11 th grade American Literature F ALLACIES

W HAT IS A FALLACY ?  Logical Fallacies are ERRORS IN REASONING.  This differs from a factual error, which is simply being wrong about the facts.  A fallacy is traditionally defined by Aristotle as a piece of evidence with faulty reasoning or illogical reasoning.  To be more specific, a fallacy is an "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support.  Logical Fallacies are also called PROPOGANDA TECHNIQUES.  Contemporary Rhetoricians also call fallacies flashpoints or hotspots.

T YPES OF F ALLACIES

A PPEAL TO A UTHORITY / A PPEAL TO F ALSE A UTHORITY  Uses evidence that is not qualified or uses a source that is not an authority on a specific issue.

A PPEAL TO E MOTION / S ENTIMENTAL A PPEAL / S CARE T ACTICS  Exaggerations made from fear or guilt to force people into action. Uses tender moments excessively to distract readers from facts.

A PPEAL TO T RADITION  It assumes that something is better or correct simply because it is older, traditional, or "always has been done."

A TTACK AD H OMINEM / P ERSONAL A TTACK  Attacks directed at the character of the person rather than at the claims he or she makes.

B ANDWAGON  Makes a claim that urges people to follow the mass majority.

B EGGING THE Q UESTION / C IRCULAR R EASONING  Assuming a piece of evidence is true because it is stated as being true.

D OGMATISM  Makes the argument that whatever the speaker says is the only possible conceivable position within a community.

E ITHER -O R C HOICES  A piece of evidence that states something is either one way or another and that no other possible outcomes exist.

E QUIVOCATION  Involves juvenile tricks of language to say a piece of evidence is true. Uses semantics.

F AULTY A NALOGY  Analogies that are pushed too far to be taken seriously or simply do not make sense.

F AULTY C AUSALITY  In Latin, this is called “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” which means “after this, therefore because of this.” This is the fallacious assumption that because one event or action follows another, the first necessarily causes the second. It is a cause- effect error.

G UILT BY A SSOCIATION  This fallacy occurs when a claim is rejected by the speaker just because the people the speaker dislikes accept the claim.

H ASTY G ENERALIZATION  An inference drawn from an insufficient amount of evidence.

M ORAL E QUIVALENCE  Suggests that serious wrong-doings don’t differ in kind from minor offense.

N ON S EQUITUR  A statement which claims, reasons, or warrants fail to connect / build logically. It “does not follow.”

R ED H ERRING  Changes the subject or brings up an irrelevant argument or piece of evidence.

S LIPPERY S LOPE / J UMPING TO C ONCLUSIONS  Shows that a small misstep today will cause tomorrow's slide into disaster.

T HE S TRAW M AN  An attack on something that really isn’t there or is much weaker than the speaker/writer claims.

T WO W RONGS M AKE A R IGHT  This fallacy occurs when a person asserts that another person would act the same way if given the same situation as the speaker.