Fallacies

Question 0

Induction

Answer 0

Inferring from the properties of a sample to the properties of a population as a whole.
Ex. 1,000 beans. Some are black, some white. Take a sample of 100. Half are white, half are black. Then infer that 500 are white and 500 are black.

Question 1

Ignoring the question

Answer 1

Simply avoiding answering questions which one has no good response for.
Ex. The question might be whether the U.S. should increase the number of troops in Afghanistan. To ignore the question would be to ask whether war is morally wrong.

Question 2

False analogy

Answer 2

Basing an argument on an inappropriate association of unrelated items.
Ex. Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so must employees.

Question 3

Deduction

Answer 3

Argument that is invalid. Where it goes wrong and is no longer a logical process.
Ex. All birds have beaks, that creature has a beak, so that creature is a bird.

Question 4

Syllogism

Answer 4

Used to form incorrect conclusions that are odd.

Ex. All crows are black and the bird in my cage is black. So the bird in my cage is a crow.

Question 5

Argumentum ad hominem

Answer 5

latin for against the person.
Ex. The movie was horrible the lead actor has a gambling problem. The actor having a gambling problem isn’t relevant to why the movie was horrible.

Question 6

Ad vericundiam

Answer 6

Using a celebrity or authority figure to verify the worth of a product.
Ex. UFOs aren’t real because Obama said so.

Question 7

Composition

Answer 7

Generalizing that since a part of a whole has a certain property, the whole must also have that property.
Ex. Tigers eat more food than humans. So a group of tigers eats more food than all humans on earth.

Question 8

Ad populum

Answer 8

Using emotionally loaded diction to garner support.

Ex. Of course he’s easygoing, he’s from California.

Question 9

Division

Answer 9

the apostles of jesus were 12. does that mean matthew was 12?
Ex. Bill lives in a large building, so his apartment must be huge.

Question 10

Dicto simpliciter

Answer 10

Making a general statement and arguing that it will apply to specifics.
Ex. Exercise is good. Therefore everybody should exercise.

Question 11

Either/or fallacy

Answer 11

always runs the risk of ignoring a third or fourth possibility.
Ex. If we don’t not invest in mass transit within the next few years, we will be unable to reverse the trend of cars taking over the roads. It’s not true.

Question 12

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Answer 12

after this, therefore because of this.

Ex. Crime is highest during the summer. Thus the heat of summer causes an increase in crime.

Question 13

Composition

Answer 13

the reasoning commits the error of arguing from the true premise that each member of a group has a certain property to the not necessarily true conclusion that the group (the composition) itself has the property.
Ex. Tanks use more fuel than cars. Tanks use up more of the available fuel in the world than do all the cars.

Question 14

Hasty generalization

Answer 14

the precipitous move from true assertions about one or a few instancces, to dubious or even false assertionas about all.
Ex. My father smoked four packs of cigarettes a day since age fourteen and lived until sixty nine. Therefore, smoking can’t be that bad for you.m

Question 15

Premise and the common ground

Answer 15

Establishing common ground to push your premise

Ex. Anyone that Muslim is a threat to this country and that’s a fact.

Question 16

Hypothesis contrary to fact

Answer 16

Makes a hypothesis about what would have happened had something else not occurred.
Ex. If you took that course in CD player repair right out of high school, you would be doing well and gainfully employed right now.

Question 17

Equivocation

Answer 17

giving utterance to two meanings at the same time in one word or phrase. it can ruin good reasoning.
Ex. I have a right to watch cartoons. It’s right for me to watch now. So I think I’ll do that instead of study for my exam.

Question 18

Faulty dilemma

Answer 18

Claiming that either one or the other option is true. If one is false, then the other must be true, when actually both could be false.
Ex. Look you have to decide. Either you can afford this stereo or we do without music for awhile.

Question 19

Ad misericordiam

Answer 19

Appeal to pity or sympathy- like pathos.
Ex. A lawyer defending a client accused of assault might argue that the client has a stressful work environment and s demanding family. The lawyer is arguing for pity based in the clients level of stress, and is evading the question of whether the client committed the assault.

Question 20

Non sequitur

Answer 20

latin for it does not follow, the claim does not follow from the grounds. the conclusion doesnt follow the premises.
Ex. He’s so charismatic. He must be really knowledgeable. A reasonable person can’t logically conclude that someone who is charismatic must also be knowledgeable.

Question 21

Analogy begging the question

Answer 21

Assuming the conclusion of an argument, a type of circular reasoning.
Ex. The belief in God is universal. Everyone believes in God.

Question 22

Contradictory premise

Answer 22

Argument that draws a conclusion from inconsistent of incompatible premises.
Ex. If God can do anything then he can make a stone so heavy that even he himself won’t be able to lift it. But he can do anything so he can lift it… When they contradict each other.

Question 23

Guilt by association

Answer 23

When a person rejects a claim simply because it is pointed out that people she dislikes accept the claim.
Ex. Justin owns a gun. Terrorists own guns, therefore he’s a terrorist.

Question 24

Distributed middle term

Answer 24

Committed when the middle term in a categorical syllogism is not distributed in either the minor premise or the major premise.
Ex. All students carry backpacks, my grandpa does, so that means he’s a student.

Question 25

Fallacy of many questions

Answer 25

Asking a question that cannot be answered without admitting a presupposition that may be false, as have you stopped beating your wife?
Ex.

Question 26

Death by a thousand qualifications

Answer 26

Gets its name from ancient torture, death by a thousand small cuts. A bold assertion can be virtually killed, its true content reduced to nothing, bit by bit, as all the appropriate or necessary qualifications are added to it.
Ex. I have the best tumblr because everyone reblogs everything that I post.

Question 27

Oversimplification

Answer 27

The result of a failure to use suitable modal qualifiers in formulating one’s claims or grounds or backing.
Ex. People end up in jail because they are lazy or have weak morals. This ignored the complexities of societal influences, mental illness, and a multitude of other factors.

Question 28

poisoning the well

Answer 28

an attempt to shift attention from the merits of the argment- the validity of the reasoning, the truth of the claims- to the source or origin of the argument.
Ex. Don’t listen to him, he’s a loser.

Question 29

Genetic fallacy

Answer 29

the error takes the form of arguing against some claim by pointing out that its origin ( genesis) is tainted or that it was invented by someone deserving our contempt.
Ex. I was brought up to believe in God, and my parents told me God exists so he must.

Question 30

Slippery slope

Answer 30

implying that the first step necessarily leads to the second, and so on down the slope to disaster, when in fact there is no necessary slide fromthe first step to the second.
Ex. You can never give anyone a break, or else they’ll walk all over you.

Question 31

Appeal to ignorance

Answer 31

Occurs when you argue that your conclusion must be true, because there is no evidence against it. Wrongly shifts the burden of proof away from the one making the claim.
Ex. Hang with me tonight. Why should I? Why shouldn’t you?

Question 32

Begging the question

Answer 32

the conclusion of the argument is hidden among its assumptions- and so the conclusion follows from the premises.
Ex. Aliens can’t possibly exist because there isn’t life on other planets.

Question 33

False dichotomy

Answer 33

Committed when the arguer claims that his conclusion is one of the only two options when there are more possibilities. Ex. Either I go to the concert or I’ll be miserable. I know you don’t wanted me to be miserable so I’ll just go.