Logical Fallacies - 1 Overgeneralization – coming to a conclusion based upon too few examples “I took one class at Mentone Junior College and it was terrible – I’ll never take classes there again.” “The first six people who voted all said they voted Democratic. Looks like a big victory for the Democrats. “There have been a number of scandals involving financial firms committing fraud. All financial firms and workers are thieves stealing money from society. “ “Heroin and Meth are addictive substances and harm the body. All drugs are addictive and harmful.”

Logical Fallacies – 2 2. Post Hoc/Cause-Effect (aka False Cause) – assuming that because A happened before B that A is the cause of B. “My car didn’t have any problems before I took it in for a tune-up; once I got it home, the fan belt broke – those mechanics must’ve arranged that so they could make more money off of me.” John is scratched by a cat while visiting a friend. Two days later he develops a fever and concludes the cat scratch is the cause of the illness. The picture on Jim's old TV set goes out of focus. Jim goes over and strikes the TV soundly on the side and the picture goes back into focus. Jim tells his friend that hitting the TV fixed it.

Logical Fallacies - 3 3. False Analogy – attempting to argue by comparison when the comparison seeks to make similar two things that really aren’t similar in essential ways. Ex: "Education is like cake; a small amount of cake tastes sweet, but eat too much and your teeth will rot out. Likewise, more than two years of education is bad for a student." (false) “TV is like cake; a small amount of cake tastes sweet, but eat too much and your teeth will rot out. Likewise, excessive TV watching is bad for your brain.” (valid) “People who have to have a cup of coffee every morning before they can function have no less a problem than alcoholics who have to have their alcohol each day to sustain them.” (false)

Logical Fallacies - 4 4. Ad hominem – attacking the arguer instead of the argument/issue under consideration “You only support universal health care because you’re a Communist.” * Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong." Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest." Bill: "What about the arguments I gave to support my position?" Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong. Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can't believe what you say." *“People like you don’t understand what it’s like to be of my race so you blatantly have no right to make an argument about this situation.”

Logical Fallacies - 5 “This is a female issue. As a man, how can you have an opinion about this?” Ginger: I think that we should continue to fund the military at a high level because there are a number of countries that could be military threats to us, and terrorist activity from different groups means that we must defend ourselves from terrorism as well. Mary Ann: Wow, you must be a warmongering idiot who loves to cause death and destruction to believe something like that! A smarter person might come up with a better way to deal with terrorism.

Logical Fallacies - 6 Rationalizing – giving plausible (but often untrue) reasons for our behavior in order to excuse it or lessen the severity of the behavior. *Me: John, sit down. John: I’m just getting a pencil. *“Darling, I had to buy this dress – at half-off it would have been foolish not to do so.” *Terminally ill patient dies due to physician error: “Why disclose the error? The patient was going to die anyway.” *“Yes, mom and dad, I did get drunk at prom, but at least I didn’t come back pregnant.”

Logical Fallacies - 7 6. Circular Thinking – “arguing in a circle” – restating the initial claim repeatedly without actually explaining WHY the statement is correct. “I can’t stand Mr. Martin’s class because I’m never happy in there.” God exists because the Bible says so; the Bible is true because it was written by God. “I believe that Frosted Flakes are great because it says so on the Frosted Flakes packaging.” “President Reagan was a great communicator because he had the knack of talking effectively to the people.” “Mike was the best candidate for president, because he was totally better than any of the others.”

Logical Fallacies - 8 7. Begging the Question – assuming to be true the very issue that is being debated *Abortion is wrong because it’s murder. *Prosecutor to defendant: “So how did you feel when you killed your wife?” *Happiness is the highest good for a human being, since all other values are inferior to it.” * “Past-life memories of children prove that past lives exist because the children could have no other source for their memories besides having lived in the past.” *“I believe in UFOs; how else would aliens get here?” *Interviewer: "Your resume looks impressive but I need another reference.“ Bill: "Jill can give me a good reference.“ Interviewer: "Good. But how do I know that Jill is trustworthy?“ Bill: "Certainly. I can vouch for her." The conclusion of this argument is that past lives exist. The premise assumes that children have had past lives. The arguer should not be granted the assumption that children have had past lives but should made to support the claim. (Saying the memories could have no other source than a past life is to assume that past lives exist. This should not be granted but argued for.)

Logical Fallacies - 9 8. Either-Or (aka False Dilemma, “Black & White”) – oversimplifying an issue into only two choices, when there may actually be more options to consider *"Look, you are going to have to make up your mind. Either you decide that you can afford this stereo, or you decide you are going to do without music for a while." *Either we ban guns and keep our children safe or we allow free access to guns and we will be in constant danger of another massacre. “I thought you were a good person, but you weren’t at church today.” * Bill: "Jill and I both support having prayer in public schools." Jill: "Hey, I never said that!" Bill: "You're not an atheist are you Jill?" The assumption here is that bad people don’t go to church.  Of course, good people exist who don’t go to church, and good church-going people could have had a really good reason not to be in church -- like a hangover from the swingers' gathering the night before.