Political Fallacies
Name That Fallacy
More Fallacies
Say What?
Advertising Fallacies
100
That candidate is so stupid, he'll never be a good City Council person.
Ad Hominem - Attacking the individual instead of the argument.
100
I did not murder my mother and father with an axe! Please don't find me guilty; I'm suffering enough through being an orphan.
What is Appeal to Pity
100
Melvin: Boss, why do I have to work weekends when nobody else in the company does? Boss: Am I sensing insubordination? I can find another employee very quickly, thanks to Craigslist, you know.
Appeal to Force - threats, or even violence. On the Internet, the usual threat is of a lawsuit. The traditional religious threat is that one will burn in Hell.
100
Have you stopped cheating on your tests?
Begging The Question/Loaded Question - reasoning in a circle. The thing to be proved is used as one of your assumptions. Making an argument, the conclusion of which is based on an unstated or unproven assumption.
100
Buy Chanel perfume, you will stand out in the crowd.
Snob Appeal - The fallacy of snob appeal exploits our desires to be brought above the lower classes. We think that if we purchase the item, then greater glamour and prestige will be bestowed upon us.
200
What is Everyone loves Jim - he's so much fun - so Vote for Jim!
Bandwagon or Appeal to the Popular - Urging the hearer to accept a position because a majority of people hold to it.
200
Every time my brother Bill accompanies me to AT&T Park, the Giants are sure to lose.
False Cause- assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one.
200
All of those movie stars are really rude. I asked Kevin Costner for his autograph in a restaurant and he said no.
Hasty Generalization - drawing a broad conclusion from a small number of perhaps unrepresentative cases.
200
Why do I make wine this way? Because my father made wine this way, and his father made wine this way.
Appeal to Tradition - (don't rock the boat or ad verecundiam) based on the principle of "letting sleeping dogs lie". We should continue to do things as they have been done in the past. We shouldn't challenge time-honored customs or traditions.
200
Wendy's new bacon cheeseburger - when you gotta have it, you gotta have it.
Begging the question
300
On the Internet, it is common to exaggerate the opponent's position so that a comparison can be made between the opponent and Hitler.
Straw Man Argument - Producing an argument about a weaker representation of the truth and attacking it.
300
California nurses represent a special interest group in California. No wonder they take such special interest in their patients. The phrase 'special interest' has two meanings in this argument, namely, 'a political group with a selfish agenda' and 'a group with an enhanced concern'. .
Fallacy of Equivocation - Using the same term in an argument in different places but the word has different meanings. Equivocation comes from the Latin, 'equal voices'.
300
Bill lives in a large building, so his apartment must be large.
Non Sequitur- something that just does not follow.
300
Accused by his wife of cheating at cards, Ned replies "Nothing I do ever pleases you. I spent all last week repainting the bathroom, and then you said you didn't like the color."
Red Herring - attempting to hide a weakness in an argument by drawing attention away from the real issue. A red herring fallacy is thus a diversionary tactic or an attempt to confuse or fog the issue being debated.
300
If we don't have it, you don't need it.
False dilemma
400
Candidate Franklin is pompous, arrogant, and thinks he knows everything. So, let's hear what Franklin has to say about the subject.
Poisoning the Well - Presenting negative information about a person before he/she speaks so as to discredit the person's argument.
400
Human beings are made of atoms, and human beings are conscious, so atoms must be conscious.
Fallacy of Division - assuming that what is true of the whole is true of each constituent part.
400
Either you buy a large car and watch it guzzle away your paycheck, or you buy a small car and take a greater risk of being injured or killed in the event of an accident.
False Dilemma/Bifurcation - assuming there are only two alternatives when in fact there are more.
400
John must be a snob. He's on the debating team, which is full of snobs.
Guilt by Association - make a negative judgment about a person based on their relationship with others.
400
Just like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
False Analogy
500
We admit that this measure is popular. But we also urge you to note that there are so many bond issues on this ballot that the whole thing is getting ridiculous.
Red Herring - attempting to hide a weakness in an argument by drawing attention away from the real issue. A red herring fallacy is thus a diversionary tactic or an attempt to confuse or fog the issue being debated.
500
The American Trial Lawyers Association favors of this piece of legislation, so you know it has to be bad for ordinary citizens.
Genetic Fallacy (Fallacy of Origins, Fallacy of Virtue): if an argument or arguer has some particular origin, the argument must be right (or wrong).
500
Two muffins are sitting in an oven, baking. One muffin turns to the other and says: “Is it just me, or is it getting really hot in here.” The second muffin turns to the first and says: “Holy crap, a talking muffin!”
Category Mistake - ascribing a property to something which cannot have that property, thus placing it in the wrong, inaccurate, or misleading category of things.
500
I should have brought an umbrella, that way it wouldn't have rained!
False Cause - assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one.
500
(The Men's Wearhouse:) "You're gonna like the way you look. I guarantee it."
Hasty Generalization - (An over-generalization that he will always guarantee it)
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