Logical Fallacy of Assuming You Know the Motivations of an Author

Logical Fallacies Handlist:

Fallacies are statements that might sound reasonable or superficially true but are really flawed or dishonest. When readers detect them, these logical fallacies backfire by making the audience retrieve the writer is (a) unintelligent or (b) deceptive. It is important to avoid them in your own arguments, and it is too of import to be able to spot them in others' arguments so a false line of reasoning won't fool you. Think of this as intellectual kung-fu: the vital art of cocky-defense force in a debate. For extra impact, learn both the Latin terms and the English equivalents. You can click here to download a PDF version of this textile.

In full general, one useful fashion to organize fallacies is by category. Nosotros take beneath fallacies of relevance, component fallacies, fallacies of ambivalence, and fallacies of omission. We will hash out each type in plough. The last point to discuss is Occam's Razor.

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FALLACIES OF RELEVANCE : These fallacies appeal to prove or examples that are not relevant to the argument at manus.

Appeal to Force (Argumentum Advertisement Baculum or the "Might-Makes-Correct" Fallacy): This argument uses force, the threat of force, or some other unpleasant backlash to make the audience accept a conclusion. Information technology commonly appears as a concluding resort when evidence or rational arguments fail to convince a reader. If the contend is about whether or not 2+2=4, an opponent'due south argument that he volition smash your nose in if yous don't agree with his claim doesn't alter the truth of an issue. Logically, this consideration has nothing to practice with the points under consideration. The fallacy is not limited to threats of violence, however. The fallacy includes threats of whatsoever unpleasant backlash--financial, professional, and then on. Example: "Superintendent, you should cut the school budget by $16,000. I need not remind yous that past school boards have fired superintendents who cannot keep down costs." While intimidation may force the superintendent to conform, it does not convince him that the choice to cut the budget was the most beneficial for the school or community. Lobbyists use this method when they remind legislators that they correspond and so many thousand votes in the legislators' constituencies and threaten to throw the politician out of office if he doesn't vote the way they desire. Teachers use this method if they state that students should hold the same political or philosophical position equally the teachers or risk failing the grade. Note that it is isn't a logical fallacy, yet, to assert that students must fulfill certain requirements in the grade or chance failing the class!

Genetic Fallacy: The genetic fallacy is the claim that an idea, product, or person must be untrustworthy considering of its racial, geographic, or ethnic origin. "That machine tin't possibly be any good! It was made in Nihon!" Or, "Why should I listen to her argument? She comes from California, and nosotros all know those people are flakes." Or, "Ha! I'thou non reading that book. It was published in Tennessee, and we know all Tennessee folk are hillbillies and rednecks!" This type of fallacy is closely related to the fallacy of argumentum ad hominem or personal attack, appearing immediately below.

Personal Attack (Argumentum Ad Hominem, literally, "argument toward the man." Also chosen "Poisoning the Well"): Attacking or praising the people who make an argument, rather than discussing the argument itself. This practice is beguiling because the personal graphic symbol of an individual is logically irrelevant to the truth or falseness of the argument itself. The statement "ii+ii=4" is truthful regardless if it is stated by criminals, congressmen, or pastors. There are 2 subcategories:

(ane) Abusive: To argue that proposals, assertions, or arguments must be false or unsafe because they originate with atheists, Christians, Muslims, communists, capitalists, the John Birch Guild, Catholics, anti-Catholics, racists, anti-racists, feminists, misogynists (or whatever other group) is beguiling. This persuasion comes from irrational psychological transference rather than from an appeal to evidence or logic concerning the result at hand. This is like to the genetic fallacy, and simply an anti-intellectual would debate otherwise.

(ii) Circumstantial: To debate that an opponent should accept or turn down an statement because of circumstances in his or her life. If ane'due south adversary is a clergyman, suggesting that he should accept a particular statement because non to practise so would be incompatible with the scriptures is such a fallacy. To argue that, because the reader is a Republican or Democrat, she must vote for a specific measure is as well a circumstantial fallacy. The opponent'due south special circumstances have no command over the truth or untruth of a specific contention. The speaker or writer must find additional evidence beyond that to make a strong case. This is also similar to the genetic fallacy in some ways. If you are a college pupil who wants to learn rational thought, y'all simply must avoid coexisting fallacies.

