LOGICAL FALLACIES Post Hoc (False Cause) Definition: The belief that one thing or event causes another thing or event to happen (as in cause and effect ) but there is no proof of that claim. Examples: Kevin’s dog bit his leg. That night Kevin had a fever so he concluded that it was because his dog bit him. The baseball player got a new hat and while wearing it, he hit a home run. He concluded that he got a home run because he was wearing the hat. It rained one morning and later that day Jim had a headache. He concluded that the headache was caused by the rain. Everyone who dies drinks water, therefore drinking water causes you to die. If you want to live then don’t drink water. In politics, a candidate may claim that because their opponent is a bad person, voting for them makes you automatically as bad as they are. This correlates the act of voting for someone who is bad to making you bad. False Dichotomy (False Dilemma, Either/Or Fallacy) Definition : When only two choices are presented yet more exist, or a spectrum of possible choices exists between two extremes. When an argument presents only two options and ignores other available options. The options are presented as the only possible arguments, and as if only one of them can be true. This can be done purposefully or out of ignorance. Examples : All animals are either mammals or fish (Birds are not mammals or fish. There are other types of animals too.) “You need to go to the party with me, otherwise you’ll just be bored at home.” A person either likes cats or hates them.
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LOGICAL FALLACIES
Post Hoc (False Cause)Definition: The belief that one thing or event causes another thing or event to happen (as in cause and effect) but there is no proof of that claim.
Examples: Kevin’s dog bit his leg. That night Kevin had a fever so he concluded that it was because his dog bit him.
The baseball player got a new hat and while wearing it, he hit a home run. He concluded that he got a home run because he was wearing the hat.
It rained one morning and later that day Jim had a headache. He concluded that the headache
was caused by the rain.
Everyone who dies drinks water, therefore drinking water causes you to die. If you want to live then don’t drink water.
In politics, a candidate may claim that because their opponent is a bad person, voting for them makes you automatically as bad as they are. This correlates the act of voting for someone who is bad to making you bad.
False Dichotomy (False Dilemma, Either/Or Fallacy)
Definition : When only two choices are presented yet more exist, or a spectrum of possible choices exists between two extremes. When an argument presents only two options and ignores other available options. The options are presented as the only possible arguments, and as if only one of them can be true. This can be done purposefully or out of ignorance.
Examples :
All animals are either mammals or fish (Birds are not mammals or fish. There are other types of animals too.)
“You need to go to the party with me, otherwise you’ll just be bored at home.”
A person either likes cats or hates them.
“You are for us, or you are against us.”
You’re either with me, or you’re against me.
It’s my way or the highway.
Car salesman to buyer: “If you don’t buy this car, you might as well not drive at all.”
It’s either you love children and donate to our cause, or you’re a heartless children hater.
Begging the Question (Circular Reasoning)- Definition : Any form of argument where the conclusion is assumed in one of the premises. In other words, a claim is made and accepted to be true, but there is no evidence that the claim is actually true.
Examples :
Fruits and vegetables are part of a healthy diet. After all, a healthy eating plan includes fruits and vegetables.
Smoking cigarettes can kill you because cigarettes are deadly.
Women write the best novels because men do not write novels as well.
The death penalty is wrong because killing people is immoral.
Ghosts are real because I have had experiences with them.
● Example- Student: “Why didn’t I get full credit on my paper?”
Teacher: “It didn’t meet the requirements for full credit”
● Example- “Freedom of speech is important, because people should be able to speak freely.”
Hasty Generalization- a fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence. You draw a conclusion by a small sample instead of the statistics that are more in line with the conclusion. Another definition is a conclusion that is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased information. This fallacy has many other titles, including: insufficient sample, converse accident, faulty generalization, biased generalization, jumping to a conclusion, secundum quid, and a neglect of qualifications.
Examples: Accusing all teenagers of being reckless and dangerous after one teenager vandalizes a building. Claiming that all boys are rude after one of them doesn’t open the door for you. Claiming that all pets are messy and burdensome when your dog chews up a couch pillow.
“My father smoked four packs of cigarettes a day since age fourteen and lived until age sixty-nine. Therefore, smoking really can’t be that bad for you.”
“Christine has a terrible experience with a boyfriend. She decides that all boys are mean.”
