Logical Fallacies

Question 1

Bandwagon Appeals ( ad populum)

Answer 1

Trying to get everyone on board. Writers who use this approach try to convince everyone that everyone else believes something, so the reader should also.

Question 2

Non Sequitur arguments

Answer 2

Does not follow a logical sequence. The conclusion doesn’t logically follow the explanation. Can be found in the sentence leave and the level of the argument itself.

Question 3

Oversimplification

Answer 3

Arguments supply neat and easy explanations for large and complicated phenomenon. These are popular.

Question 4

Hasty Generalization

Answer 4

Basing in arguments on insufficient evidence. Writers may draw conclusions too quickly not considering the whole issue. They may look only at at small group representative of the whole or may only look at a small piece of the issue.

Question 5

Either/or arguments

Answer 5

Reducing complex issues to black and white choices when the issue actually has a number of choices. Creating a problem that doesn’t really exist. False dilemma.

Question 6

False Authority

Answer 6

Argument from doubtful or unidentified authority. Used especial in advertising. An authority in one field may know nothing of another field.

Question 7

Begging the question

Answer 7

Aka circular logic. Happens when the writer presents an arguable point as a fact that supports the argument. Leads the argument to go in circles

Question 8

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter hoc

Answer 8

(After this, therefore also this) arguments, post hoc for short, assume a faulty casual relationship. One event following in time with another does not mean the two are related. Also called false cause fallacy.

Question 9

Flash or weak analogies

Answer 9

Lead to faulty conclusions. Often used to explain a relationship but sometimes these metaphors do not relate upon closer inspection.

Question 10

Red Herring

Answer 10

Have little relevance to the argument at hand. Desperate arguments often try to change the ground of the argument by changing the subject. The new subject may relate to the original argument but does little to resolve it.

Question 11

Ignoring the question

Answer 11

Is similar to a red herring but rather than answering the question that has been asked or addressing the issue at hand, the writer shifts focus, supplying an unrelated argument.

Question 12

Slippery Slope

Answer 12

Suggest that one step will inevitably lead to more, eventually negative steps. Argues that the descent is inevitable and unalterable. Speculation rarer than eventuality.

Question 13

Ad Hominem

Answer 13

(Attacking the character of an opponent-from the Latin “to the man”)
Arguments limit themselves not to the issues, but to the opposition itself. Writers who fall into this fallacy attempt to refute the claims of the opposition by bringing the opposition’s character into the question. “Mudslinging”