Argumentum ad Populum (Literally "Argument to the People"): Using an appeal to popular assent, oftentimes by arousing the feelings and enthusiasm of the multitude rather than building an argument. Information technology is a favorite device with the propagandist, the demagogue, and the advertiser. An instance of this type of statement is Shakespeare's version of Marker Antony's funeral oration for Julius Caesar. At that place are three basic approaches:

(1) Bandwagon Arroyo: "Everybody is doing it." This argumentum ad populum asserts that, since the majority of people believes an argument or chooses a particular course of activeness, the argument must be true, or the class of action must be followed, or the decision must exist the best pick. For instance, "85% of consumers buy IBM computers rather than Macintosh; all those people can't be incorrect. IBM must make the best computers." Popular acceptance of any argument does non evidence it to be valid, nor does popular apply of any production necessarily show it is the best i. After all, 85% of people may one time have idea planet globe was flat, just that majority's belief didn't mean the world really was flat when they believed it! Keep this in mind, and remember that everybody should avoid this type of logical fallacy.

(2) Patriotic Approach: "Draping oneself in the flag." This argument asserts that a certain stance is true or correct because it is somehow patriotic, and that those who disagree are unpatriotic. Information technology overlaps with pathos and argumentum ad hominem to a certain extent. The best way to spot it is to look for emotionally charged terms like Americanism, rugged individualism, motherhood, patriotism, godless communism, etc. A true American would never apply this approach. And a truly complimentary man will exercise his American right to drink beer, since beer belongs in this swell country of ours.This arroyo is unworthy of a skilful denizen.

(3) Snob Approach: This type of argumentum advert populum doesn't assert "everybody is doing it," only rather that "all the best people are doing it." For example, "Whatsoever true intellectual would recognize the necessity for studying logical fallacies." The implication is that anyone who fails to recognize the truth of the author'south assertion is non an intellectual, and thus the reader had best recognize that necessity.

In all 3 of these examples, the rhetorician does non supply bear witness that an argument is true; he merely makes assertions about people who concur or disagree with the argument. For Christian students in religious schools like Carson-Newman, we might add together a 4th category, "Roofing Oneself in the Cantankerous." This argument asserts that a certain political or denominational stance is true or right because information technology is somehow "Christian," and that anyone who disagrees is behaving in an "un-Christian" or "godless" mode. (Information technology is similar to the patriotic approach except information technology substitutes a gloss of piety instead of patriotism.) Examples include the various "Christian Voting Guides" that announced near ballot fourth dimension, many of them published by not-Church related organizations with hidden financial/political agendas, or the stereotypical crooked used-car salesman who keeps a pair of bibles on his dashboard in order to win the trust of those he would fleece. Go along in listen Moliere'south question in Tartuffe: "Is not a face quite dissimilar than a mask?" Is not the appearance of Christianity quite different than actual Christianity? Christians should beware of such manipulation since they are especially vulnerable to it.

Appeal to Tradition (Argumentum Ad Traditionem; aka Argumentum Advert Antiquitatem): This line of idea asserts that a premise must be true because people accept always believed information technology or washed information technology. For instance, "We know the earth is flat considering generations have thought that for centuries!" Alternatively, the entreatment to tradition might conclude that the premise has always worked in the past and will thus e'er piece of work in the hereafter: "Jefferson City has kept its urban growth boundary at six miles for the past thirty years. That has been good plenty for thirty years, so why should we change it now? If it own't bankrupt, don't fix information technology." Such an statement is appealing in that it seems to exist mutual sense, but it ignores important questions. Might an alternative policy work even ameliorate than the old one? Are there drawbacks to that long-standing policy? Are circumstances irresolute from the way they were thirty years agone? Has new evidence emerged that might throw that long-continuing policy into doubt?

