faulty causality, also known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc – the faulty assumption that because one event or action follows another, the first causes the second, either/or, reduces complex problems to two simple solutions/alternatives; also known as "false dilemma", equivocation, half-truths or arguments that give lies an honest appearance and are usually based on tricks of language, faulty analogy, inaccurate or inconsequential comparisons between objects or concepts are drawn, slippery slope, portrays today’s tiny misstep as tomorrow’s slide into disaster, straw man, Attack an argument that doesn’t really exist, often a much weaker or more extreme one than the opponent is actually making, overly sentimental appeals, uses emotions excessively to distract readers from facts, hasty generalization, inference drawn from not enough evidence, sweeping generalization, broad generalizations that become stereotypes, red herring, Speaker relies on irrelevant information, non sequitur, argument whose claims, reasons, or warrants don’t connect logically, bandwagon appeals, urge people to follow the same path everyone else is taking, ad hominem, attack the character of a person rather than the claims he or she makes, stacking the deck, only one side of an argument is presented in an effort to only show the favorable side, circular reasoning, evidence and conclusion restate each other, thus proving nothing, false authority, writers offer themselves or other authorities as sufficient warrant for believing a claim, begging the question, presenting an argument in such a way that’s necessarily true even though no evidence has been presented, scare tactics, used to invoke irrational fears, panic, or prejudice, dogmatism, undermines the trust that must exist between those who make and listen to arguments by asserting or assuming that a particular position is the only one that is conceivably acceptable, poisoning the well, introducing negative, irrelevant information about a person or group before they can speak, with the goal of discrediting or ridiculing everything they are about to say., reductio ad absurdum, a method to prove an argument is wrong by taking its claim and following it to its logical extreme.

Common Fallacies

by
Print
Embed

Leaderboard

Visual style

Options

Switch template

Continue editing: ?