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sense or ‘doesn’t follow’ logically. People will often commit logical fallacies as a way
to trick others into believing that they have a good argument when they don’t, but
with the information in the following pages stored safely in your brain, you will
become impervious to such tricks for the rest of your whole entire life!
From Class:
simplified argument, for the sake of having an easy argument to tear apart.
2. Example: The people who expect the United States to offer completely free
university educations obviously don’t understand how taxes work!
3. Argument Fallacy: Creating an argument that is easy to deconstruct does
nothing to interact with the opposing argument - it still exists, and all
you’ve done is prove that you can’t engage with the real argument.
3. Black and White Fallacy
1. Definition: When an issue of any kind is boiled down to having only two
extreme
2. Example: Oh, you’re not in favor of single-payer social health care reform?
Do you just want everybody to have to pay extreme private health care
rates?
3. Argument Fallacy: Almost any issue worth arguing about is nuanced
enough to have multiple varying viewpoints along a spectrum, so reducing
it down to two extremes only serves to make one seem better.
4. “Only One Problem” Fallacy
1. Definition: A variation on the above; positioning an argument as if one
issue
2. Example: Why are you taking time to worry about relatively minor local
pollution
c. Argument Fallacy: People have the ability to care about more than one issue at a time, so
all this does is serve to shift attention to one issue over another.
5. Appeal to Authority
1. Definition: Using a supposed authority figure (person, institution, etc.) as a
valid
source or argument when that figure has no authority in the given topic.
2. Example: Neil DeGrasse Tyson said that the climate is ruined and it’s all
our fault! He’s smart, he’s an astrophysicist, we should listen to him!
3. Argument Fallacy: Relying on an “authority” who, regardless of
intelligence, doesn’t have anything to do with your topic, is the same,
functionally, as relying on a random person with an opinion.
6. False Equivalence
1. Definition: Equating two things (objects, opinions, or arguments) that,
despite
3. Argument Fallacy: This has one of the same problems as “Black and
White” - it relies on overly simplifying complex issues just for the sake of
making a point.
7. No True Scotsman
1. Definition: Argument where a person or group is excluded from the ideals
of a
true version of that group, where no true version of that group has been
defined.
2. Example: How can that person call themselves a nerd if they don’t like
Firefly? No real nerd would hate Firefly! That person isn’t a nerd!
3. Argument Fallacy: Excluding a person (etc.) from a group when you
haven’t defined the group is a tactic you can only use to deliberately
exclude someone from a group: no true version of that group exists
because groups are fluid.
8. Guilt (or Honor) by Association
1. Definition: Ascribing guilt or glory for an action or idea to somebody who,
though
not involved with the principle activity, was in some way close to someone
who
is.
2. Example: Did you hear that Al Gore created the internet? I mean,
technically he
3. Argument Fallacy: Only the people involved with an action can claim
responsibility for the action; technically speaking a person’s associates are
not necessarily a reflection on their beliefs or character or
accomplishments.
9. Shifting Ground
1. Definition: Changing the topic (or your opinions) when prompted for an
argument. Typically changed to a topic or opinion that will make you look good,
but doesn’t actually address the original argumentative prompt in any way.
2. Example: “Mr. Evans, who are you going to vote for in the election?” ...
“Teachers are at risk of influencing students and upsetting parents if they share
their political opinions, and I value the teaching profession too highly to
jeopardize that.”
3. Argument Fallacy: This one is easy - you just didn’t answer the question!
1. Definition: An argument based on the fact that something has been done before
and therefore is worth doing again. Can also be fictitious (something that has not
2. Example: Every president in this country has been a storied career politician with
a history of local politics, and I do too, so I’ll be a good president.
3. Argument Fallacy: Many traditions are, once examined, not inherently worth
continuing. An argument or idea should stand on its own at all times. What
worked in the past may not work now, or may be totally irrelevant.
