Name and Definition Example

type
Fallacies due to the abuse of language
Equivocation When the same word Time is money. Time can heal all wounds. Hence money can
or phrase is used with heal all wounds.
two or more meanings,
deliberately or
accidentally, in the
formulation of an
argument.
Amphiboly When a statement in an Oracle: ‘If the King of Lydia went to war with Cyrus, he would
argument has more destroy a mighty kingdom.’
than one plausible
meaning due to
ambiguous grammar.
Accent When a shift of ‘We should not speak ill of our friends.’ ‘We should not speak ill
meaning arises within of our friends.’
an argument as a
consequence of
changes in the
emphasis given to its
words or parts.
Slippery slope A small concession is Bureaucrat: ‘Oh, we cannot entertain this request. For if
argument presented as having everyone makes the same request, we shall not be able to handle
potentially catastrophic them all and the whole system will collapse.’
consequences.
Compare slippery slope Abortion is wrong because it is surely wrong to kill a newborn
argument to the sorites baby, and if it is wrong to kill a newborn baby then it is wrong to
paradox: they both kill a foetus on the eve of its birth because the two are
make use of vagueness biologically very similar. Similarly, it is wrong to kill a foetus
of words. two days prior to its birth because a foetus one day prior to its
birth is so similar to a foetus two days prior to its birth. Because
there is no point at which the foetus is essentially different from
the moment before, there is no time at which aborting a foetus is
not wrong.
False Two alternatives are If you eat too much, you’ll be stuffed to death. If you eat too
dichotomy/false presented as little, you’ll starve to death. So no matter how much you eat,
dilemma exhaustive, when in you’ll die.
fact other possibilities
exist.
Straw man When you level your ‘We should not discriminate against homosexuals.’ ‘So are you
fallacy arguments against a saying that we should all be gay?’
crude caricature of
your opponents’ views
(you set up a ‘straw
man’ to knock down
but in fact leave the
real issue unresolved).
Red herring Changing the subject, ‘What’s your view on recent political developments?’ ‘The
diverting attention weather is fine today.’
away to other issues.
Composition When one mistakenly Every footballer is highly skilled individually; therefore, the
reasons from the team they formed must also be good.
attributes of a part or
an individual to the
attributes of the whole
or the totality of that
collection.
Division When one mistakenly The USA is an affluent country; hence, every person living there
reasons from the is rich.
attributes of a whole or
a totality of the
collection to the
attributes of its parts or
individual members.
Fallacies of appeal
Appeal to When it is argued that God exists because you cannot prove that it doesn’t.
ignorance a proposition is true
simply on the basis that
it has not been proved
false, or that it is false
because it has not been
proved true.
Appeal to When an argument We are not morally wrong in bullying the weak because Darwin
inappropriate appeals to a party said that evolution relies on survival of the fittest.
authority having no legitimate
claim to authority in
the matter at hand.
Appeal to When a speaker It is morally fine to eat meat because everyone is doing so.
common appeals to the fact that Vegetarianism is nonsense.
practice a view is universally or
commonly held in
support of it. Yet a
view can be commonly
held and nonetheless
false.
Appeal to When careful Our team will win because it is our team!
emotion reasoning is replaced
with devices to create
enthusiasm and
emotional support for
the conclusion
advanced. Specific
types: appeal to pity,
apple polishing,
groupthink fallacy.
Appeal to force When careful Be careful what you say; you know who is listening and if you
reasoning is replaced say something opposing the authorities, you know the
with direct or consequences…
insinuated threats to
force the acceptance of
the conclusion.
Abusive ad When the argument is What Tom says must be wrong; you know he is an idiot.
Hominem directly against
persons, seeking to
defame or discredit
them. It is also called
genetic fallacy.
Circumstantial When the attack is Friedman’s economic theory is biased in favour of the rich
ad Hominem indirectly against because he is a millionaire himself.
persons, suggesting
that they adopt their
views chiefly because
of their special
circumstances or
interests.
Tu quoque (you When you attempt to ‘You can’t accuse me of lying; you lie too!’
too) discredit your
opponent’s views by
pointing out that he or
she does not always act
on them.
Fallacies about premises and conclusion
Complex When the argument Do you still beat your wife?
question assumes some unstated
premises.
Begging the When one assumes in A computer can’t think because it does not have a mind.
question the premises the truth
of what one seeks to
establish in the
conclusion.
Circular When the premises do God exists because the Bible tells us so. And why should we
argument not only support, but trust the Bible? Because God tells us so.
are in turn supported
by the conclusion.
Misplacing the When the burden of Saddam Hussein has not demonstrated that he has no weapons of
burden of proof proving a point is mass destruction. Therefore, he has them.
placed on the wrong
side. Generally
speaking, the burden of
proof is on the person
whose views go against
common sense.
Irrelevant When the premises Father: ‘You shouldn’t go out wearing so little.’ Daughter: ‘So
conclusion miss the point, are you saying I should not go out at all?!’
purporting to support
one conclusion while
in fact supporting or
establishing another.
Fallacious induction
Accident When one applies a We should not lie. Therefore, we should not lie to save lives.
generalization to an
individual case that it
does not properly
govern.
Converse When one moves Toyota are good cars, because a friend of mine has one and it is
accident/hasty carelessly or too good.
generalization quickly from a single
case to an indefensibly
broad generalization.
False cause When one treats as the Depression often comes with sleeping disorder. Hence, sleeping
cause of a thing what is disorder is the cause of depression.
not really the cause of
that thing.