Fallacies Mistakes in reasoning or thinking

 Occurs when a speaker makes a claim that presents a range of choices.  Writers that use either/or are trying to force their audience to accept a perspective by using two choices, one of which is less desirable than the other.

 By the sound of your voice, you are either excited or angry.  You will either love us or hate us.

Ad Hominem A claim or argument is rejected by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it Examples: -“You can't believe John when he says the proposed policy would help the economy. He doesn't even have a job.” -Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose, so his music was worthless.

Straw Man Argument Straw Man Argument: Exaggerated form of opponent’s argument is created. The new argument is attacked instead of the old one.

Examples “I think we should give more bailouts.” “You want to make the government go broke!” “I'm pro-choice.” “No, you're pro-murder.”

Post hoc Fallacy  “ Post hoc, ergo propter hoc ”  the mistaken notion that simply because one thing happens after another, the first event was a cause of the second event  Superstitions – “ I wore this bracelet, and aced my test. Therefore, I will wear the bracelet for my next test and ace it too. ”  “ I had a headache, so I stood on my head, and six hours later my headache went away. Standing on your head will get rid of headaches. ” Post Hoc

Overgeneralization -Overgeneralization: claims which use words like all and never; statements that are so general that they oversimplify reality; stereotyping - Examples:All swimmers pee in pools. In times of crisis, every American supports the president. Christians never commit sins.

An argument is consider to be true only because most people believe it. In Latin it means “appeal to the people”, which is exactly what it does.

Examples More people prefer Ford trucks over Chevy trucks, therefore Ford trucks are the better pick for a truck. Although Obama is trying his best to figure out how to get people jobs, most people still do not think he is doing a good job.

 A fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by several factors.  Examples:  School violence has gone up and students ’ grades have gone down ever since prayer was banned at public schools. Prayer should be reintroduced, which would result in school improvement.  Either medicine can explain how Ms. Smith was cured, or it is a miracle. Medicine can't explain how she was cured. Therefore it is a miracle. Oversimplification

Non Sequiturs Non sequitur is Latin. It literally translates to “does not follow” A non sequitur is an argument where the conclusion doesn't follow any points made in the argument. This can work in a number of ways, such as: Since snakes are reptiles and this animal is a reptile, it is a snake Since rice is delicious and this food is not rice, it isn't delicious.

Red Herring - Definition: something that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting; something that draws attention from the central issue. -Examples: 1. Politicians may avoid certain questions by addressing or bringing up an easier topic. 2. A director of a horror movie may place a suspicious character in the movie to divert attention away from the real serial killer. 3. A character in a book may mention a certain event, getting your mind off the event that truly has significance.

Slippery Slope Definition: Assuming that if one step or action is taken it will invariably lead to similar steps or actions. Examples: – If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers. – If I make an exception for you then I’ll have to make an exception for everyone.

Hasty Generalization is committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough. Usually has the following form: # Sample S, which is too small, is taken from population P. # Conclusion C is drawn about Population P based on S. Person misuses Inductive Generalization: # X% of all observed A's are B''s. # Therefore X% of all A's are Bs

Circular reasoning is supporting a statement by repeating a statement in a stronger way. Examples I swim so I can’t run because I am a swimmer. Saige is a bad student because she does poorly in her classes. CIRCULAR REASONING