logical fallacies Flashcards
scare tactics
also known as an appeal to fear, is argumentation that uses fear, such as the fear caused by a seemingly reasonable potential adverse outcome, to coerce others into accepting the argument.
either or choices
a false dilemma is a logical fallacy that presents only two options or sides when there are many options or sides.
slippery slope
A slippery slope argument shifts attention from the issue at hand to a hypothetical outcome, offering little or no proof that outcome is likely.
sentimental appeals
appeal to emotion is an attempt to assign emotion to an argument
bandwagon appeals
attempts to persuade people by making them feel that a product or idea is popular and that everyone else is doing it.
appeals to false authors
Using an alleged authority as evidence in your argument when the authority is not really an authority on the facts relevant to the argument.
dogmatism
the tendency to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others.
ad hominem arguments / attacks
directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining
hasty generalization
The hasty generalization fallacy is sometimes called the over-generalization fallacy. It is basically making a claim based on evidence that it just too small.
faulty causality
The assumption that just because one event follows another, the second event is caused by the first event.
circular reasoning
a logical fallacy in which the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with.
equivocation
the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself
non-sequitur
a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
straw man
a weak or imaginary opposition (such as an argument or adversary) set up only to be easily confuted.
faulty analogy
The fallacy, or false analogy, is an argument based on misleading, superficial, or implausible comparisons.
