Ad hominem
attacking the character or the credibility of the arguer rather than the argument
Straw man
ridicules a group or position to make it easier to attack
Appeal to pity
seeking to persuade, not by presenting evidence, but by playing on sympathy
Appeal to fear
seeking to persuade through the threat of adverse consequences
Appeal to ignorance
claiming that whatever has not been proved false must necessarily be true, or conversely, that whatever has not been proven true must be false
Appeal to the one
seeking to persuade merely by invoking the authority of a celebrity
Appeal to the select few
seeking to persuade merely by invoking the authority of some privileged group
Appeal to the many
seeking to persuade merely by invoking the authority of a large group
Appeal to tradition
seeking to persuade merely by invoking the authority of tradition
Begging the question
using circular reasoning in an argument by taking for granted precisely what is in dispute, instead of offering proof, the conclusion is usually just stated in another form
Observational selection
enumerating the favorable or convenient circumstances and ignoring the unfavorable or inconvenient ones (similar to counting the hits and forgetting the misses)
Non sequitur
(Latin for "it does not follow") claiming a proposition to be true while failing to recognize any of the alternative possibilities
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
(Latin for "after this, therefore because of this") confusing correlation with causation, or assuming that the sequence of events implies cause and effect, this is also called the fallacy of false cause
False dilemma
considering only the two extremes in a whole range of intermediate possibilities, this is also called the fallacy of false cause
Slippery slope
links action with a questionable consequence far in the future
Equivocation
causing ambiguity by a shift between two legitimate meanings of a term
Weasel words
using euphemisms, or inoffensive reinventions of language, in a place of more accurate terms which might provoke an undesirable response
Hasty generalization
using an isolated example as a basis for a widely general conclusion
Sweeping generalization
applying a fair generalization to an exceptional case
Amphiboly
using a statement that misleads as a result of ambiguous grammar