Source: yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ Logical Fallacies #2 A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often used subtly by public speakers to fool/persuade people. Source: yourlogicalfallacyis.com/

argument from ignorance You claimed that since your opponent couldn’t disprove your argument that your argument therefore must be true. We make arguments from ignorance when we use the absence of evidence in support of a particular claim, position or argument. The Issue: ignorance is not evidence of anything other than a fundamental lack of knowledge; therefore, saying since we have not yet disproven X means X is unsupportable because the “absence of evidence is not evidence of existence.” Example: Although we have proven that the moon is not made of spare ribs, we have not proven that its core cannot be filled with them; therefore, the moon’s core is filled with spare ribs.

bandwagon (appeal to popularity) You appealed to the popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation. The flaw in this argument is that the popularity of an idea has absolutely no bearing on its validity. If it did, then the Earth would have made itself flat for most of history to accommodate this popular belief. The Issue: accepting something as true simply because a majority of people believe in it does not in itself make that thing, idea, etc. true or valid. Ideas stand or fall on the basis of supporting evidence (and the validity of that evidence is also not dependent upon the assent of a majority—it depends upon the techniques and methods used to acquire that evidence). Example: I read the other day that most people really like the new gun control laws. I was sort of suspicious of them but I guess if most people like them then they must be okay.

appeal to authority You said that because an authority thinks something, it must therefore be true. Arguments from authority have been made by religious and secular authorities to try and control the thinking of people. Such arguments depend upon the power of the speaker rather than the explanatory power of the argument itself. The Issue: it is important to note that you should not dismiss the claims of experts or the scientific consensus. Arguments made by experts in their field of expertise are perfectly valid (assuming that their views are generally accepted by the majority of other members working in their field). Appeals to authority are otherwise always invalid. Example: I’m not a doctor but I play one on TV; therefore, you shouldn’t question my medical advice.

genetic fallacy You judged something as either good or bad on the basis of where it comes from or from whom it came. This fallacy avoids the argument by shifting focus onto something’s or someone’s origins. It’s similar to an ad hominem fallacy in that it leverages existing negative perceptions to make someone’s argument look bad, without actually presenting a case for why the argument itself lacks merit. The Issue: this argument is similar to the “poisoning the well” fallacy, in that, a speaker attempts to prejudice the audience by appealing to some sort of unsavory connection, e.g. Hitler was a vegetarian so vegetarianism is somehow fascistic or evil. Example: accused on the 6 o’clock news of corruption and taking bribes, the senator said that we should be very wary of the things we hear in the media, because we all know how very unreliable. Donald Trump accomplishes this by calling the media a “bunch of liars” (and people unquestioningly believe him).

appeal to nature You argued that because something is “natural” it is therefore valid, justified, inevitable, good or ideal. Many “natural” things are “good” and this can bias our thinking; but naturalness itself doesn’t make something good or bad. For instance murder could be seen as natural but that doesn’t mean it’s either good or justifiable; moreover, a lot of people who oppose genetically modified organisms do so because of the perception “nature shouldn’t be meddled with.” Interestingly GMOs are really only an example of crop evolution sped up, i.e. the same forces that happen “naturally” over time are simply accelerated in a laboratory. Example: the medicine man rolled into town on his bandwagon offering various natural remedies, such as very special plain water. He said that it was only natural that people should be wary of “artificial” medicines such as antibiotics.

Dunning-Kruger Effect In the field of psychology, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability mistakenly believe their cognitive ability (knowledge) is greater than it actually is. Also called “climbing Mount Stupid” the Dunning-Kruger effect leads people to confuse the strength of their conviction as evidence in support of a particular claim. The Issue: all of us at some point fail to adequately assess our own competence, or incompetence, at a task and thus consider ourselves much more competent than everyone else. Example: during a study, students who scored in the lowest 10% of the class believed they actually scored much better than they actually did, i.e. they thought they’d answered 14 problems out of 16 correctly but instead only answered 4. People of low functioning ability just do not know they aren’t as able as they think they are.

confirmation bias You only look for and only accept information that confirms your existing worldview. People who suffer from confirmation bias, also called “motivated reasoning”, resist changing their mind to account for new information. People who do this typically are trying to protect themselves or their worldview in some way because changing one’s thinking is uncomfortable, i.e. we prefer certainty over doubt. The Issue: confirmation bias tends to cause one to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way confirming one’s pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. This assumes that the assumptions one has made are in fact the correct ones to hold. Experience should teach a person otherwise. Example: the makers of Sugarette Candy Drinks point to research showing that of the five countries where Sugarette drinks sell the most units, three of them are in the top ten healthiest countries on Earth; therefore, Sugarette drinks are healthy.