Fallacies Flashcards
Genetic Fallacy
Using someone’s origin against them to argue that they are wrong
Ex: “You can’t believe Bob’s idea because it came from a dream”
Appeal to Emotion
Used to influence people’s emotions without any actual compelling argument.
Ex: A politician runs ads about what America looks like with an opponent in a political position without talking about their own views
The Texas Sharpshooter/False Cause
Texas sharpshooter refers to a fallacy where cherry-picked data and information is used to prove a misleading point. Some Texas Sharpshooter fallacies are also “false cause fallacies,” where correlation and causation are confused
Ex. More beach accidents occur when ice cream sales are high, so ice cream is causing more accidents to occur (False Cause)
Ex: The makers of a soda point to research showing that of the five countries where the soda sells the best, three of them are in the top ten healthiest countries on Earth, meaning that the soda is healthy (Texas Sharpshooter)
No True Scotsman
Fallacy used against all clear evidence pointing toward a fact to make as if the evidence does not apply to the circumstance because of a false “truth.”
Ex: Even though male military veterans suffer from depression more frequently than normal, they must “tough it out” like “real men”
Strawman
Used to misrepresent or exaggerate an opposing argument to make it easier to attack
Ex: A politician says that their opponent is going to fully legalize
abortion in all circumstances when they only called for it to be legalized up until and not including the third trimester with someexceptions
Ad Hominem
When someone criticizes the person making an argument rather than the argument itself
Ex: A woman argues that abortion should be legal in all cases, but an opponent says that she is not qualified to say that because she went to prison for a few weeks
