Definitions Flashcards
Abusive Anology
Comparing your opponent to people or ideas that are hated.
Accent
Changing the meaning of your opponents statements by putting stress on different words.
Accident
Supposing freak features of an exceptional case justify a rejection of a general rule.
Affirming the Consequent
Implying the cause from the effect.
Amphiboly
Occurs whenever the whole meaning of a statement can be taken in many different ways.
Analogical Fallacy
Assuming since things are alike in certain respects, they must also be in others.
Apriorism
Using principles to rejects facts.
Argumentum ad Baculum
Introduces force as a means of persuasion.
Bifurcation
Only presenting two viable options when more are available.
Bogus Dilemma
Falsely presenting a dilemma where none exists.
How to deal with a Bogus Dilemma
By the horns - Denying the consequences of the actions
Between the horns - Showing the option is false
Rebuttal - Re-fabricating the dilemma with the same choices, but the consequences are suited to your purposes.
Circular Reasing
Using as evidence a fact which is authenticated by the very conclusion it supports.
Complex Question
Asking a yes or no question with a hidden assumption.
Composition
Applying characteristics of a member of a class to the whole group.
Concealed Quantification
Occurs when the ambiguity of an expression permits a misunderstanding of the quantity which is spoken of.
Conclusion denies premises
The conclusion is not consistent with the premises used to support it.
Contradictory Premises
Two premises are not consistent.
Argumentum ad Crumentam
Assumes that money or possessions is a measure of correctness.
Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Assumes that since two things happened simultaneously, they must have caused one another.
Damning the Alternatives
Arguing for one alternative by ridiculing all the others.
Definitional Retreat
Somebody changes the meaning of the words to avoid an objection raised against the original wording.
Denying the Antecedent
Assuming that since a cause has not happened, the effect will not happen either.
Dicto Simpliciter
The application of a broad general rule to a specific case whose special features might make it exceptional.
Division
Applying the characteristics of a group to one of it’s members.
Emotional Appeals
Appealing to emotion rather than to reason.
List the 8 Emotional Appeals
To fear (Argumentum ad Metum),to envy (Argumentum ad Invidiam), to hatred (Argumentum ad Odium), to superstition (Argumentum ad Superstitionem), to pride (Argumentum ad Superbiam), Tempt our preference to a quiet life (Argumentum ad Modum), Says sentiment is better than reason (Argumentum ad Sentimens Superior)
Complex Division
Assumes the subclasses of the whole share the same properties of the entire class.
Equivocation
Changing the meaning of a word in the middle of and argument.
Appeal to Shame
Inviting people to assent not from conviction, but out of shame and fear of looking unintelligent.
Exception that Proves the Rule
Dismissal of a valid objection to an argument.
Exclusive Premises
When both premises in an argument are negative.
Existential Falacy
Occurs when we draw a conclusion which implies existence from premises which do not apply that.
Ex Post Facto Statisticts
Perpetrated when we apply probability laws to past events.
Extensional Pruning
Changing words from their commonly understood definition to a literal definition.
False Conversion
Swapping terms in a universal affirmative or particular negative statement.
False Precision
Incurred when exact numbers are used for inexact notions.
Appeal to Technology
Using technical jargon to deceive the audience into assuming what you say is necessarily true.
Gamblers Fallacy
The belief will that future outcomes will be affected by previous one.
Genetic Fallacy
Dismissing a viewpoint because of how it began or who originated it.
Bulverism
Dismissing a viewpoint because of how somebody came to believe it.
Half-Concealed Qualification
The words themselves express a limited claim, but it is glossed over by the stress and construction.
Hedging
Sheltering behind ambiguous meanings so they can be changed later.
Argumentum ad Hominen, (Abusive)
Attacking the arguer instead of the argument being put forth.
Argumentum ad Hominen, (Circumstantial)
An appeal to the special circumstances of your opponent.
Argumentum ad Ignorantum
Committed when we use our lack of knowledge about something in order to infer it’s opposite is the case.
Ignoranto Elenchi
Legitimately proving one thing in order to prove another.
Illicit Process
If a term in the conclusion refers to the whole of the class it must also in the premises.
Irrelevant Humor
Introducing jocular material in order to divert attention away from the argument.
Argumentum ad Lapidem
Ignoring an argument altogether; refusing to discuss it’s central claim.
Argumentum ad Lazaram
Supposing because somebody is poor they must be sounder or more virtuous.
Loaded Words
When words are used to more favorable or hostile then the unadorned facts would elicit.
Argumentum ad Misericordiam
Using pity instead of reason to support a conclusion.
Argumentum ad Nauseum
Using constant repetition to make you point be more readily accepted.
Non-Anticipation
Assuming everything already worth doing has already been done.
Argumentum ad Novitam
Assuming that newer ideas are better simply because of their novelty.
Argumentum ad Numeram
Assuming that large numbers of people are less likely to be wrong.
One-Sided Asseesment
Only taking one side of an argument into consideration.
Petitio Principii
Rewording the conclusion and repeating it as a argument.
Poisoning the Well
Making unpleasant remarks about anyone who might disagree with a chosen position.
Argumentum ad Populum
Appealing to popular attitudes instead of presenting relevant material.
Positive Conclusion from Negative Premisises
Persuading people that things belong to a class by saying what does not belong.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Because something happened prior to something else it must have caused it.
Quaternio Terminum
Using four terms in a syllogism.
Red Herring
Introducing irrelevant material into an argument.
Refuting the Example
Dismissing evidence provided instead of the actual argument.
Redification
The supposition that words must denote real things.
Runaway Train Fallacy
Committed when an argument used to support a cause of action is also used to support more of it.
Secundum Quid
Using inadequate evidence to support a case.
Shifting Ground
Shifting the substance of what you were saying.
Shifting the Burden of Proof
Putting forward an assertion without justification on the basis that the audience disprove it if it is to be rejected.
Slippery Slope
Supposing a single step in a direction sets you sliding all the way to an extreme.
Special Pleading
Asking for an unjustified exception to a rule.
Straw Man
Changing your opponents position to more easily attack him.
Argumentum ad Temoerantiam
Suggesting that the moderate view is the correct one
Thatcher’s Blame
Blaming someone no matter the outcome.
Trivial Objections
Opposing something based on minor or incidental aspects of it.
Tu Quoque
When a case is undermined by pointing out the proponent himself is guilty of the crime
Unaccepted Enthymemes
Where the unsaid statement of a enthymeme is unaccepted.
Undistributed Middle
When neither statement has the middle term occupying it’s whole class.
Unobtainable Perfection
Dismissing an argument on the grounds that it is not perfect.
Ipse Dixit
Appealing to an authority not qualified in the subjected being discussed.
Wishful Thinking
Assuming a statement to be true just because we want it to be so.
