Fallacies List Fallacies are illogical arguments that are in common usage. Fallacies are used by those who lack critical thinking skills, but they are also employed by those who wish to manipulate others.

Ambiguity Equivocation Non-sequitur Composition Division

Equivocation Words with multiple meanings or interpretations being misconstrued. “The “Declaration of Independence” states that “all men are created equal,” so women shouldn’t be allowed to vote.” “I love you, but I’m not ‘in love’ with you.”

Division Similar to stereotyping: what is true of a whole is assumed to be true for all of its parts. “Samantha is German, and Germans drink a lot beer, so Samantha drinks a lot of beer.”

Presumption Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Distorting the facts Many Questions Hasty Generalization Slippery Slope False Analogy Straw Man Special Pleading False Choice Oversimplification Red Herring

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Assumes that if one even preceded another, the first caused the second. “Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. My girlfriend cheated on me yesterday. If dinosaurs were still around, this never would have happened.”

Distorting the Facts Misleading use of facts in one’s favor. “A congressman takes a snowball from outside into the a congressional meeting. He states that because the snow exists, global warming is not a reality.”

Many Questions Asking a question that assumes several premises that have not been demonstrated. “How many speedos did you steal form Mr. Page’s house last night?”

Hasty Generalization The size of the sample is too small to support the conclusion. “No one I know has pneumonia, so it must be a fake disease.”

Slippery Slope Someone asserting that one event will inevitably lead to another without rational basis. “If you quit the baseball team, you’ll be a quitter for the rest of your life.”

False Analogy In an analogy, two objects (or events), A and B are shown to be similar. Then it is argued that since A has property P, so also must B have property P. An analogy fails when the two objects, A and B, are different in a way which affects whether they both have property P. “Women are like sharks. They’re always on the lookout for their next meal.”

False Choice Suggesting that only two choices exist when, in fact, there are more. “Math is a tough subject – you either understand it or you don’t.” “If you don’t recycle, you hate mother earth.”

Oversimplification Explaining an even by relying on casual factors that are insufficient to account for the event or by overemphasizing the role of one or more factors. “Coach says that the reason his team won their last game is because the team had a high carbohydrate meal before the game.” “Trump became president because he talked about jobs.”

Straw Man Reframing or re-wording your opponent’s words to make them easier to dismiss. “Players who kneel during the national anthem hate America.”

Red Herring Something intended to be misleading or distracting. “You really owe me $2,000 for all the repairs I had to do on my car: the fender was bent, the windshield was cracked, and you never responded to my last email, so I had to replace the missing stereo too. If you pay me this weekend, I’ll lower the price to $1,000.”

Relevance You Too Genetic Appeal to Ignorance Ad Hominem Appeal to Authority Appeal to Fear Appeal to Tradition

You Too Arguing against the character of your opponent instead of their argument. “You can’t tell me to take a shower because you haven’t showered in three days!”

Genetic Is committed when an idea is either accepted or rejected because of its source, rather than its merit (an appeal to ethos). “My mommy told me the tooth fairy is real” -Therefore- “The tooth fairy is real”

We should lower taxes on Small businesses by 7%. Ad Hominem Appealing to one’s prejudices, emotions, or special interests. Attacking one’s character. We should lower taxes on Small businesses by 7%. Are we really going to listen to her? She broke up with me over text!!!

Appeal to Ignorance The assumption of a conclusion or fact based primarily on lack of evidence to the contrary. Usually best described by, “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” “You can’t prove that earth isn’t flat, therefore, it is flat.”

Appeal to Authority Using an authority as evidence in an argument where the authority has no authority on the subject. “Mr. Page says that the Julius Caesar married Catherine the Great in the year 1066, so that must be true.” I caught feelings for you Julie! Let’s get married 663 years before I was born, and 1022 years after you died, k? Let’s do this!

Appeal to Fear Making threats to win your case. “If you don’t buy my 1984 Chevy Nova, I’ll run over your dog.” Or “If you vote for X, gang-members will kill your children.”

Appeal to Tradition Using historical preferences of the people (tradition) either in general or specific as the historical preferences of a single individual as evidence that the historical preference is correct. “Humanity lived without toilet paper for thousands of years, so we should stop using it.”