Fallacies I
Attacking the person making the argument instead of the argument itself.
Ad Hominem/Personal Attack
Suggesting something is true or good simply because it’s popular.
Bandwagon
Dismissing criticism by pointing out that the critic does the same thing.
You Too/Hypocrisy Fallacy
“You tell me not to text while driving, but I’ve seen you do it before!”
Hypocrisy/You Too Fallacy
“The law should be obeyed because it’s illegal to break it.”
Circular Reasoning
Misrepresenting someone’s argument to make it easier to attack.
Straw Man
When the conclusion just restates the premise instead of providing real evidence.
Circular Reasoning
“Why are you mad I didn’t do my homework? At least I didn’t skip class.”
Red Herring
“I wore my lucky earrings to the game and we won! The earrings are truly lucky!”
Post Hoc
“If we can put a man on the moon, we should be able to fix traffic jams.”
False Analogy
Making a broad claim based on too little evidence.
Hasty Generalization
Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the main issue
Red Herring
“We shouldn’t listen to Dr. Lopez’s advice on nutrition. She eats fast food every day and doesn't even look healthy!”
Ad Hominem/Personal Attack
“You either support school uniforms or you don’t care about student safety.”
False Dilemma
DOUBLE WHAMMY
“If we don’t start school later in the morning, every student will fail their classes, and anyone who disagrees clearly doesn’t care about kids’ education.”
Slippery Slope + Ad Hominem
Presenting only two options when there are more possibilities.
False Dilemma
Comparing two things that aren’t really alike in a relevant way.
False Analogy
“Everyone at school is using this new study app, so it must be the best way to learn.”
Bandwagon
“Two people from that school were rude to me, so everyone there must be rude.”
Hasty Generalization
“Everyone knows that if we let students use phones in class, they’ll stop paying attention, grades will drop, and the whole school will fall apart. And honestly, if you think phones don’t cause problems, you must not care about education. Besides, every other school bans them, so we should too.”
Slippery Slope, Ad Hominem, Bandwagon
Arguing that one small step will inevitably lead to a chain of negative events.
Slippery Slope
Assuming that because one event follows another, it was caused by it.
Post Hoc/False Cause
“You say we should have fewer tests? So you just want students to learn nothing!”
Straw Man
“If we let students retake one quiz, next they’ll want to redo every assignment!”
Slippery Slope
“If it’s raining, then the ground will be wet.”
No fallacy