Appeal to Improper Potency (Argumentum Advert Verecundium, literally "argument from that which is improper"): An appeal to an improper authority, such as a famous person or a source that may non be reliable or who might not know annihilation almost the topic. This fallacy attempts to capitalize upon feelings of respect or familiarity with a famous private. It is not beguiling to refer to an admitted authority if the individual'south expertise is inside a strict field of knowledge. On the other mitt, to cite Einstein to settle an argument most didactics or economic science is fallacious. To cite Darwin, an authority on biology, on religious matters is fallacious. To cite Cardinal Spellman on legal issues is fallacious. The worst offenders usually involve motion-picture show stars and psychic hotlines. A subcategory is the Entreatment to Biased Dominance. In this sort of entreatment, the authority is i who really is knowledgeable on the matter, only i who may have professional or personal motivations that render his professional judgment suspect: for instance, "To decide whether fraternities are beneficial to this campus, we interviewed all the frat presidents." Or again, "To find out whether or non sludge-mining really is endangering the Tuskogee salamander's breeding grounds, we interviewed the owners of the sludge-mines, who declared there is no trouble." Indeed, it is of import to go "both viewpoints" on an argument, but basing a substantial function of your argument on a source that has personal, professional, or fiscal interests at stake may atomic number 82 to biased arguments. As Upton Sinclair once stated, "Information technology's difficult to get a homo to empathise something when his salary depends upon his non understanding it." Sinclair is pointing out that even a knowledgeable authority might not exist entirely rational on a topic when he has economical incentives that bias his thinking.

Appeal to Emotion (Argumentum Advertisement Misericordiam , literally, "argument from pity"): An emotional entreatment concerning what should exist a logical issue during a debate. While pathos by and large works to reinforce a reader'southward sense of duty or outrage at some abuse, if a writer tries to use emotion merely for the sake of getting the reader to accept what should exist a logical conclusion, the statement is a fallacy. For instance, in the 1880s, prosecutors in a Virginia court presented overwhelming proof that a boy was guilty of murdering his parents with an ax. The defense presented a "not-guilty" plea for on the grounds that the boy was at present an orphan, with no one to look after his interests if the court was not lenient. This entreatment to emotion manifestly seems misplaced, and the argument is irrelevant to the question of whether or non he did the criminal offence.

Argument from Adverse Consequences: Asserting that an argument must exist false because the implications of it being true would create negative results. For instance, "The medical tests show that Grandma has advanced cancer. Yet, that tin't be true considering then she would die! I decline to believe it!"  The argument is illogical because truth and falsity are not contingent based upon how much we like or dislike the consequences of that truth. Grandma, indeed, might have cancer, in spite of how negative that fact may be or how cruelly it may impact united states of america.

Argument from Personal Incredulity: Asserting that opponent'due south statement must be faux because you lot personally don't empathise it or can't follow its technicalities. For instance, 1 person might assert, "I don't empathise that engineer's statement virtually how airplanes can fly. Therefore, I cannot believe that airplanes are able to fly." Au contraire, that speaker'southward own mental limitations do non limit the concrete globe—so airplanes may very well be able to fly in spite of a person's inability to understand how they work. 1 person'due south comprehension is not relevant to the truth of a matter.

COMPONENT FALLACIES : Component fallacies are errors in anterior and deductive reasoning or in syllogistic terms that fail to overlap.

Begging the Question (also called Petitio Principii, this term is sometimes used interchangeably with Circular Reasoning): If writers assume as evidence for their statement the very conclusion they are attempting to prove, they engage in the fallacy of begging the question. The about common form of this fallacy is when the showtime merits is initially loaded with the very conclusion one has yet to show. For instance, suppose a particular student group states, "Useless courses like English language 101 should exist dropped from the college's curriculum." The members of the pupil group and so immediately motion on in the argument, illustrating that spending money on a useless course is something nobody wants. Yeah, we all agree that spending coin on useless courses is a bad thing. However, those students never did prove that English 101 was itself a useless course--they but "begged the question" and moved on to the adjacent "safe" office of the statement, skipping over the function that's the real controversy, the heart of the matter, the virtually important component. Begging the question is often hidden in the form of a circuitous question (see below).

