Fallacies
Cause and Effect
Questions
Science or Theory?
Misc.
100
Reaching a conclusion about an entire population of people or things based on an atypical portion of the whole
What is Sampling Fallacy
100
Explanations of events based on their outcome; Monday morning quarterbacking
Hindsight (or Fallacy of Hindsight)
100
Assuming the truth of what you are supposed to be proving; circular reasoning
What is Begging the Question
100
What scientists are supposed to do to test their theories, using hypothesis and experiment. It now has a status rivaling religious dogma
What is Scientific Method
100
On its face, a puzzle or contradiction
What is a Paradox
200
Argument based on incorrect or misleading association of "A" and "B"
What is False Identification Fallacy
200
The fallacy of thinking that a cluster of events must be related to some other, nearby event.
What is Clustering Illusion
200
The you-can't-win-however-you-answer-it question
What is The Loaded Question
200
A rule in a closed logical system: for example, in geometry, "The whole is greater than the part."
What is and Axiom
200
An American philosophy asserting that meaning can be based only on empirical verification; sometimes confused with practical thinking
What is Pragmatism
300
Assuming that any one case will resemble the majority of cases
What is Regression/Statistical Fallacy
300
Mistaking motives or excuses for causes
What is False Cause
300
A question to which one already knows the answer, or whose answer is obvious from the question
What is Rhetorical Question
300
The theory describing how certain physical structures in nature repeat themselves in miniature
What is Fractal Theory
300
In historical scholarship, arguing that all historical studies' perspective and bias grows out of the time and place in which they were written; in ethics, arguing that moral judgments are also determined by time and place
What is Relativist
400
Wishing cannot make it so, and coining a term does not do it either
What is Fallacy of False Concreteness
400
Employing the strategy of explanation that fits all cases into one category and provides for all events a single story line
What is Reductionist
400
A demeaning hypothetical in question form
What is False Question
400
The discovery that minute changes in initial conditions may lead similar events to result in widely different conclusions; also known as "butterfly effect"
What is Chaos Theory
400
A boldface untruth, told with the intention of fooling lots of people
What is Big Lie
500
A mistake in logic, word use, or reasoning
What is a Fallacy
500
After hearing the oracle speak, our actions make the prediction happen
What is Self-Fulfilling Prophesy
500
A questions that poses a contrary-to-fact premise, allowing us to explore variations of explanations for what actually did happen
What is "What if?"
500
There are some large axiomatic mathematical systems whose axioms' truth cannot be determined within the system itself; a theory of inherent indeterminacy
What is Gödel's Paradox
500
The claim that an authority is always right and must be accepted as such. It helps to be infallible on the subject.
What is Dogmatism