Term
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Definition
| Fallacies in which the premise is irrelevant to the conclusion. |
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Term
1. Hugh Hefner has argued against censorship of pornography
2. But Hef is an immature self-indulgent millionaire who never outgrew his adolescent fantasies
3. Therefor his argument is worthless |
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Definition
Personal Attack
Ad Hominem |
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Term
1. Professor Michaels has argued for academic tenure
2. But she's a professor
3. Her argument is worthless |
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Definition
Attack in the motive
When you attack the reason for an argument instead of the argument itself. |
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Term
| Doctor tells patient to quit smoking because its bad. The patient knows that the doctor smokes too, and tell the doctor to piss off. |
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Definition
Look Who's Talking
Tu Quoque |
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Term
| When arguer justifies a wrong act by claiming that some other act is just as wrong or worse. |
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Definition
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Term
1. This health care bill is a bad idea
2. So, if you vote for it, you will have trouble getting reelected |
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Definition
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Term
| "Coach, I know my son can't run, pass, block, catch, tackle, or remember the plays. But if he doesn't make the team, he'll be heartbroke." |
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Definition
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Term
| All the cool kids are smoking. Therefore you should too. |
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Definition
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Term
| "Senator Biddle has argued that we should outlaw violent pornography. Obviously, the senator favors government censorship of books, magazines, and films. This is terrible.." |
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Definition
Straw Man
This is when someone distorts someone else's position to make it easier to attack. |
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Term
| "I've been criticized for not doing enough to help farmers. But my opponents forget that I grew up on a farm. I know what it's like to get up early and milk the cows..." |
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Definition
Red Herring
When an arguer brings in irrelevant information to sidetrack the real discussion. |
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Term
It is a crime to smoke grass.
Kentucky blue grass is a type of grass.
It is illegal to smoke Kentucky blue grass. |
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Definition
Equivocation
When a word is used in two different ways in the same argument |
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Term
Bugee jumping is dangerous because its unsafe
God wrote the Bible. How do you know? Because it says so in the Bible. |
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Definition
Begging the Question
Arguer assumes the very thing she is trying to prove |
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Term
| Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence |
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Definition
| Even though the premises are relevant to a conclusion, they do not provide enough evidence for that conclusion. |
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Term
| Innapropriate appeal to Authority |
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Definition
| When an arguer appeals to a witness/authority who is unreliable |
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Term
| No one has proven that there is not life on other planets. Therefore, there is life on other planets. |
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Definition
Appeal to Ignorance
Arguer says that some claim is true simply because no one has ever proven it false |
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Term
| Either you support a free market economy or you are a communist. |
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Definition
False Dicotomy
False Alternatives |
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Term
Have you stopped cheating on exams?
No.
So you still cheat?
No, I mean to say yes.
So you have cheated on tests in the past? |
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Definition
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Term
| I had a cold. I ate some smarties. Then the cold went away. |
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Definition
Post Hoc Fallacy
When an arguer assumes that because A came before B, A caused B. |
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Term
| Everytime I eat breakfast, I fail my math test. Eating breakfast is bad. |
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Definition
Mere Correlation Fallacy
Arguer assumes that because A and B happened together, that A causes B. |
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Term
| SAT scored has dropped since 1960. Kids have been watching more TV. TV is to blame. |
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Definition
Oversimplification Cause Fallacy
Arguer assumes, without sufficient evidence, that A is the sole cause of B. |
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Term
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Definition
Hasty Generalization
Drawing a conclusion from a sample that is either biased or too small |
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Term
| We should not allow A because if we allow A then B will happen, and then C. C's really bad. |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Two things are compared in an argument and the two things have little or nothing in common. |
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Term
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Definition
| An inconsistant argument cannot be sound. |
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Term
| He lied because he is possessed by demons. |
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Definition
Unfalsifiability
A claim that cannot be proven false. |
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Term
| The company is not racist because the receptionist is African American. |
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Definition
Tokenism
When you mistake a toke gesture for the real thing. |
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Term
| A future teller makes 26 predictions, one actually comes true. The teller says, "I told you so, I can see into the future." |
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Definition
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Term
| Sports team loses, and the last play was a kick. The kicker automatically gets blamed for the loss. |
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Definition
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Term
A typographical error found in a poem.
Therefore it sucks. |
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Definition
Quibbling
To complain about a minor point and falsely believe this undermines the main point. |
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Term
| A broken down car and the owner says its because its scared of being replaced. |
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Definition
Pathetic
to attribute human qualities to inanimate objects. |
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Term
| A gambler assumes the history of outcomes will affect the future outcomes. |
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Definition
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Term
| The cells of humans are very light in weight and so the human is light weight too. |
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Definition
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Term
| The best soccer team does not necessarily have the best goalie. |
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Definition
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