Round Reasoning is closely related to begging the question. Often the writers using this fallacy word have i idea and phrase it in two statements. The assertions differ sufficiently to obscure the fact that that the same proposition occurs as both a premise and a conclusion. The speaker or author and so tries to "testify" his or her assertion by merely repeating it in different words. Richard Whately wrote in Elements of Logic (London 1826): "To allow every human unbounded liberty of voice communication must always be on the whole, advantageous to the country; for it is highly conducive to the interest of the customs that each individual should enjoy a liberty perfectly unlimited of expressing his sentiments." Plain the premise is not logically irrelevant to the conclusion, for if the premise is truthful the determination must besides be true. It is, withal, logically irrelevant in proving the determination. In the example, the author is repeating the aforementioned signal in different words, and then attempting to "evidence" the showtime exclamation with the second i. A more complex just equally fallacious type of circular reasoning is to create a circular chain of reasoning like this one: "God exists." "How practise y'all know that God exists?" "The Bible says so." "Why should I believe the Bible?" "Considering it'southward the inspired word of God." If we depict this out as a chart, it looks similar this:

The and so-called "terminal proof" relies on unproven evidence set forth initially every bit the subject of debate. Basically, the argument goes in an endless circle, with each step of the argument relying on a previous 1, which in plough relies on the first argument yet to exist proven. Surely God deserves a more intelligible statement than the round reasoning proposed in this example!

Hasty Generalization (Dicto Simpliciter, also called "Jumping to Conclusions," "Converse Accident"): Mistaken use of anterior reasoning when there are as well few samples to prove a point. Case: "Susan failed Biology 101. Herman failed Biological science 101. Egbert failed Biology 101. I therefore conclude that most students who take Biology 101 will fail it." In agreement and characterizing full general situations, a logician cannot normally examine every single example. However, the examples used in inductive reasoning should exist typical of the trouble or situation at hand. Maybe Susan, Herman, and Egbert are exceptionally poor students. Maybe they were sick and missed as well many lectures that term to pass. If a logician wants to make the example that nigh students volition fail Biology 101, she should (a) go a very large sample--at least 1 larger than iii--or (b) if that isn't possible, she will need to go out of his style to bear witness to the reader that her iii samples are somehow representative of the norm. If a logician considers just exceptional or dramatic cases and generalizes a rule that fits these lone, the writer commits the fallacy of hasty generalization.

I mutual blazon of hasty generalization is the Fallacy of Accident. This error occurs when one applies a general rule to a particular instance when accidental circumstances render the general rule inapplicable. For example, in Plato's Republic, Plato finds an exception to the full general rule that one should return what ane has borrowed: "Suppose that a friend when in his right listen has deposited arms with me and asks for them when he is not in his correct listen. Ought I to requite the weapons back to him? No ane would say that I ought or that I should exist right in doing so. . . ." What is truthful in general may non be true universally and without qualification. And so call up, generalizations are bad. All of them. Every single concluding 1. Except, of class, for those that are not.

Another common instance of this fallacy is the misleading statistic. Suppose an individual argues that women must be incompetent drivers, and he points out that last Tuesday at the Department of Motor Vehicles, l% of the women who took the driving exam failed. That would seem to exist compelling evidence from the way the statistic is set up forth. Notwithstanding, if but two women took the test that day, the results would be far less clear-cut. Incidentally, the cartoon Dilbert makes much of an incompetent manager who cannot perceive misleading statistics. He does a statistical report of when employees call in sick and cannot come up to work during the 5-day work week. He becomes furious to acquire that 40% of office "ill-days" occur on Mondays (20%) and Fridays (twenty%)--merely in time to create a three-day weekend. Suspecting fraud, he decides to punish his workers. The irony, of course, is that these ii days compose 40% of a 5 day work week, so the numbers are completely average. Similar nonsense emerges when parents or teachers complain that "50% of students perform at or beneath the national average on standardized tests in mathematics and verbal aptitude." Of course they do! The very nature of an average implies that!

False Cause: This fallacy establishes a crusade/effect relationship that does not exist. In that location are various Latin names for various analyses of the fallacy. The two virtually common include these types:

(1) Not Causa Pro Causa (Literally, "Not the crusade for a cause"): A general, take hold of-all category for mistaking a imitation cause of an event for the real cause.

