Fallacies

Question 1

ToF: False Comparison

Answer 1

False Analogy, Fallacy of Antecedent, Argument ad Populum

Question 2

ToF: Using Suspect Grounds

Answer 2

Fallacy of Ignorance, Appeal to Authority

Question 3

ToF: Tautologies

Answer 3

Begging the Question

Question 4

ToF: Wrong Coclusions

Answer 4

Slippery Slope, Post hoc ergo propter hoc, False dilemma

Question 5

ToF: Red Herrings

Answer 5

Straw Man, Argument ad Hominen, Argument ad Misericodium, Tu quoque

Question 6

Tu quoque

Answer 6

Responding to a charge by making a countercharge.

Question 7

Tautology

Answer 7

A statement that must be true in every interpretation by its very conclusion. In an argument it will use circular logic, which means that the premise is also its own conclusion. Typically the premise is restated in the conclusion.

Question 8

Appeal to Authority

Answer 8

Assuming a claim is fact just because someone with high credibility made the claim.

Question 9

Argument ad Populum

Answer 9

Assuming a claim to be true because many other people believe it.

Question 10

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc

Answer 10

Assuming a faulty causal relationship. Assumes cause and effect for two events because they are temporally related. A proceeded B, therefore A caused B.

Question 11

Argument ad Hominen

Answer 11

Attacking a person rather than ideas.

Question 12

Argument ad Misericordium

Answer 12

Appealing to sympathy and compassion in a manner that distracts from the issue.

Question 13

False Comparisons

Answer 13

Lumping examples into the wrong categories. Comparing one thing to another that is not really related, in order to make one thing look more or less desirable than it is.

Question 14

Begging the Question

Answer 14

a fallacy in which the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly) assume that the conclusion is true. This sort of “reasoning” typically has the following form.

This is similar to circular reasoning, when an argument is trying to slip in a conclusion into a premise or question – but it is not the same as circular reasoning because the question being begged can be a separate point. Whereas with circular reasoning the premise and conclusion are the same.

Question 15

False Dilemma

Answer 15

Assuming there are only two options, when there are actually more available.

Question 16

Red Herring

Answer 16

Arguing something that is not really the issue.

Question 17

Straw Man

Answer 17

Presenting and attacking the weakest argument of the opponent as if it were the strongest.

Question 18

Slippery Slope

Answer 18

Argument that if one thing is allowed, it will lead to other things more horrible.

Question 19

Reducto ad Absurdum

Answer 19

A mode of argumentation or a form of argument in which a proposition is disproven by following its implications logically to an absurd conclusion. Arguments which use universals such as, “always”, “never”, “everyone”, “nobody”, etc., are prone to being reduced to absurd conclusions.

Question 20

Fallacy of Antecedent

Answer 20

Arguing that because it never happened before, it will never happen.

Question 21

Hasty Generalization

Answer 21

committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough. OR not using enough evidence as proof for a claim.

Question 22

Fallacy of Ignorance

Answer 22

Arguing that if you can’t prove it, then it must not exist.