English 1013 Purposive Communication
Common
Logical
Fallacies
What is an Argument?
• An argument is a presentation of reasons
for a particular claim.
• It is composed of premises.
• Premises are statements that express your
reason or evidence.
• These premises must be
arranged in an appropriate
way in order to support
your conclusion
To craft a strong argument, one must. ..
• Possess a certain degree of familiarity with the
subject
• Use good premises
• Find good support for one's conclusion
• Focus only on the most relevant part of the
issue
» Don't get sidetracked by rabbit trails!
• Only make claims that are capable of being
supported
» This means avoiding sweeping claims, as those
are rarely supportable.
What is a Fallacy ?
Common Logical Fallacies
1. Hasty Generalization
• Making assumptions about an entire group of
people, or a range of cases based on an
inadequately small sample.
• Creates a general rule based on a single case
• Stereotypes are a common example
In other words, they jump to conclusions about the
validity of a proposition with some -- but not
enough -- evidence to back it up, and overlook
potential counterarguments.
Example 1.
(1) My roommate from
Maine loves lobster
ravioli.
(2) Therefore, all people
from Maine must love
lobster ravioli.
Example 2.
Two members of my team have become more
engaged employees after taking public speaking
classes. That proves we should have mandatory
public speaking classes for the whole company to
improve employee engagement.
2. Missing the Point
• The premise supports a conclusion other than the
one it is meant to support
Example:
(1) There has been an increase in burglary in the
area.
(2) More people are moving into the area.
(3) Therefore, the burglary is directly caused by the
increased number of people moving into the area.
3. Post hoc (False Cause)
• Post hoc comes from the Latin phrase, post hoc, ergo
propter hoc which, when translated, is "after this,
because of this."
• This fallacy assumes that because X precedes Y,
therefore X caused Y.
• This is a common fallacy found in news articles,
especially those pertaining to some scientific or
medical study.
• You may have heard it explained as "correlation is not
the same as causation"
• Superstitious beliefs are often due to the Post Hoc
Fallacy: an athlete wears their "lucky socks" and wins
the game, etc.
Example 1 :
Example 2:
(1) Cell phone usage has increased exponentially
in the last 20 years.
(2) Researchers discovered that the incidences of
brain cancer have also increased in that time.
(3) Therefore, cell phone usage must cause brain
cancer.
4. Slippery Slope
• Falsely assuming that one thing will inevitably lead to
another, and another, and another, until we have
reached some unavoidable dire consequence!
• It does not allow for the idea that one can stop at any
point on the slope - it does not necessarily have to lead
to the inevitable dire consequence.
• Restraint is possible!
Example 1:
(1) If you buy a Green Day album, then you will buy
The Avengers.
(2) Before you know it, you'll be a punk with green
hair and tats.
(3) If you don't want to have green hair, then you
can't buy a Green Day album.
Example 2:
If you break your diet and have one cookie tonight,
you will just want to eat 10 cookies tomorrow, and
before you know it, you will have gained back the
15 pounds you lost.
5. Weak Analogy
• Many arguments rely on an analogy
between two or more objects, ideas, or
situations
• However, drawing an analogy alone
is not enough to prove anything
• It is crucial to make sure that the two
things being compared are truly alike in
the relevant areas
• Also called faulty analogy fallacy, the false analogy
fallacy occurs when a writer or speaker uses an
analogy which poorly compares two things in order to
illustrate a concept or idea. Strong analogies are
frequently used with success to illustrate difficult
concepts or a specific side of a controversial issues.
A good example of a weak analogy
is in Forrest Gump, when Forrest
says
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you
never know what you’re gonna get”
because life and a box of
chocolates only have that one thing
in common. Life cannot be
compared to a box of chocolates
other than the surprise factor of
both.
6. Appeal to Authority
• This does not refer to
appropriately citing an expert, but
rather when an arguer tries to get
people to agree with him/her by
appealing to a supposed authority
who isn't much of an expert.
Example:
"Gun laws should be extremely strict and it should
be incredibly difficult to acquire a gun. Many
respected people, such as actor Brad Pitt, have
expressed their support of this movement."
