Irrelevant Premesis
Gerald says that the legal drinking age should be raised to 22. But what does he know? He drinks like a fish.
Appeal to the person OR ad hominem (demeaning the person instead of the argument).
America — love it or leave it!
False Dilemma (only two alternatives, when there are more).
How can you, with a straight face, argue that animals have rights and expect me to believe you? You eat meat!
Appeal to the Person.
Of course, there is a god. Almost every civilization in history believed in a deity of some sort.
Appeal to popularity (using religion's popularity to claim there is a god.)
If you let your friend borrow your favorite pen, next they’ll ask to borrow your notebook. Then they’ll want to borrow your laptop. Before you know it, they’ll be living in your house, eating your snacks, and stealing your Netflix password!
Slippery Slope (absolutely JUMPING to conclusions here).
If Congress bans automatic weapons, America will slide down a slippery slope leading to the banning of all guns, the shredding of the Bill of Rights, and a totalitarian police state.
Slippery Slope
A lot of people think that football jocks are stupid and boorish. That's a crock. Anyone who had seen the fantastic game that our team played on Saturday, with three touchdowns before halftime, would not believe
such rubbish.
Red herring (distracting from the claim with irrelevant evidence about a game).
I met two gay men who had rainbow tattoos. That proves all gay people have rainbow tattoos.
Hasty generalization (drawing a conclusion about a target group with a small sample size).
Person A: "We should have stricter rules about screen time for kids, so they spend more time playing outside."
Person B: "Oh, so you want to ban all technology and make kids live like it’s the Stone Age?"
Straw Man
Does acupuncture work? Can it cure disease? Of course. It has been used in China by folk practitioners for at least three thousand years.
Appeal to tradition (using its long history to prove it works instead of factual evidence).
Students are like nails. You just have to hit them on the head to make them work.
Faulty Analogy (because two things are alike in some ways, they must be the same).
“No one has ever proven that Bigfoot doesn’t exist. So Bigfoot must be real.”
Appeal to Ignorance
My sweater is blue. Therefore, the atoms that make up the sweater are blue.
Division (attributing properties of the whole to its parts).
Random drug testing in schools is very effective in reducing drug use because the regular use of the testing makes drug use less likely.
Begging the question (circular reasoning).
Feathers are light. What is light cannot be dark. Therefore, feathers cannot be dark.
Equivocation