(ii) Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (Literally: "Afterwards this, therefore because of this"): This type of false cause occurs when the writer mistakenly assumes that, because the first event preceded the second event, it must hateful the outset issue caused the later one. Sometimes it does, simply sometimes it doesn't. It is the honest writer's job to institute clearly that connection rather than but assert it exists. Example: "A black cat crossed my path at apex. An 60 minutes later on, my mother had a middle-attack. Because the first outcome occurred earlier, information technology must have acquired the bad luck later." This is how superstitions begin.

The most mutual examples are arguments that viewing a item movie or show, or listening to a particular type of music "caused" the listener to perform an hating act--to snort coke, shoot classmates, or accept up a life of law-breaking. These may be potential suspects for the cause, but the mere fact that an individual did these acts and later on behaved in a certain way does not yet conclusively rule out other causes. Perhaps the listener had an abusive home-life or school-life, suffered from a chemical imbalance leading to depression and paranoia, or made a bad option in his companions. Other potential causes must be examined before asserting that only one issue or circumstance lone earlier in time caused a event or beliefs afterwards. For more information, see correlation and causation.

Irrelevant Conclusion ( Ignorantio Elenchi ): This fallacy occurs when a rhetorician adapts an argument purporting to establish a particular conclusion and directs it to prove a different decision. For example, when a detail proposal for housing legislation is under consideration, a legislator may argue that decent housing for all people is desirable. Anybody, presumably, volition hold. All the same, the question at hand concerns a particular measure. The question actually isn't, "Is it good to have decent housing?" The question really is, "Will this particular measure out really provide it or is in that location a ameliorate alternative?" This type of fallacy is a mutual one in student papers when students utilise a shared supposition--such as the fact that decent housing is a desirable affair to have--and then spend the majority of their essays focused on that fact rather than the real question at consequence. It'southward similar to begging the question, in a higher place.

One of the near common forms of Ignorantio Elenchi is the "Red Herring." A red herring is a deliberate attempt to change the field of study or divert the argument from the real question at issue to some side-betoken; for instance, "Senator Jones should not exist held accountable for cheating on his income revenue enhancement. Afterwards all, there are other senators who have washed far worse things." Some other case: "I should non pay a fine for reckless driving. In that location are many other people on the street who are dangerous criminals and rapists, and the police should be chasing them, not harassing a decent tax-paying denizen like me." Certainly, worse criminals exercise be, but that it is another issue! The questions at mitt are (i) did the speaker drive recklessly, and (2) should he pay a fine for it?

Some other similar example of the red herring is the fallacy known every bit Tu Quoque (Latin for "And you likewise!"), which asserts that the advice or argument must exist false simply because the person presenting the advice doesn't consistently follow it herself. For instance, "Susan the yoga instructor claims that a low-fat diet and do are salubrious--merely I saw her last week pigging out on oreos, and so her argument must exist a load of hogwash." Or, "Reverend Jeremias claims that theft is wrong, but how can theft be wrong if Jeremias himself admits he stole objects when he was a child?" Or "Thomas Jefferson made many arguments about equality and liberty for all Americans, but he himself kept slaves, so we can dismiss any thoughts he had on those topics."

Harbinger Human Argument : A subtype of the red herring, this fallacy includes any lame attempt to "testify" an argument past overstating, exaggerating, or over-simplifying the arguments of the opposing side. Such an arroyo is building a straw man argument. The name comes from the idea of a boxer or fighter who meticulously fashions a false opponent out of straw, like a scarecrow, and and then hands knocks it over in the ring before his admiring audience. His "victory" is a hollow mockery, of course, because the straw-stuffed opponent is incapable of fighting dorsum. When a writer makes a drawing-like caricature of the opposing statement, ignoring the real or subtle points of contention, and then proceeds to knock down each "fake" point one-by-one, he has created a straw man statement.