From Students: (You all were supposed to share with the class why your
fallacies are incorrect ways to formulate arguments. You didn’t, mostly, but you
were supposed to, so I have omitted that here).
Period 4:
1. Appeal to Pity
1. Definition: Attempting to win support for an argument or cause by
exploiting the
other side's feeling of pity or guilt when disconnected from the argument
itself.
this weekend! Come on! I've waited for this my whole life! I deserve an A!
2. Moral Equivalence
1. Definition: An argument that compares two really unrelated things to point
out
because more people died under Mao and Stalin and Pol Pot than they did
in the
Holocaust.
aliens are not real! If they were, more people would know about them!
4. Circular Argument
1. Definition: A circular argument is any argument in which the conclusions
and the
premises are the same, where your evidence is the same as your point.
6. Hasty Generalization
1. Definition: An argument that attempts (sometimes deliberately, sometimes
2. Example: All 4 of the millennials I know are lazy, and worthless! What’s
wrong
with this generation? Why are all the kids these days so lazy and
unmotivated?
7. Genetic Fallacy
1. Definition: An attempt to draw a conclusion based solely on the history or
origin
2. Example: You're not going to wear a wedding ring, are you? Don't you
know that
2. Example: “Illegal immigrants are a drain on the economy because they take
away jobs from legal Americans!” ... “No they don’t, and here’s proof!”
...”Yeah, okay, but I’m still right because what about the fact that they don’t
pay taxes?” ... “Many do pay taxes, and here’s proof!” .... “Oh yeah, what
about...?” etc.
9. Appeal to Emotion
1. Definition: An argument based not on reasoning or evidence, but on the
in the universe for a reason! Imagine how sad and depressing it would be if
we turned out to just be a big accident with no real meaning to our lives.
10. Nirvana Fallacy
ii. Example: Hillary Clinton is worse than Donald Trump, yeah, but do you really want to vote for
somebody who is a felon and has ties to the big banks?
2. Example: Should I go to a smaller, less prestigious in-state school and pay less
1. Definition: An argument based upon perceived, not actual, value. A thing that is
the most expensive or more expensive version of a thing is better than the
2. Example: Rolex makes some of the best watches! You know because of how
expensive they are. But really, Patek Philippe makes the BEST watches, and you
KNOW that because they’re the most expensive.
Period 5:
argument to offer proof opposing that argument. Typically takes the form of "Claim 1 is true."
"Can you prove Claim 1?" "Can you disprove it?"
b. Example: “Aliens are real!” ... “Can you prove that?” ... “Can you prove that they’re not real?
No? Well, obviously they must be then!”
3. Reductio ad Hitlerum
1. Definition: Dismissing any idea or argument as negative, untrue, or “evil,”
simply
because of its association with negative history. Typically takes the form of
an arbitrary comparison to Adolf Hitler / Nazi Germany. The same
arguments can also be a comparison to any other accepted “evil” force.
2. Example: Modern feminists and social justice warriors often say we should
prevent artists from creating racist or sexist content! Even if it's bad, that's
a violation of free speech! The Nazis were against free speech; do we want
to live in a world ruled by what are essentially modern Nazis?
4. Slippery Slope argument
1. Definition: Arguing that just because an event has happened, an "extreme"
2. Example: Did you hear that people are saying guns kill people? What’s
next? Are they gonna try to take all our guns away forever and murder
helpless civilians?
5. Bandwagon Fallacy (Argumentum ad Populum)
1. Definition: An argument that something must be good, or true, because
many or
aliens are not real! If they were, more people would know about them!
6. Circular Argument
1. Definition: A circular argument is any argument in which the conclusions
and the
premises are the same, where your evidence is the same as your point.
2. Example: Mr. Evans is a bad teacher because he doesn't know how to
teach! If
7. Appeal to Ignorance
evidence against it. Similar to "shifting the burden of truth" but this does not necessarily involve
engaging with another argument or arguer.
b. Example: I have every reason to believe I am a great, respected, likable human being,
because nobody has ever told me otherwise.