Show:
Missing the Mark
You Call THAT an Argument?!
Court of Appeals
This Is (not) How We Reason
Fallacy Hodge Podge
100
In this recent debate on the NPR show "Intelligence Squared, the second debater argues that the first debater has committed this fallacy. (audio clip)
False Dilemma (aka false dichotomy aka either/or fallacy)
100
I've always had Androids but it seems like everyone in my House has an Iphone. Everyone is always talking about how great Apple is...I think I'll make the change for my next phone.
Bandwagon Fallacy
100
"Psychology is a pseudo-science." - Tom Cruise
Appeal to Authority
100
Snowballs are round, therefore snowflakes are round.
Fallacy of Division
100
There has been a sharp rise in the number of natural disasters in recent years. Therefore, since the world has been experiencing more than its average number of natural disasters, there will probably not be as many natural disasters in the future. These things tend to balance out over time.
Gambler's Fallacy
200
Social media sites like Facebook are housing so much personal and private information, it's scary! If they ever got hacked, it would be like the BP oil spill in 2010, where tons and tons of oil kept gushing into the gulf of Mexico, wreaking havoc and destruction everywhere. Just like with BP, if Facebook gets hacked, nobody will be able to get the lid screwed back on properly until it's too late.
Weak/Invalid Analogy (you be the judge which one...)
200
If you need evidence that Martin Luther King Jr. is the greatest speech-maker in American history, all you have to do is listen to his greatest speeches, like the "I have a dream" speech. His speeches were amazing!
Circular Reasoning
200
A religious message such as this could be considered an ______ https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-2_ulAnE3l32vMTsa65qq3AsBaY6QIMiHGLubwq3hZjkXddxJ
Appeal to Fear
200
Mark Levin, one of the most popular radio show hosts in the U.S., commonly refers to President Obama as idiotic, diabolical, evil, an America-hater, a terrorist-sympathizer, etc. Although I find his show entertaining, this type of rhetoric is the reason I describe Mark Levin as the master of this fallacy.
Ad hominem
200
A recent Florida survey showed Jeb Bush polling ahead of all the other possible Republican primary candidates for president. Since Florida is one of the biggest and most important states in the Republican primary, this poll is a pretty good indication that Jeb Bush is going to win lots of other states and thus win the Republican nomination.
Hasty Generalization
300
All my relationships with previous girlfriends ended badly. So it is fairly predictable that my current relationship will also end in disaster.
Hasty Generalization
300
We should never allow physician-assisted suicide under any circumstances, not even for terminally ill people who say "I want to die on my own terms." Because if we start allowing that, then where would it end? Before long we would be “assisting” people who are physically disabled or mentally ill. Then we would probably start “assisting” people who are homeless. Sooner or later it’ll be full-blown Hitler-style eugenics, where it becomes normal to "assist" anyone to their death unless they were born with perfect health and high high social status.
Slippery Slope
300
In that famously depressing commercial asking for donations to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Sara McLachlan’s heartbreaking “In the Arms of an Angel” is playing in the background while the viewer sees stats on animal abuse and horrifying images of abused animals.
Appeal to Pity
300
Why would I wear a helmet that makes me look silly? I’ve been riding my motorcycle without a helmet almost every day for 6 months since I got my motorcycle license. There hasn't been even 1 instance yet where wearing a helmet would have made a difference for me.
Gambler's Fallacy
300
President Obama has talked openly about how he smoked marijuana when he was younger. He stated that criminal penalties related to marijuana are much too harsh, because he does not believe that this drug is more dangerous than legal drugs like alcohol or tobacco.
Appeal to Authority
400
The reason the American economy has struggled in recent years is because so many big corporations have been increasing their profits but without simultaneously increasing the wages of their employees.
Oversimplification
400
During the debate on the Affordable Care Act, in discussing the almost 50 million uninsured Americans, President Obama committed this fallacy by saying "There are those who believe my plans are too ambitious. They're saying 'we need to do less, not more.'
Straw Man Argument
400
"Professor Friedman, not only is your class the best Economics class I've ever taken, but it's probably the best class that I've ever taken in any subject, period! I just hope you really like my final research paper, because I really do want to get an "A" in your class."
Appeal to Flattery
400
I know how much you like fresh fruit, and you eat eggs for breakfast almost every day. That's how I know you are going to LOVE this breakfast casserole I made for you with eggs, apples, grapefruit, and peaches!
Fallacy of Composition
400
The Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team played in back-to-back NCAA national championship games in 2010 and 2011. Two years in a row they finished 2nd place in the whole country! So I find it hard to believe that only 1 of their players from those successful teams was good enough to be drafted by an NBA team. (But it's true.)
Fallacy of Division
500
Your video question...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0_suZntks
Post Hoc, Ergo Proctor Hoc (no points deducted for "False Cause")
500
Jeff's girlfriend confronts him about his alcoholism and his gambling addition. Feeling defensive, he yells, "There's just no pleasing you! I bought you diamond earrings for Valentines Day, I took you on a Caribbean cruise over spring break, and I have always treated you well. I just can't make you happy anymore!"
Red Herring.
500
These days it seems like everyone is trying to crack down on hazing in Greek houses. Hazing has been around forever, and it's always been an important rite of passage. People need to just get over it!
Appeal to Tradition
500
A 2014 Senate report criticized the “enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the CIA on suspected terrorists after 9/11/2001. This report said CIA interrogators tortured many inmates in violation of international law, not to mention the “no cruel or unusual punishment” clause of the U.S. Constitution. But this report should be taken with a grain of salt, because not a single Republican senator signed off on the report; it was written entirely by Senate Democrats who have always been hostile to the CIA.
Genetic Fallacy
500
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. "That's some catch, that catch-22," he observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
Circular Reasoning