Term
Genetic fallacy: an attempt to discredit a position by condemning its source, or to establish a position by again condemning the source of an opposing viewpoint. |
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Definition
Ad hominem abusive (to the man): referred to as a character assassination, Ad hominem is an attempt to disparage the character of the person presenting the argument; deny the persons intelligence; question the persons integrity; all while not addressing the statements/arguments being presented. Example: Dad does nothing but lie, which is why this whole situation is happening in the first place.
Ad hominem circumstantial: attempts to attack a claim by asserting that the person making the claim is making it simply out of self-interest. Example: I think that we should reject what congressman Rangel has to say about the ethical issues of fundraising because he is a Democrat. |
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| instead of using words to clarify a point, language is used to make things more confusing. A term is used in more than one way. Example: I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed meeting your husband. |
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Term
Faulty causation: an attempt to prove that one thing causes another. |
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Definition
Post hoc: One event occurs and then later another, therefore the first event must have caused the second event. Example: Maria was stung by a bee, two days later she became ill, Maria concludes that the bee sting made her ill.
Slippery Slope: a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question. Example: You can never give anyone a break. If you do, they'll walk all over you.
Statistical conclusion: two phenomena’s are related statistically, the more one thing happens the more the other happens. Example: people who live near lakes are more likely to drown, therefore lakes kill people. |
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Term
False appeal fallacies: appealing to an outside source to make an argument sound stronger. |
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Definition
False appeal to authority: reasoning is flawed because the fact that an unqualified person makes a claim does not provide any justification for the claim. Example: Sam the golfer said that the golf course will be slammed tomorrow because it will be sunny out, we should call an make a reservation.
False appeal to popularity: a claim is accepted as being true simply because most people are favorably inclined towards the claim. Example: Everyone at college thinks Facebook is the best way to communicate, therefore I will join. |
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| Used to manipulate others into agreeing with a point of view by playing their feelings rather than using logic or reason. Example: Maria is getting surgery tomorrow and asked us to help her out, we cannot say no because she has done so much in the past for us. |
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Definition
| a person is adamant that his/her viewpoint is correct although the facts clearly disprove their point. Example: I don’t care what mom said about the car battery, the car dies because it is old. |
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| a person insists that a statement is true until proven false, or false until proven true. Example: Richard is adopted period, his parents can’t prove otherwise. |
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| a person asserts more than one proposition such that the propositions cannot all be true. In such a case, the propositions may be contradictories or they may be contraries. Example: Richard is taller than Timmy, and Timmy is taller than Brett, while Brett is taller than Richard. |
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| People take the opponent’s argument and distorts it, then uses it against them. Example: Senator Palin says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't understand why she wants to leave us defenseless like that |
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Term
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Definition
| an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another topic. Example: Yeah I can’t believe my son did that, but did you watch the news this morning on president Obama’s speech? |
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Definition
| occurs when a speaker makes a claim that presents an artificial range of choices. For instance, he may suggest that there are only two choices possible, when three or more really exist. Example: Eat your broccoli or you won’t get desert. |
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Definition
| a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough; reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence Example: Jerry did horrible on tests, Matt did horrible on test, now I can see that men are horrible at taking tests. |
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| a person "justifies" an action against a person by asserting that the person would do the same thing to him/her, when the action is not necessary to prevent B from doing X to A. Example: After leaving a store, Maria notices that she has underpaid by $10. She decides not to return the money to the store because if she had overpaid, they would not have returned the money. |
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| Assuming what is familiar is the best. The failure to see that other people are likely to see the world differently than you. Provincialism is displayed when the arguer appears culturally or socially, politically or religiously myopic. Example: Im from Florida and Floridians know first thing about sunblock and how important it is that you wear it at all times. I don’t want to hear anything about sunburn or cancer because you don’t know how to purchase sunblock. |
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| a person argues for the legitimacy of an idea, practice, or trait, based only on the fact that the thing already is that way. Example: Maria and the staff only celebrate Christmas as a holiday; this is just the way it is here. |
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| a person uses statements that are so broad and general that they cannot withstand scrutiny. Words like all, every, never, none, and always are clues. Exaggeration. Example: All football players use steroids. |
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| a person uses the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly) assume that the conclusion is true. Example: The belief in God is universal. After all, everyone believes in God. |
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