For instance, i speaker might be engaged in a debate apropos welfare. The opponent argues, "Tennessee should increment funding to unemployed single mothers during the first yr after childbirth because they need sufficient money to provide medical care for their newborn children." The second speaker retorts, "My opponent believes that some parasites who don't work should get a free ride from the tax money of hard-working honest citizens. I'll prove yous why he'due south wrong . . ." In this example, the 2nd speaker is engaging in a straw man strategy, distorting the opposition's statement about medical care for newborn children into an oversimplified form so he can more easily appear to "win." However, the 2d speaker is merely defeating a dummy-argument rather than honestly engaging in the real nuances of the debate.

Non Sequitur (literally, "It does not follow"): A not sequitur is any argument that does not follow from the previous statements. Normally what happened is that the author leaped from A to B and then jumped to D, leaving out step C of an argument she thought through in her head, but did non put downward on paper. The phrase is applicable in general to any blazon of logical fallacy, but logicians use the term particularly in reference to syllogistic errors such equally the undistributed middle term, not causa pro causa , and ignorantio elenchi . A common instance would be an argument along these lines: "Giving up our nuclear arsenal in the 1980's weakened the United states' military. Giving up nuclear weaponry too weakened People's republic of china in the 1990s. For this reason, it is wrong to attempt to outlaw pistols and rifles in the United States today." There's obviously a stride or ii missing hither.

The "Glace Slope" Fallacy (also called "The Camel'south Nose Fallacy") is a non sequitur in which the speaker argues that, once the commencement step is undertaken, a second or third step will inevitably follow, much similar the way i pace on a slippery incline will cause a person to fall and slide all the fashion to the bottom. It is also called "the Camel's Nose Fallacy" because of the paradigm of a sheik who let his camel stick its olfactory organ into his tent on a cold night. The idea is that the sheik is agape to allow the camel stick its olfactory organ into the tent because in one case the creature sticks in its nose, it will inevitably stick in its caput, and then its neck, and eventually its whole body. However, this sort of thinking does not let for any possibility of stopping the process. It just assumes that, once the nose is in, the rest must follow--that the sheik can't cease the progression once it has begun--and thus the argument is a logical fallacy. For instance, if i were to contend, "If we allow the government to infringe upon our right to privacy on the Net, it volition and then feel free to infringe upon our privacy on the telephone. Afterwards that, FBI agents will exist reading our mail service. Then they will be placing cameras in our houses. Nosotros must not let any governmental bureau interfere with our Internet communications, or privacy will completely vanish in the The states." Such thinking is beguiling; no logical proof has been provided yet that infringement in one area will necessarily lead to infringement in another, no more than than a person buying a single can of Coca-Cola in a grocery store would betoken the person will inevitably continue to purchase every particular available in the shop, helpless to cease herself. So remember to avoid the glace gradient fallacy; once you use ane, y'all may find yourself using more and more logical fallacies.

Either/Or Fallacy (likewise chosen "the Black-and-White Fallacy," "Excluded Middle," "Imitation Dilemma," or "Simulated Dichotomy"): This fallacy occurs when a author builds an argument upon the assumption that at that place are merely 2 choices or possible outcomes when actually in that location are several. Outcomes are seldom so simple. This fallacy almost frequently appears in connection to sweeping generalizations: "Either nosotros must ban X or the American manner of life will plummet." "We get to war with Canada, or else Canada volition eventually grow in population and overwhelm the United States." "Either you drink Burpsy Cola, or you will have no friends and no social life." Either y'all must avoid either/or fallacies, or anybody will think you are foolish.

Faulty Analogy: Relying only on comparisons to testify a point rather than arguing deductively and inductively. For example, "education is like block; a small corporeality tastes sugariness, simply swallow too much and your teeth will rot out. Likewise, more than two years of education is bad for a educatee." The analogy is but acceptable to the degree a reader thinks that pedagogy is similar to cake. As you can run into, faulty analogies are like flimsy woods, and just as no carpenter would build a house out of flimsy wood, no writer should ever construct an argument out of flimsy material.

Undistributed Middle Term: A specific type of error in deductive reasoning in which the minor premise and the major premise of a syllogism might or might not overlap. Consider these two examples: (1) "All reptiles are cold-blooded. All snakes are reptiles. All snakes are cold-blooded." In the commencement case, the middle term "snakes" fits in the categories of both "reptile" and "things-that-are-cold-blooded." (2) "All snails are cold-blooded. All snakes are common cold-blooded. All snails are snakes." In the 2d instance, the middle term of "snakes" does not fit into the categories of both "things-that-are-cold-blooded" and "snails." Sometimes, equivocation (see below) leads to an undistributed middle term.

