Rhetorical Fallacies A failure in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. Faulty reasoning, misleading or unsound argument

Emotional Fallacies False Dilemma (Either/Or): a complicated issue is misrepresented as offering only two possible alternatives, one of which is often made to seem vastly preferable to the other.

Slippery Slope: exaggerating the possibility that a relatively inconsequential action or choice today will have some serious adverse consequences in the future.

Overly Sentimental Appeals: the excessive use of tender emotions to distract readers from facts. Text: “A dog makes your life happier. Adopt.” Fact: Pedigree is a company that sells dog food. Purpose: Pedigree suggests that your life would be happier with a dog, so that after you adopt, you will buy their food.

Ad Populum (appeal to the people): a claim or course of action is recommended on the grounds that everyone else is following it.

Ethical Fallacies Ad Hominem (personal attack): attacks against the character of the person instead of his/her claim.

Logical Fallacies Oversimplification: an explanation of a complex situation or problem as if it were much simpler than it is.

Overgeneralization: a generalization that is too broad; can often be identified by words such as all, everyone every time, anything, no one, or none.

Stereotyping: a dangerous type of overgeneralization in which broad statements about people are made on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, political ideology, religious affiliation, etc.

Hasty Generalization: an inference drawn from insufficient evidence.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc: “after this, therefore because of this Post hoc ergo propter hoc: “after this, therefore because of this.” The faulty assumption that because one event or action follows another, the first causes the second.

Non sequitur: “It does not follow Non sequitur: “It does not follow.” An argument whose claims, reasons, or warrants do not connect logically; one point doesn’t follow from another

Straw Man: an attack on an argument that the opponent is not actually making; a misrepresentation of the opponent’s argument that makes it seems more extreme than it actually is, making it easier to refute.

Red Herring: an abrupt change in subject to distract an audience from potentially objectionable claims.

Faulty Analogy: inaccurate or inconsequential comparisons between objects or concepts.

Circular Reasoning (begging the question): supporting a statement by simply repeating it in different words.