Rhetological Fallacies

Question 1

Appeal to Anonymous Authority

Answer 1

Using evidence from an unnamed ‘expert’, ‘study’ or generalized group (like ‘scientists’) to claim something is true.

“They say that it takes 7 years to digest chewing gum.”

Question 2

Appeal to Authority

Answer 2

Claiming something is true because an ‘expert’, whether qualified or not, says it is.

“Over 400 prominent scientists and engineers dispute global warming.”

Question 3

Appeal to Common Practice

Answer 3

Claiming something is true because it’s commonly practiced.

“This bank has some problems with corruption. But there’s nothing going on here that doesn’t go on in all the other banks.”

Question 4

Appeal to Ignorance

Answer 4

A claim is true simply because it has not been proven false (or false because it has not been proven true).

“Nobody has proved to me there is a God. So there is no God.”

Question 5

Appeal to Incredulity

Answer 5

Because a claim sounds unbelievable, it must not be true.

“The eye is an incredibly complex biomechanical machine with thousands of interlocking parts. How could that exist without an intelligent designer?”

Question 6

Appeal to Money

Answer 6

Supposing that, if someone is rich or something is expensive, then it affects the truth of the claim.

“If it costs more, it must be better.”

Question 7

Appeal to Novelty

Answer 7

Supposing something is better because it is new or newer.

“Awesome! The latest version of this operating system is going to make my computer faster and better…”

Question 8

Appeal to Popular Belief

Answer 8

Claiming something is true because the majority of people believe it.

“Everyone knows milk is good for your bo

Question 9

Appeal to Probability

Answer 9

Assuming because something could happen, it will inevitably happen.

“The odds of winning the lottery are one in a million. A million tickets were sold. Someone must have won.”

Question 10

Appeal to Tradition

Answer 10

Claiming something is true because it’s (apparently) always been that way.

“Marriage is the union between man and women. Therefore gay marriage is wrong

Question 11

Appeal to Consequences

of a Belief

Answer 11

Arguing a belief is false because it implies something you’d rather not believe.

“That can’t be the Senator on that sextape. If it were, he’d be lying about not knowing her. And he’s not the kind of man who would lie.”

Question 12

Appeal to Fear

Answer 12

An argument is made by increasing fear and prejudice towards the opposing side.

“Before you know it there will be more mosques than churches.”

Question 13

Appeal to Flattery

Answer 13

Using an irrelevant compliment to slip in an unfounded claim which is accepted along with the compliment.

“Intelligent and sophisticated readers will of course recognise a fallacy like this when they read one.”

Question 14

Appeal to Nature

Answer 14

Making your claim seem more true by drawing a comparison with the “good” natural world.

“Of course homosexuality is unnatural. You don’t see same-sex animals copulating.”
[you actually do BTW]

Question 15

Appeal to Pity

Answer 15

Attempt to induce pity to sway opponents.

“The former dictator is an old, dying man. It’s wrong to make him stand trial for these alleged offenses.”

Question 16

Appeal to Ridicule

Answer 16

Presenting the opponent’s argument in a way that makes it appear absurd.

“Faith in God is like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.”

Question 17

Appeal to Spite

Answer 17

Dismissing a claim by appealing to personal bias against the claimant.

“Don’t you just hate how those rich liberal-elite Hollywood actors go on TV to promote their agendas?”

Question 18

Appeal to Wishful Thinking

Answer 18

Suggesting a claim is true or false just because you strongly hope it is.

“He wouldn’t lie. He’s our leader and a good American.”

Question 19

Anecdotal Evidence

Answer 19

Discounting evidence arrived at by systematic search or testing in favor of a few firsthand stories.

“I’m going to carry on smoking. My grandfather smoked 40 a day and he lived until he was 90!”

Question 20

Composition

Answer 20

Assuming that characteristics or beliefs of some or all of a group applies to the entire group.

“Recent terrorist attacks have been carried out by radical Islamic groups. Therefore all terrorists are muslims.”

Question 21

Division

Answer 21

Assuming that characteristics or beliefs of a group automatically apply to any individual member.

“Many Conservatives wish to ban gay marriage, discredit climate change, and deny evolution. Therefore all conservatives are homophobic, anti-enviromental creationists.”

Question 22

Design Fallacy

Answer 22

Assuming that because something is nicely designed or beautifully visualized it’s more true.

Question 23

Gambler’s Fallacy

Answer 23

Assuming the history of outcomes will affect future outcomes.

“I’ve flipped this coin 10 times in a row, and it’s been heads. Therefore the next coin flip is more likely to come up tails.”

Question 24

Hasty Generalization

Answer 24

Drawing a general conclusion from a tiny sample.

“I just got cut off by the woman driver in front. Women drivers!”

Question 25

Jumping to Conclusions

Answer 25

Drawing a quick conclusion without fairly considering relevant (and easily available) evidence.

“She wants birth control in her medical coverage? What a slut!”

Question 26

Middle Ground

Answer 26

Assuming because two opposing arguments have merit, the answer must lie somewhere between them.

“I rear ended your car but I don’t think I should pay for the damage. You think I should pay for all the damage. A fair compromise would be to split the bill in half.”

Question 27

Perfectionist Fallacy

Answer 27

Assuming that the only option on the table is perfect success, then rejecting anything that will not work perfectly.

“What’s the point of this anti-drunk driving campaign? People are still going to drink and drive no matter what.”

Question 28

Relativist Fallacy

Answer 28

Rejecting a claim because of a belief that truth is relative to a person or group.

“That’s perhaps true for you. But it’s not true for me.”

Question 29

Spotlight

Answer 29

Assuming an observation from a small sample size applies to an entire group.

