Logical Fallacies Flashcards
Ad ignorantium
Appeal to ignorance. Arguing on the basis of what is not known and cannot be known. If you can’t prove something is true then it must be false.
Ad hominem
Attacking the person.
Ad verecundiam
Appeal to authority. This fallacy tries to convince the listener by appealing to the reputation of a famous or respected person.
Amphiboly
A fallacy of syntactical ambiguity where the position of words in a sentence or the juxtaposition of two sentences conveys a mistaken idea. Ambiguity in word placement. Jim said he saw Jenny walk her dog through the window.
Appeal to emotion
In this fallacy, the arguer uses emotional appeals rather than logical reasons to persuade the listener. The fallacy can appeal to various emotions including pride, pity, fear, hate, vanity, or sympathy.
Argument from stretched analogy or false analogy
An unsound form of inductive argument in which an argument relies heavily on a weak analogy to prove its point. This car must be great, for, like the watches in the world, it was made in Switzerland.
Begging the question
An argument in which the conclusion is implied or already assumed in the premises. Also said to be circular argument. Of course the Bible is the word of God. Why? Because God says so in the bible.
Slippery slope
A line of reasoning that argues against taking a step because it assumes that if you take the first step, you will inevitably follow through to the last. This fallacy uses the valid form of hypothetical syllogism, but uses guesswork for the premises. We can’t allow students any voice in decision making on campus; if we do, it won’t be long before they are in total control.
Common belief
“Bandwagon” or appeal to popularity. This fallacy is committed when we assert a statement to be true on the evidence that many other people allegedly believe it.
Past belief
A form of common belief fallacy. The same error in reasoning is committed except the claim is for belief or support in the past. We all know women should obey their husbands. After all, marriage vows contained those words for centuries.
Contrary to fact hypothesis
This fallacy is committed when we state with an unreasonable degree of certainty the results of an event that might have occurred but did not.
Division
This fallacy is committed when we conclude that any part of a particular whole must have a characteristic because the whole has that characteristic. I am sure that Karen plays the piano well, since her family is so musical.
Composition
We conclude that a whole must have a characteristic because some part of it has that characteristic. The Dawson claim must be rolling in money, since Fred Dawson makes a lot from his practice.
False dilemma
“Either/or” fallacy or false dichotomy.
Assumes that we must choose one of two alternatives instead of allowing for other possibilities; a false form of disjunctive syllogism. America, love it or leave it.
Equivocation
This fallacy is a product of semantic ambiguity. The arguer uses the ambiguous nature of the word or phrase to shift the meaning in such a way as to make the reason offered appear more convincing.