet or waiting for an usual run to "change the odds
False charge of fallacy
when people explain why they change their mind concerning a position and are still called fallacious
Ad baculum
appeal to force or threats in order to bring about the acceptance of a conclusion is
often fallacious
Ad populum
Appeals to popular opinion as a justification for the claim.
Ad novarrum
newness is used as a standard of quality
Ad verecundum
oldness is used as a standard of quality
Appeal to tradition
It asks an audience to accept a claim because it represents a customary
belief or course of action.
Appeal to pity
arouses sympathy for individuals or groups to encourage the redress of some
wrong or misfortune they have suffered
Appeal to humor
It either fails to make a serious point or reduce another's claim to its most
absurd level.
Emotionally loaded words
use terms that show more about our feelings on the issues than about the rational basis from which those feelings derive
Avoiding the issue
It shifts attention from the issue under consideration.
Is/ought fallacy- de facto reasoning
put a positive value on something solely because it exists
or "is familiar" to us
False analogy
Compares two things that are not alike in significant respects.
False cause
Offers a cause for a consequence that is not directly related to the consequence.
False standards-fallacy of extension
use measurements that are apparently appropriate but
when carefully considered are exposed as Irrelevant
False consolation
use an inappropriate analogy as a standard of quality
Tu quoquo -Ad Hominem
attack against opponents to discredit them
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
after the fact, therefore because of the fact - improper applications
of the associational method
Pseudoprecision
applying quantitative measurements to qualitative things. - the class
was 22.5% more creative after using the text.
Technical jargon
when the audience is overwhelmed with too many new terms or when
it is used to impress the audience or replace sound reasoning.
Circular reasoning
Statements equivalent in meaning to the claims they are supposed
to support.
Amphiboly
Exploits ambiguity in grammatical structure to lead to a false conclusion.
Single cause
when an advocate attributes only one cause to a complex problem
Forcing a dichotomy
Having to choose between oversimplified either-or option