More on logical fallacies

Below is a list of the logical fallacies you might need. If you come across a logical fallacy that is not
explained in the study materials, please feel free to google it.

1. Begging the question: the conclusion is already among the premises.

2. Argumentum ad hominem: attacking the person and not the argument, and the Tu quoque: you did it
too, If you did it I can do it, someone else did it so can I. You cannot talk against this because you have
done it too.
3. Red herring or ignoring the question
4. Circular reasoning
5. Either/or
6. Oversimplification
7. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
8. Non-sequitur
9. Argument by analogy
10. Equivocation
11. Straw man fallacy
12. Hasty generalization
13. Myth of the mean
14. Slippery slope
15. Incomparable statistics
(All of the above are in Putzkazs Chapter 10)

OTHER LOGICAL FALLACIES ( there are more in the documents provided)

16. Argumentum ad Misericordiam: appeal to pity or the Galileo argument. Appeal to emotion. On side
tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting the other sides feelings of pity or guilt. "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?"
17. Argumentum ad Ignorantiam: stating that something is true because it has not been proven false, and
viceversa. Example the existence of God.
18. Argumentum ad Vericundiam: the relation with expert opinion? Something is true based on the
prestige or authority of this person even though he/she is given an opinion outside his special field, or
area of expertise. Famous people endorsing products, social campaigns, political candidates, etc. It is
also ad vericundiam when the authority is biased (not disinterested on the topic at hand). Another
example of ad vericundiam is when we stifle dissent by installing fear in the opponent because he/she
dares question a highly respected, venerable authority: Magister dixit.
19. Argumentum ad Populum: if many believe so, it is so (bandwagon fallacy); if a recongnized elite in a
society thinks it is so, then it so ( snob appeal).
20. Argumentum ad Baculum: appeal to force or the threat of force to obtain the acceptance of your
position. Chairman of the Board: All those opposed to my arguments for the opening of a new branch,
signify by saying I resign.
21. Argumentum ad Consequentiam: winning support for an idea based on the negative or positive
consequences that it may bring.
22. Argument from Personal Incredulity
I cannot explain or understand this, therefore it cannot be true. Creationists are fond of arguing that
they cannot imagine the complexity of life resulting from blind evolution, but that does not mean life did
not evolve.
23. False Analogy

Analogies are very useful as they allow us to draw lessons from the familiar and apply them to the
unfamiliar. Life is like a box of chocolate you never know what youre going to get.
A false analogy is an argument based upon an assumed similarity between two things, people, or
situations when in fact the two things being compared are not similar in the manner invoked. Saying
that the probability of a complex organism evolving by chance is the same as a tornado ripping through
a junkyard and created a 747 by chance is a false analogy. Evolution, in fact, does not work by chance
but is the non-random accumulation of favorable changes.

Creationists also make the analogy between life and your home, invoking the notion of thermodynamics
or entropy. Over time your home will become messy, and things will start to break down. The house
does not spontaneously become more clean or in better repair.
The false analogy here is that a home is an inanimate collection of objects. Whereas life uses energy to
grow and reproduce the addition of energy to the system of life allows for the local reduction in
entropy for evolution to happen.

Another way in which false analogies are invoked is to make an analogy between two things that are in
fact analogous in many ways just not the specific way being invoked in the argument. Just because two
things are analogous in some ways does not mean they are analogous in every way.

24. Loaded Question

Question thrown out in argumentation that actually is more than one question blended into one,
making it difficult to answer without seeming to confirm part of a charge against you.

Example: Have you ever stopped beating your wife?

Example: Have you always been incapable of speaking intelligently?