“This large shoe manufacturer employs children in sweatshops. Therefore all shoe companies are evil child-slave owners!”

Question 30

Sweeping Generalisation

Answer 30

Applying a general rule too broadly.

“Those young men rioted because they lacked morally responsible father

Question 31

Undistributed Middle

Answer 31

Assuming because two things share a property, that makes them the same thing.

“A theory can mean an unproven idea. Scientists use the term evolutionary theory. Therefore evolution is an unproven idea.”

Question 32

Ad Hoc Rescue

Answer 32

Trying to save a cherished belief by repeatedly revising the argument to explain away problems.

“…But apart from better sanitation, medicine, education, irrigation, public health, roads, a freshwater system and public order… what have the Romans done for us?”

Question 33

Biased Generalizing

Answer 33

Generalizing from an unrepresentative sample to increase the strength of your argument.

“Our website poll found that 90% of internet users oppose online piracy laws.”

Question 34

Confirmation Bias

Answer 34

Cherry-picking evidence that supports your idea while ignoring contradicting evidence.

“It’s obvious 9-11 was a American-government led conspiracy to justify war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No plane hit the Pentagon. The Twin Towers collapse was a controlled demolition… etc”

Question 35

False Dilemma

Answer 35

Presenting two opposing options as the only two options while hiding alternatives.

“We’re going to have to cut the education budget or go deeper into debt. We can’t afford to go deeper into debt. So we’ll have to cut the education budget.”

Question 36

Misleading Vividness

Answer 36

Describing an occurrence in vivid detail, even if it is a rare occurrence, to convince someone that it is a problem.

“After a court decision to legalise gay marriage, school libraries were required to stock same-sex literature; primary school children were given homosexual fairy stories and even manuals of explicit homosexual advocacy”

Question 37

Red Herring

Answer 37

Introducing irrelevant material to the argument to distract and lead towards a different conclusion.

“The Senator needn’t account for irregularities in his expenses. After all, there are other senators who have done far worse things.”

Question 38

Slippery Slope

Answer 38

Assuming a relatively small first step will inevitably lead to a chain of related (negative) events.

“If we legalize marijuana, more people will start using crack and heroin. Then we’d have to legalize those too.”

Question 39

Suppressed Evidence

Answer 39

Intentionally failing to use significant and relevant information which counts against one’s own conclusion.

“The Iraqi regime possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.”

Question 40

Unfalsifiability

Answer 40

Offering a claim that cannot be proven false, because there is no way to check if it is false or not.

“He lied because he’s possessed by demons

Question 41

Affirming the Consequent

Answer 41

Assuming there’s only one explanation for the observation you’re making.

“Marriage often results in the birth of children. So that’s the primary reason why it exists.”

Question 42

Circular Logic

Answer 42

A conclusion is derived from a premise based on the conclusion.

“Stripping privacy rights only matters to those with something to hide. You must have something to hide if you oppose privacy protection.”

Question 43

Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Answer 43

Claiming two events that occur together must have a cause-and-effect relationship. (Correlation = cause).

“Teenagers in gangs listen to rap music with violent themes. Rap music inspires violence in teenagers.”

Question 44

Denying the Antecedent

Answer 44

There isn’t only one explanation for an outcome. So it’s false to assume the cause based on the effect.

“If you get a degree, you’ll get a good job. If you don’t get a degree, you won’t get a good job.”

Question 45

Ignoring a Common Cause

Answer 45

Claiming one event must have caused the other when a third (unlooked for) event is probably the cause.

“Our kids were vaccinated against whooping cough, and now vaccinated kids are getting the disease.”

Question 46

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Answer 46

Claiming that because one event followed another, it was also caused by it.

“Since the election of the President more people than ever are unemployed. Therefore the President has damaged the economy.”

Question 47

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Answer 47

Assuming that if one wrong is committed, another wrong will cancel it out.

“Sure - the conditions in this prison are cruel and dehumanising. But these inmates are criminals!”

Question 48

Ad Hominem

Answer 48

Bypassing the argument by launching an irrelevant attack on the person and not their claim.

“Anyone that says we should build the Ground Zero Mosque is an American-hating liberal.”

Question 49

Burden of Proof

Answer 49

I don’t need to prove my claim - you must prove it is false.

“I maintain long-term solar cycles are the cause of global warming. Show me I’m wrong.”

Question 50

Circumstance Ad Hominem

Answer 50

Stating a claim lacks credibility only because of the advocate’s interests in their claim.

“A study into the health risks of mobile phone involved mobile phone companies. Therefore, the study cannot be trusted.”

Question 51

Genetic Fallacy

Answer 51

Attacking the cause or origin of a claim, rather than its substance.

“Of course, mainstream liberal media aren’t going to say Barack Obama is a Muslim.”

Question 52

Guilt by Association

Answer 52

Discrediting an idea or claim by associating it with an undesirable person or group.

“Oh you want to relax the anti-terrorism laws just like the terrorists want us to do. Are you saying you support terrorism?”

Question 53

Straw Man

Answer 53

Creating a distorted or simplified caricature of your opponent’s argument, and then arguing against that.

“You say Israel should stop building settlements on the West Bank in violation of treaty. So you’re saying Israel doesn’t have the right to be a nation? ”

Question 54

inductive argument

Answer 54

reasoning from individual observations or events to conclude a general principal

Question 55

deductive argument

Answer 55

an argument that reasons from known premises to an inevitable conclusion

Question 56

Ethos

Answer 56

appeal to ethics

Question 57

pathos

Answer 57

appeal to emotion

Question 58

logos

Answer 58

appeal to logic