Missing the Point: A perfect conclusion can be drawn from the statements, yet the conclusion stated is completely something else. It is also defined as an informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may (or may not) be logically valid and sound, but the conclusion fails to address the issue in question. This fallacy is also known as irrelevant conclusion.
Examples:
“You are hot and I am cold. You are wearing a brown coat. So let’s go for a drink.”
“Bears are dangerous but they can’t be because they’re so cute.”
Slippery Slope
Definition: an argument that suggests taking a minor action will lead to major and sometimes ludicrous consequences. It basically means that if you let A happen, then B will happen, then C will happen, and it will ultimately lead to Z happening.
Examples:If I let you copy my answers the first time, then you will think you can continue to cheat off my assignments. Then, more and more people will think they can get away with taking advantage of me by turning in my answers.
If I loan you a dollar today then you will eventually ask me for ten dollars and then one hundred dollars. I do not want that to happen, so I cannot give you the one dollar loan.
The children’s book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie is a great example of Slippery Slope.
Equivocation- Using an ambiguous term in more than one sense, thus making an argument misleading. Equivocation is the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or avoid committing oneself; prevarication; when a key term in an argument is used in an ambiguous way
Examples:
Two aspirin will make a headache go away. Therefore, two aspirin will make noisy children go away.
A warm beer is better than a cold beer. After all, nothing is better than a cold beer, and a warm beer is better than nothing.
Circular Reasoning- When the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with.
Examples:
The Bible is true so therefore you should not doubt the word of God.
What are electrolytes? They’re what they use to make powerade. But why do they use them to make powerade? Because powerade has electrolytes in it.
Ad Hominem
Definition: “Attacking the person making the argument, rather than the argument itself, when the attack on the person is completely irrelevant to the argument the person is making.
Examples:
A mother who tells the pediatrician that she doesn't trust his judgment because he's never been a mother. Instead of commenting on the evidence or possible errors in the doctor's diagnosis, the argument attacks the doctors personality.
“How can you argue your case for vegetarianism when you are enjoying that steak?” This argument doesn’t comment on the legitimate claims for vegetarianism, instead ridiculing the author for being a hypocrite.
The lobster isn’t commenting on his opponents ideas or arguments, but is instead discrediting him due to his appearance.
Ad Populum
Definition: States that an argument must be true if a large number of people agree with it. The appeal to the popularity of a claim is the reason for accepting it.
Examples:
A child telling his parents that he deserves a new phone because “everyone” has one. - The child is insisting that if all of his friends are getting phones, that he too deserves phone just because they have one.
Because a majority of people in the United States believe in creationism, it should be taught to all students in school. - just because a majority of people believe something does not mean that it is correct.
Even though jumping is the wrong thing to do, the sheep are still jumping because they know that everyone else is.
Red Herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue. By diverting the attention to a subtopic, the main topic is not focused on and therefore may convince people into believing something severely misconstrued or unscrupulous.
This fallacy is often used in thriller/mystery novels, political speeches, business announcements, parent/child conversations, and controversial conversations.
Examples:
Mother: It’s bedtime JaneJane: Mom, how do ants feed their babies?Mother: Don’t know dear, close your eyes now.Jane: But mama, do ant babies cry when they’re hungry?
Mike: It is morally wrong to cheat on your spouse, why on earth would you have done that?Ken: But what is morality exactly?Mike: It’s a code of conduct shared by cultures.Ken: But who creates this code?...
Examples (underlined lines highlight the fallacy):
1. In businesses, arguing against health benefits on the job, “Yes, we give health benefits after ten years of service. We have a lounge for the workers to relax. We also have food parties once a month.”
The ultimate question was regarding the health benefits, but because this deal may deflect the worker from deciding to work there (due to the longevity of work before receiving health benefits), the employer uses the red herring fallacy by highlighting some other benefits of joining the job.
2. In politics; President Donald Trump is asked in a conference hosted in New Hampshire about how he plans to reduce pollution that is the driving force for climate change and poor health. He responds by saying, “ Who here believes in global warming?”
The question was asking how he planned to act on the heightened amount of pollution, but Trump deflected the question using the red herring fallacy by mocking the idea of global warming and even commenting about the air conditioning in the building.
3. In parent/child relationships; Your mom checks your grades and sees how poorly you did on your math test. You say, “I know I did bad on my math test, but I got a 100% on my vocabulary test in English.”
