Fallacies Learning Targets: I can identify logical fallacies when they are committed. I can recognize why reasoning is fallacious. I can avoid logical fallacies in my own writing and debating.

Scare Tactics Arguments that use legitimate fears to incite panic or prejudice. &v=5zWB4dLYChM

Either-Or Choices/False Dilemma/Bifurcation Arguments that reduce the options for action to only two choices. &v=7gw8WuATIRY

Slippery Slope Arguments that exaggerate the likely consequences of an action, usually to frighten readers/listeners. -JuG6YMqI 4eDQ1a5G8k

Sentimental Appeals Arguments that use tender emotions excessively to distract readers from facts. MpZ0TGjbWE wndLOKQTDs

Bandwagon Appeal Arguments that urge people to follow the same path everyone else is taking. &v=MEGUDMgaVfM

Appeals to False Authority Arguments that draw on the authority of widely respected people, institutions, and texts. &v=9_YneSM0ItA

Dogmatism Implies that there is only one side to an argument. WETHeK46M WETHeK46M

Ad Hominem Arguments attack the character of a person rather than the claim made.

Hasty Generalization An argument that draws inference from insufficient evidence. Stereotypes often arise from this fallacy.

Faulty Causality/Post Hoc An argument that assumes that because one event or action follows another, the first necessarily causes the second.

Red Herring An argument in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue.

Begging the Question A form of circular reasoning, divorced from reality. An assumption that the conclusion is true, even if the premises do not offer evidence of that conclusion. Example: Santa Claus &feature=em-share_video_user

Non Sequitur An argument in which claims, reasons, or warrants fail to connect logically; one point does not follow from another. Xwsk0 Ldp0

Faulty/False Analogy An inaccurate or inconsequential comparison between objects or concepts; elaborate comparison of two things which are two dissimilar. Example: Making people register their own guns is like the Nazis making the Jews register with their government. This policy is crazy. *Swiss Army knife of cameras

Equivocation An argument that gives a lie an honest appearance; a half-truth.

The Straw Man Chooses to refute arguments that go beyond the opposition’s claims; when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated, or misrepresented version of that position. w&feature=em-share_video_user

Stacking the Deck Promoting arguments that favor only one side while rejecting or avoiding arguments for another point of view, especially arguments we don’t want to deal with. Example: 4 out of 5 dentists…