Logical Fallacies Flashcards
Ad Hominem Abusive
[Personal Attack] “against the person” When a claim is rejected based on alleged character flaws or a negative stereotype of the person making the claim.
Ad Hominem Circumstantial
[Personal Attack] When a claim is rejected based on the life circumstances of the person making the claim.
Tu Quoque
[Personal Attack] “you, too”
A type of ad hominem fallacy that occurs when a person
avoids the issue at hand by claiming the other person is a
hypocrite.
Poisoning the Well
[Personal Attack] When a person is attacked before having a chance to present a case
Appeal to the People
[Emotional Appeals] Occurs when an argument manipulates a desire to belong to a group so the listener will accept the conclusion.
Appeal to Pity
[Emotional Appeals] An emotional plea that relies solely on a sense of pity for support.
Appeal to Fear or Force
[Emotional Appeals] A threat of harmful consequences (physical or otherwise) used to force acceptance of a course of action that would otherwise be unacceptable.
Begging the Question
[Unwarranted Assumption] “assume at the beginning”
Assumes as evidence in the premises the very thing
that it attempts to prove in the conclusion.
Complex Question
[Unwarranted Assumption] A single question that actually contains multiple parts
and an unestablished hidden assumption.
Appeal to Ignorance
[Unwarranted Assumption] An argument built on a position of ignorance claiming either:
1. a statement must be true because it has not been proven to be false
or
2. a statement must be false because it has not been proven to be true.
Appeal to an Unqualified Authority
[Unwarranted Assumption] Relies on the opinions of people who have no expertise, training, or knowledge relevant to the issue at hand.
False Dichotomy
[Unwarranted Assumption] A fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that only two
choices are possible, when in fact others exist.
Equivocation
[Diversion] The intentional or unintentional use of different
meanings of words or phrases in an argument.
Straw Man
[Diversion] Occurs when someone’s written or spoken words are taken out
of context, purposely distorting the original argument to create
a new, weak argument that can be easily refuted (a straw man
that is easily knocked down).
Red Herring
[Diversion] Occurs when someone completely ignores an opponent’s position and changes the subject, diverting the discussion in a new direction.
Misleading Precision
[Diversion] A claim that appears to be statistically significant, but is not.
Missing the Point
[Diversion] When premises that seem to lead logically to one
conclusion are used instead to support an unexpected conclusion
Rigid Use of a Generalization
[Weak Inductive Argument] From the general to the specific. When a generalization is believed to be universal and is inappropriately applied to an a case that is an exception
Hasty Generalization
[Weak Inductive Argument] From the specific to the general
An argument that relies on a small sample that is unlikely to
represent the population.
Composition
[Weak Inductive Argument] The mistaken transfer of (1) an attribute of the individual parts of an object to the object as a whole or (2) an attribute of the individual members of a class
to the class itself.
Division
[Weak Inductive Argument] The mistaken transfer of (1) an attribute of an object as
a whole to the individual parts of the object or (2) an attribute of a class to the individual members of the class.
Biased Sample
[Weak Inductive Argument] Uses a nonrepresentative sample as support for a statistical claim about an entire population.
Post Hoc (Coincidence)
[Weak Inductive Argument, False Cause] Involves a short-term pattern noticed after the fact:
X occurred before Y, therefore X caused Y. , Results from the accidental or chance connection
between two events.
Post Hoc (Common Cause)
[Weak Inductive Argument, False Cause] Involves a short-term pattern noticed after the fact:
X occurred before Y, therefore X caused Y. Occurs when one event is assumed to cause another when both events are the result of a common cause.
