LOGICAL

FALLACIES

Elarde, Emma
Cantiga, Jamaira
Ad Hominem

This fallacy appears to occur when,

instead of addressing someone's
argument or viewpoint, you irrelevantly
attack the person or some
characteristic of the person who is
making the argument. The fallacious
assault can also be direct to
membership in a group or institution.

EXAMPLES:

1. “Socrates' claims regarding human

greatness are nonsense. What could a
man as unattractive as he be know
about human excellence?”
2. “This disposal concept does not sit
well with everyone. It was invented by
plenty of hippie socialist losers.”
 Strawman Argument

In Strawman Argument, a fallacy arises because you try to dispute

another person's argument but only address a weak or distorted
version of it. A straw man is someone who misrepresents an
opponent's stance or a competitor's product in order to promote
one's own argument or product as superior. This mistake happens
when the weakest version of an argument is challenged while the
strongest one is ignored.

EXAMPLES:
1. ”The senator thinks that providing Medicare for all
citizens would be costly and a danger to the free
market. That alone shows that he wouldnt care if
people die from not having healthcare.”
2. Senator: I will vote to increase the defense budget.
Public: Why don't you care about education?
 Appeal to Ignorance

This fallacy occurs when you assert that

your conclusion must be correct since
there is no evidence to the contrary. This
fallacy mistakenly transfers the burden of
proof away from the claimant.

EXAMPLES:

1. “Because you've never been able to prove your

innocence, I must conclude you're guilty.”
2. “No one has ever been able to prove conclusively
that UFOs do not visit Earth, it makes reasonable
to believe in them.”
 A False Dilemma

This line of premise is flawed because it involves a

decision between two mutually incompatible
choices, claiming that no additional possibilities
exist. When you reason from an either-or stance
without considering all relevant choices, and
because one alternative is plainly worse than the
other, the choice becomes obvious.

EXAMPLES:

1.“Good students will study and learn even if an exam is not

approaching, and bad students will not study and learn even if
an exam is fast approaching. Exams, then, serve no use.”
2.“Vote for Harris or live through four more years of higher
taxes.”
Slippery Slope Fallacy

In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is

rejected because, despite a lack of proof, one
maintains that it would generate a chain reaction that
would result in an undesired end or ends. Acceptance
of a series of events without clear evidence that this
sequence of events will occur is a slippery slope.

EXAMPLES:

1. Today you're ten minutes late, tomorrow

you're an hour late, and eventually you won't
show up at all.
2. Lowering the drinking age is not a good idea
in my opinion. The next thing we know,
children will be able to drive at the age of 10
and vote at the age of fifteen. Allow children
to be children and adults to be adults.
 Circular Reasoning

This makes an argument fallsy because you attempt to establish an

argument by assuming that what you are attempting to establish is
already true. You already acknowledge the veracity of the claim
you're seeking to establish in your premise. Circular reasoning may
sound convincing, but consider who will most likely be convinced by
a circular argument. Those who already accept the argument as
true are more likely to be further convinced. This is because they
already believe the assumption that is stated.

EXAMPLES:

1. Women should be able to choose to terminate a pregnancy, so

abortion should be legal.
2. You have to save enough money to pay your bills each month
because bills have to be paid.
Hasty Generalization

A hasty generalization is an example of a logical

fallacy, in which someone makes a conclusion that
is not logically warranted by objective or
substantial evidence. When individuals form a
conclusion based on an insufficient sample size,
this is a significant source of incorrect
generalization. It's an argument that goes from
the specific to the general, extrapolating a finding
from a small sample size to a much larger
population.

EXAMPLES:

1. When I was young, my father and brothers never helped with

the household chores. All men are useless in the house.
2. Dozens of poor families come to my grandfather for
financial help. All poor people depend on other people for
their living.
 Red Herring Fallacy

Is a distraction from an argument

typically with some sentiment that seems
to be relevant but isn't really on topic. It
is a diversion of attention with the
intention of trying to abandon the
original argument.

EXAMPLES:

1.Daughter: Mom, how are humans made?

Mother: Honey humans are made by God. He designed and created human beings according
to his image so that they may be loving and kind as he was. (The mother did not discuss the
process of how human beings are made but rather why they are created.)
2. Jaymie: Why did you buy that new released phone? It exceeds our monthly budget we have
agreed.
Jay: Well because it was on sale and perhaps it was a limited edition phone (jay avoided the
argument that they are on short or out of budget)
Tu Quoque

Fallacy Latin for You too is also called

appeal to hypocrisy because it distracts
from the argument by pointing out
hypocrisy in the opponent is an attempt
to divert blame but it really only distracts
from the initial problem.

EXAMPLES:

1. Anna: You should stop cheating it will

affect your learning Marie: Why should I
listen to you when I saw you cheating on
our last exam.
2. Yes cheated on our last exam but so do
you our last exam.
 Casual Fallacy

Is a logical breakdown when identifying a

cause parent category for several
different fallacies about unproven causes.

EXAMPLES:

1. Your last name is Mercado and your family must

be a merchant.
2. If I don't eat throughout the day I would be
hungry.
Fallacy of Sunk Cost

Our tendency to carry out something or

an endeavor because we have already put
our resources, time, effort or money into
it without considering the future cost in
doing that endeavor.

EXAMPLES:

1. Finishing the whole movie even if you don't really

like it because you have already paid for the ticket
2. Enrolled in BS Accountancy even if it's not your
dream course, however you will continue the
course because you are already enrolled and have
exerted time and effort in studying the subject.
Appeal to Authority

Fallacy that happens when we misuse the

authority occurs when someone uses the
testimony of an authority in order to
warrant their conclusion, but the
authority appealed to is not an expert in
the field in question.

EXAMPLES:

1. A commercial claims that a specific brand of

shampoo is the best to use to achieve a great hair
day because actress Nadine Lustre says it is what
she uses.
2. Most doctors agree that many people in the
Philippines take too many unnecessary drugs.
 Equivocation

Happens when a word, phrase, or

sentence is used deliberately to confuse,
deceive, or mislead someone by sounding
like it's saying one thing but actually
saying like something else.

EXAMPLES:

1.Just as you have faith in science, I have faith in God.

(The phrase was misled with the word faith. The first has to do
with confidence in something while the second has to do with
believing in JESUS and his conviction.)
2.A feather is light and what is light cannot be dark
The phrase was misled with the word light. The first has to do
with not being heavy while the second has to do with being
bright.
 Appeal to Pity

The compassion and emotional

sensitivity to others Often appears
as emotional manipulation.

EXAMPLES:

1. The teacher considers to pass your assignment late on time

having to know that you are a working student.
2. Post that shows places affected by the typhoon and flash
flood before asking for donations to help them.
Bandwagon Fallacy

Assumes something is true because

other people agree with it.

EXAMPLES:

1. If you want to graduate like Marielle, you'd

better study your subjects.
2. Airish believes that studying the lessons will get
them a high mark, but everyone did not study. So
Airish went with the group and did not study.