7. Appeal to Pity ( Ad misericordium)
• Attempting to convince an individual
to accept a conclusion by making
them feel sorry for someone
Example:
"I know the paper was due today, but my computer
died last week, and then the computer lab was too
noisy, so while I was on my way to the library, a cop
pulled me over and wrote me a ticket, and I was so
upset by the ticket that I sat by the side of the road
crying for 3 hours! You should give me an A for all the
trouble I've been through!"
((These fallacies are quite common around the due
date of the final paper!)}
8. Appeal to Ignorance
• Essentially, this fallacy states that because there is
no conclusive evidence, we should therefore accept
the arguer's conclusions on the subject.
• The arguer attempts to use the lack of evidence as
support for a positive claim about the truth of a
conclusion.
• The exception to this fallacy is in the case of qualified
scientific research
Example:
(1) Not a single report of a flying
saucer has ever been authenticated.
(2) Therefore, flying saucers don't
exist.
9. Ad populum (Bandwagon)
• Also referred to as the
bandwagon fallacy, the arguer tries
to convince the audience to do or
believe something because
everyone else (supposedly) does
Example:
( 1) An increasing number of people are turning to
yoga as a way to get in touch with their inner-being
(2) Therefore, yoga helps one get in touch with their
inner being
10. Ad hominem
Example 2:
"Allison Smith is a bad mother, whose idea of parenting is leaving
her children with the nanny. Therefore, we shouldn't listen to her ideas
on improvements in the college classroom."
11. Tu quoque (Literally “you too” fallacy)
•In this fallacy, the arguer points out that
the opponent has actually done the thing
he or she is arguing against, and
concluding that we do not have to listen
to the argument
Example:
Mother: Smoking is bad for your health and
expensive! I hope to never see you do it.
Daughter: But you did it when you were my age!
Therefore, I can do it too!
12. Straw Man
• The arguer sets up a weaker version
of the opponent's position and seeks
to prove the watered• down version rather than the
position the opponent actually holds.
• Through this misrepresentation, the arguer
concludes that the real position has been refuted
Example:
'Those who seek to abolish the death penalty are
seeking to allow murderers and others who commit
heinous crimes to simply get off scot-free with no
consequence for their actions!"
This fallacy occurs when your opponent over-simplifies
or misrepresents your argument (i.e., setting up a "straw
man") to make it easier to attack or refute. Instead of fully
addressing your actual argument, speakers relying on
this fallacy present a superficially similar -- but ultimately
not equal -- version of your real stance, helping them
create the illusion of easily defeating you.
Example:
John: I think we should hire someone to redesign
our website.
Lola: You're saying we should throw our money
away on external resources instead of building up
our in-house design team? That's going to hurt our
company in the long run.
13. Red Herring
• The arguer goes off on a tangent
midway through the argument,
raising a side issue that distracts the
audience from the actual argument.
Example:
"We admit that this measure is unpopular. But we also
urge you to note that there are so many issues on this
ballot that the whole thing is getting
ridiculous."
14. False Dichotomy
• In this fallacy, the arguer sets up
the situation so that it looks as
though there are only two choices. When the arguer
then eliminates one of the choices, it appears that
there is only one option left - the arguer's assertion!
• There is rarely only 2 choices - if we were to think
about them all, it may not appear to be as clear a
choice.
Example:
(1} I can't find my book! It was either stolen, or I
never had it.
(2} I know I had it;
(3) Therefore, it must have been stolen
15. Begging the Question
• The arguer asks the audience to simply
accept the conclusion without providing
any real evidence, either through the use
of circular reasoning or by simply
ignoring an important (but questionable)
assumption that the argument rests on.
• Circular reasoning occurs when the premise
states the same thing as the conclusion.
• Harder to detect than many other fallacies
Example 1:
Adam: God must exist.
Josh: How do you know?
Adam: Because the Bible says so.
Josh: Why should I believe the Bible?
Adam: Because the Bible was written by God.
Example 2:
"If such actions were not illegal, then they would
not be prohibited by the law.“
16. Equivocation
• Equivocation means to slide between two or more
different meanings of a word or phrase that is critical
to the argument.
• For an argument to work, the words must have the
same meaning throughout the premise and the
conclusion.
Example:
(1) The church would like to
encourage theism.
(2) Theism is a medical
condition resulting from the
excessive consumption of tea.
(3) Therefore, the church
ought to freely distribute tea.
