Informal Fallacies Flashcards
Introducing an irrelevant point into an argument. Someone may think it proves his side, but it really doesn’t.
Red Herring
Using a double standard or arguing for an unjustified exception.
Special Pleading
Attacking an opponent’s character or his motives for believing something instead of disproving his argument.
Ad Hominem
Condemning an argument because of where it began, how it began, or who began it.
Genetic Fallacy
Dismissing another person’s viewpoint on an issue because the speaker is inconsistent in that very thing.
Tu Quoque (you too)
Appealing to the authority of someone who has no special knowledge in the are he is discussing.
Faulty Appeal to Authority
Claiming one’s viewpoint is correct just because many other people agree with it.
Appeal to the People
Changing or exaggerating an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute.
Straw Man
Attempting to prove a conclusion by simply restating it. Someone says “P is true because Q is true, and Q is true because P is true.”
Circular reasoning
Changing the meaning of a word in the middle of an argument.
Equivocation
Asking one question which assumes the answer to a second question.
Loaded Question
Assuming that if we take one step, nothing will stop us from taking a series of steps because each step is the same.
Slippery Slope
Asserting that what is true of part of something must also be true of the whole thing.
Part-to-Whole
Asserting that what is true of something as a whole must also be true of each of its parts.
Whole-to-Part
Asserting that we must choose between two things, when in fact we have more than two alternatives.
Either-Or (aka false dilemma)
Generalizing about a class based upon a small or poor sample.
Hasty Generalization
Claiming that some items with only minor similarities are the same in almost everything else.
Weak Analogy
Assuming that since A happened before B, A must have caused B.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Claiming something is true simply because nobody has yet given any evidence to the contrary.
Proof by Lack of Evidence
Moving us to fear the consequence of not doing what someone wants.
Appeal to Fear
Urging us to do something only because we pity someone, or we pity something associated with him.
Appeal to Pity
Pressuring us to do something just because many other people like us are doing it.
Bandwagon
Offering nothing more than a time limit as a reason for us to do what someone wants.
Exigency
Repeating a message loudly and very often in the hope that we will believe it.
Repetition
Getting us to transfer our good or bad feelings about one thing to another unrelated thing.
Tranfer
Encouraging us to think someone’s product would make us better than or make us stand out from everybody else.
Snob Appeal
Encouraging us to buy a product or do something because it is associated with something old.
Appeal to Tradition
Urging us to buy something because it is the ‘latest thing’ – but not necessarily because it is the best thing.
Appeal to Hi-tech
