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Home , List of fallacies

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Dicto Simpliciter- assuming that something true in general is true in every possible case http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0_wp5zyHqA

“There’s nothing I won’t do for my child” is a dicto simpliciter- because there are some things we will not do, like this. We have to qualify what we mean.

Post Hoc, Ergo Hoc- assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_UYx4vSPs

What does laughter have to do with Volkswagen? Nothing. The implied point is that you will laugh a lot if you are a Volkswagen owner. The two are not connected.

Bandwagon- the claim, as evidence for an idea, that many people believe it, or used to believe it, or do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hashPaU7Dpk

This is a very cool baby. If you want to be cool and do what everyone else who is cool is doing, you will use etrade.com to manage your portfolio.

Non Sequitur- something that just does not follow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbZTQFHdw1w

Getting a possum instead of a dog will not save you as much money as being smart about your car insurance premiums. This just “doesn’t follow.”

Bonus Non Sequitur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_LtwCtBEo4

What does eating tuna have to do with sucking in? It does not follow that if you eat tuna you will not have to suck in to look sexy.

Poisoning the Well/- attacking the person instead of attacking his http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDT-LN5-Edw

Let’s be honest. If we’re going to talk about personal attacks, we need look no further than political ads. There are lots to choose from.

Hypothesis Contrary to Fact- arguing from something that might have happened, but didn't http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZMZdQzoQgo&feature=related

If you were going to buy a radio by these guys, you would not have a zombie in your backseat. They cannot prove this would happen, which is what they are suggesting.

False Analogy- claiming that two situations are highly similar, when they aren't http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SS1lGdB9XM

People who are happy with their car insurance provider are not remotely like bodybuilders directing traffic. This is a false analogy because one has nothing to do with the other.

Bonus False analogy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSIkjNaICsg

Appeal to Anonymous Authority-

An appeal to an authority is made, but the authority is not named http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leApAawSvkI

Who is this “they” Tebow is talking about? “They” obviously were wrong, as are many anonymous authorities.

Straw Man- attacking an exaggerated or caricatured version of your opponent's position http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZxs09eV-Vc

Romney isn’t going after Big Bird. Obama is making Romney look irrelevant and ridiculous, when what Romney is saying is that he will cut our debt down in different ways than Obama would (PBS being probably an off-the-top-of-his-head example). -

The here is the assumption that something is wrong because it is right next to something that is wrong. Or, it is wrong because it could slide towards something that is wrong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIv3m2gMgUU

This would never happen. Could it? Yes. Slippery slope. Stupid, but funny.

Appeal to Fear- saying an opponent must be wrong, because if he is right, then bad things would ensue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kabPKfoJf8k

Do not speed or you will kill people and go to jail. So says this commercial, anyway. Scary.

Argument by Rhetorical Question- asking a question in a way that leads to a particular answer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCK6wQ0BoxI

These questions are silly and the answer is always “yes” in our heads, so we don’t stop to think whether or not people who switch to Geico have cause to be happy—just that the answer to his first question is the same as the answer to his last one.

Argument by Emotive Language- using emotionally loaded words to sway the audience's sentiments instead of their minds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26AMgycOWoU

Look at the Statue of Liberty, the American flag everywhere, Romney holding a baby. He is appealing to your sense of patriotism and pathos.

Begging the Question/- reasoning in a circle. The thing to be proved is used as one of your assumptions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-KaEZ7uxs

Everybody dances, so everyone should dance. Hmm… circular to me!

Argument by Half--

Suppressing evidence that might support the other side. This is hard to detect, of course. You have to ask questions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJL5dxgVaM They aren’t telling you that this would more than likely get you fired. But their argument is that people would come together to achieve a common goal, which is possible.

Appeal to Force- threats, or even violence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRQyS_8sShw&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Darth Vader is forcing his friends to let him win. This is not logical. It’s “making” yourself right.

BONUS Appeal to Force: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21mJh6j9i4

Hasty Generalization- drawing a broad conclusion from a small number of perhaps unrepresentative cases http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX-wYGK4ius

Just because this one woman’s marriage worked, it does not mean that it will work for everyone. As a matter of fact, probably it wouldn’t work for very many women I know.

Contradictory -

The premises of the argument contradict each other so there can be no argument http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718nPq-xEG0 (broken link)

This commercial talks about having your cake and eating it too. You cannot have both. They say they have both a fast car and a high performing one. Are they considered mutually exclusive? If they are, this commercial is committing the fallacy of contradictory premises.

Red Herring- this is sometimes used to avoid having to defend a claim, or to avoid making good on a promise. In general, there is something you are not supposed to notice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbVa0cPAJ1g

This commercial even makes fun of itself by showing a “” item on the shelf at the beginning. What does Toy Story have to do with paying for something at the grocery store with a Visa card? Absolutely nothing. They are distracting you from their real argument (which isn’t really apparent in this commercial… why should we use Visa debit?) by making you think about Toy Story.

Argument by Question- asking your opponent a question which does not have a snappy answer. (Or anyway, no snappy answer that the audience has the background to understand.) Your opponent has a choice: he can look weak or he can look long-winded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfhJtJd1KA

Not necessarily an exact example of this fallacy, but it does show that interviewers can manipulate (fairly or unfairly) the way their audience receives the guest. In politics, this is very important and happens all the time. If they like the guy, they edit out the gum and the phone. If they don’t, they keep it.

Ad Misericordiam/- trying to make people feel sorry for one rather than using logic to sway them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQKk3PI-DW8

Heh.. well, this ad could be many things. But if we focus on the super robot’s argument that we can’t fire him because his life will be terrible and he won’t be able to get another job, it’s a fallacy. The fact is that he is hired to make quality products and he doesn’t. He should be fired if he can’t do his job, especially since he’s a robot.