Logical Fallacies

Ad Hominems An attack on the person, and not the argument or reasoning Instead of commenting on what the journalists said, Trump attacks them as people. By calling them “hacks,” Trump avoids commenting on the validity of their writing or reporting.

Straw Man Misrepresenting a person or idea, and attacking the created person or idea Instead of acknowledging that the travel ban targets individuals from nations that aren’t affiliated with terrorist attacks from the last 10 years, Trump calls them people with “bad intentions.” Also, Trump creates a representation where the judge is acting outside of his authority, when in reality, the judge is doing his job by balancing acts of executive power.

Irrelevant appeal Changing the focus of the discussion or argument by appealing to different things like authority, tradition, popularity, etc. By focusing on having more money, Trump is appealing to popularity and wealth.

False Dilemma A forced decision between two things when there is at least a third option Trump creates two different options: Stop taking refugees, or destruction of civilization. In reality, there are many different ways the refugee crisis can be handled. Also, we see a Slippery Slope fallacy – accepting refugees will lead to the destruction of civilization.

Circular Arguments A type of reasoning that proves itself without using outside logic or information Negative Polls CNN is Fake News Fake News CNN has Negative Polls

No True Scotsman Type of circular argument, but defines an ideal and uses the ideal to disprove anything else By saying leaking information is Un-American, Trump is saying “No True American” would leak information, meaning the leak is doing by an outside government or party.

Lies All logical fallacies are lies, because they aren’t true logic If you make a claim, don’t use false information or alternative facts Obama’s cabinet nominees were still being approved in April Clinton’s and George H.W. Bush’s cabinet nominees were being approved through March

Examples of logical Fallacies A real New Yorker wouldn’t stop in the middle of the sidewalk. The customer is always right, so the server must have gotten the order wrong. No True Scotsman: some real New Yorkers do stop in the sidewalk. Circular Argument: customers can be wrong, so the server can be right.

More Examples Feminists are ugly man-haters, so we shouldn’t listen to their ideas about healthcare. If you don’t watch Moana, you have bad taste in movies or you hate female characters. Ad hominem: Feminism is the reason a lot of people have access to healthcare, so attacking them doesn’t add to the agrument False dilemma: There are more options than: 1. Having bad taste in movies and 2. Hating female characters

Everything’s an Argument For the next essay, you’ll be analyzing a text. When you analyze a text, you’re making an argument about: What the text telling the reader What the author of the text is attempting to tell the reader