Red Herring
A red herring introduces an irrelevant point into an argument. Someone may think (or want us to think) it proves his side, but it really doesn't.
Special Pleading
When someone uses a double standard or argues for an unjustified exception, he is committing the fallacy of special pleading.
Ad Hominem
An ad hominem attack is attacking an opponent's character or his motives for believing something instead of disproving his argument.
Genetic Fallacy
The genetic fallacy is condemning an argument because of where it began, how it began, or who began it.
Tu Quoque
Tu quoque is dismissing someone's viewpoint on an issue because he himself is inconsistent in that very thing.
Faulty Appeal to Authority
A faulty appeal to authority is an appeal to someone who has no special knowledge in the area being discussed.
Appeal to the People
When we claim that our viewpoint is correct because many other people agree with it, we are committing the appeal to the people fallacy.
Straw Man
The fallacy of straw man is changing or exaggerating an opponent's position to make it easier to refute.
Circular Reasoning
An argument which says "P is true because Q is true, and Q is true because P is true" is using circular reasoning.
Equivocation
An equivocation changes the meaning of a word in the middle of an argument.
Loaded Question
When someone asks two questions, but one is hidden behind the other, that's a loaded question.
Slippery Slope
The slippery slope fallacy assumes that if we take one step, nothing will stop us from taking a series of steps because each step is the same.
Part-to-Whole
When someone says that what is true of part of something must also be true of the whole thing together, he is using the part-to-whole fallacy.
Whole-to-Part
When someone says that what is true of something as whole must also be true of each of its parts, then this person is using the whole-to-part fallacy.
Either-Or
When someone asserts that we must choose between two things, when in fact we have more than two alternatives, he is using the either-or fallacy.
Hasty Generalization
A hasty generalization is generalizing a class based upon a small or poor sample.
Weak Analogy
The fallacy of weak analogy claims that some items with only minor similarities are the same in almost everything else.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc is concluding that since A happened before B, A must have caused B.
Proof by Lack of Evidence
A Proof by Lack of Evidence fallacy is claiming something is true simply because nobody has yet given any evidence to the contrary.
Appeal to Fear
Appeal to Fear is a propaganda technique. Appeal to fear is used when someone makes you fear the consequences of not doing what he wants.
Appeal to Pity
When someone tries to make us do something only because we pity him, or we pity something associated with him, he is using the propaganda technique called appeal to pity.
Bandwagon
The bandwagon technique invites us to jump on the bandwagon and do what everybody else is doing. This technique pressures us to do something just because many other people like us are doing it.
Exigency
Exigency is being used when nothing more than time limit is given as a reason for us to do what someone wants.
Repetition
Repetition is repeating a message loudly and very often in the hope that we will believe it.
Transfer
Transfer is getting us to transfer our good or bad feelings about one thing to another, unrelated thing.
Snob Appeal
Snob appeal is used when someone tries to persuade us to think his product would make us better or make us stand out from everyone else.
Appeal to Tradition
An appeal to tradition occurs when someone encourages us to buy some product or take some action because it is associated with things of the past.
Appeal to Hi-Tech
In an appeal to hi-tech, we are encouraged to buy something because it is the "latest thing,"-not necessarily because it is the best thing.