The child uses the red herring fallacy to pull the attention away from the bad math grade, and shine light on the good english grade.
Straw ManA straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent. Straw man fallacies take a strong position and convert it into a misrepresented, simple, and exaggerated argument.
Examples (underlined lines highlight the use of the fallacy):
Senator Smith says that the nation should not add to the defense budget. Senator Jones says that he cannot believe that Senator Smith wants to leave the nation defenseless.
Taylor (opposing argument): “I’m going to sit with the new girl today. She looks lonely sitting at that table by herself.”Stacy (straw man argument): “I can’t believe you would decide to sit with her over the friends you have known for years. You must not care about us as much as I thought.”
Stacy is twisting Taylor’s reason for sitting with the new girl, being she looks lonely, into an argument over the validity of their friendship. She has refuted and exaggerated Taylor’s position and made Taylor seem like a bad friend.
Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton(opposing argument): Hillary Clinton does not support the idea of building walls to control immigration reform in America. (straw man argument): Donald Trump misrepresents her position by saying Hillary is advocating for “open border policies”. He then claims that “open border policies” would cause a disaster on trade and on the United States. This argument is very easy for people to agree upon whether that is what Hillary actually believes or not.
Teaching assistant (opposing argument) : “The homework assignment was much harder than we thought, so I think we should give a few extra points to students who completed it.”Professor (straw man argument): “That’s a terrible idea. If we give everyone a perfect score for no reason, students won’t bother working hard in the future.”
The original position, presented by the teaching assistant, was to give only the students who completed the assignment a few extra points, but the professor refutes this by saying everyone does not deserve a perfect score. The assistant teacher only eluded to the students that
completed the assignment (not “everyone”), and also never says that they deserve a “perfect score”, like insinuated by the professor.
Weak AnalogyDefinition: When people compare two things to create an argument, but the connection is not strong enough to make the case.
“Guns and hammers are both pieces of metal that can be used to kill someone, yet you wouldn’t put a restriction on a hammer, so why would you for a gun?”
“If you like to watch scary movies, you like to go to haunted houses.”
“If you like going to school, you will do well in math class.”
Appeal to Authority
Definition: Saying that a claim is true just because an authority or an expert said it was true. This includes celebrity testimonials.
Examples:
“My doctor told me that if you only smoke half a pack a day, you will not get lung cancer.”
“Mr.Abernathy, a Louisville Metro Police Officer, says that all criminals have brown eyes. I believe this to be true.”
“Jane Smith, a famous psychologist, stated that medication will cure all mental illnesses.”
Tu Quoque
Definition: a retort charging an adversary with being or doing what he criticizes in others.
What does this mean? Accusing someone of doing something that you yourself are guilty of.
Example:
● Mother: You should stop smoking. It's harmful to your health.
Daughter: Why should I listen to you? You started smoking when you were 16!
● Wilma: You cheated on your income tax. Don't you realize that's wrong?
Walter: Hey, wait a minute. You cheated on your income tax last year. Or have you forgotten about that?
Sunk Cost
Definition: the idea that a company or organization is more likely to continue with a project if they have already invested a lot of money, time, or effort in it, even when continuing is not the best thing to do.
What does this mean? The idea that if you have already spent a lot of time and money on something, you should just keep doing it even if it isn’t the best option.
Examples:
● We've already spent $4 million. We might as well finish the project.' A more enlightened executive will say, 'It doesn't matter that we've already spent $4 million -We need to decide if investing in a housing development is a sound decision’.
● You buy tickets to a concert. On the day of the event, you catch a cold. Even though you are sick, you decide to go to the concert because otherwise “you would have wasted your money.”
Appeal to Pity
Definition: This is a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent’s feelings of pity or guilt.
Examples
"You must have graded my exam incorrectly. I studied very hard for weeks specifically because I knew my career depended on getting a good grade. If you give me a failing grade I'm ruined!"
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look at this miserable man, in a wheelchair, unable to use his legs. Could such a man really be guilty of embezzlement?
Appeal to Ignorance
Definition: Appeal to Ignorance asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false or the proposition is false because it has not yet been proven true.
Examples:
No one has shown ghosts aren’t real, so they must be real.
Of course I believe in ESP. No one has ever demonstrated that it doesn’t exist.
Scientists have not found any evidence on Bigfoot. Therefore, anyone who claims to have seen bigfoot must be hallucinating.
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