Fallacies or Flawed Lines of Argument

 

Kinds of Fallacies:

 

·        Ad Hominem/Straw Man: "To the Man", a claim based on irrelevant attacks on a source's character

·        Bandwagon Appeals: "Everyone else is doing it"

·        Begging the Question/Circular Reasoning: A claim based on the same grounds that are debated

·        Biased Language: Reliance on words/phrases with strong positive/negative connotations

·        Dogmatism: A claim based on expected acceptance within a given community

·        Either/Or Choices: Reducing an argument to only two choices, oversimplification

·        Equivocation: A false claim misrepresented in deceptive language, half-truth

·        False Authority: A claim based on an unqualified expert

·        Faulty Analogy: Reliance on inaccurate/inconsequential comparison of objects or concepts

·        Faulty Causality: Unwarranted assumption that because one event follow another, the first caused the second, superstition

·        Generalization: A claim based on an inference drawn from insufficient data

·        Moral Equivalence: Failure to distinguish between serious issues/problems and less important issues/problems

·        Non-Sequitur: Illogical connections between claims and reasons, one point does not follow another

·        Red Herring: An argument that brings in irrelevant issues as evidence

·        Scare Tactics: Reliance on exaggerated threats or dangers

·        Sentimentality: Reliance on excessive emotion

·        Slippery Slope: An argument that suggests a relatively unimportant action will have serious adverse consequences in the future