Contradictory Bounds (also known as a logical paradox): Establishing a premise in such a manner that it contradicts another, before premise. For instance, "If God tin do anything, he can brand a rock so heavy that he can't lift it." The first premise establishes a deity that has the irresistible capacity to move other objects. The 2nd premise establishes an immovable object impervious to any movement. If the first object capable of moving anything exists, by definition, the immovable object cannot be, and vice-versa.

Closely related is the fallacy of Special Pleading, in which the author creates a universal principle, then insists that principle does not for some reason apply to the issue at hand. For instance, "Everything must have a source or creator. Therefore God must exist and he must accept created the world. What? Who created God? Well, God is eternal and unchanging--He has no source or creator." In such an assertion, either God must have His own source or creator, or else the universal principle of everything having a source or creator must exist set aside—the person making the argument can't have it both ways.

FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY : These errors occur with ambiguous words or phrases, the meanings of which shift and change in the grade of give-and-take. Such more or less subtle changes tin can render arguments fallacious.

Equivocation: Using a word in a dissimilar way than the author used information technology in the original premise, or changing definitions halfway through a discussion. When we use the same give-and-take or phrase in different senses within ane line of argument, we commit the fallacy of equivocation. Consider this example: "Plato says the cease of a thing is its perfection; I say that death is the finish of life; hence, expiry is the perfection of life." Hither the give-and-take end means "goal" in Plato'southward usage, but it means "concluding event" or "termination" in the author's second usage. Clearly, the speaker is twisting Plato'south meaning of the word to depict a very different conclusion. Compare with amphiboly , beneath.

Amphiboly (from the Greek word "indeterminate"): This fallacy is similar to equivocation. Here, the ambiguity results from grammatical construction. A statement may be true according to 1 estimation of how each word functions in a sentence and faux according to another. When a premise works with an estimation that is true, only the conclusion uses the secondary "fake" interpretation, we have the fallacy of amphiboly on our hands. In the command, "Save soap and waste paper," the amphibolous use of "waste matter" results in the problem of determining whether "waste" functions as a verb or as an adjective.

Composition: This fallacy is a upshot of reasoning from the properties of the parts of the whole to the backdrop of the whole itself--information technology is an anterior error. Such an argument might hold that, because every individual part of a big tractor is lightweight, the entire machine also must be lightweight. This fallacy is similar to Jerky Generalization (meet above), merely it focuses on parts of a single whole rather than using too few examples to create a categorical generalization. Also compare it with Division (see below).

Segmentation: This fallacy is the reverse of composition. It is the misapplication of deductive reasoning. One fallacy of partitioning argues falsely that what is true of the whole must be true of individual parts. Such an statement notes that, "Microtech is a company with great influence in the California legislature. Egbert Smith works at Microtech. He must accept great influence in the California legislature." This is not necessarily truthful. Egbert might piece of work as a graveyard shift security guard or as the re-create-machine repairman at Microtech--positions requiring little interaction with the California legislature. Another fallacy of partitioning attributes the properties of the whole to the individual fellow member of the whole: "Sunsurf is a visitor that sells environmentally condom products. Susan Jones is a worker at Sunsurf. She must be an environmentally minded individual." (Maybe she is motivated by money lonely?)

Fallacy of Reification (Also chosen "Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness" past Alfred N Whitehead): The fallacy of treating a discussion or an idea every bit equivalent to the actual thing represented past that word or thought, or the fallacy of treating an abstraction or process every bit equivalent to a concrete object or thing.  In the get-go case, we might imagine a reformer trying to eliminate illicit lust by banning all mention of extra-marital affairs or certain sexual acts in publications. The trouble is that eliminating the words for these deeds is not the same as eliminating the deeds themselves. In the second instance, we might imagine a person or declaring "a war on poverty." In this case, the fallacy comes from the fact that "war" implies a concrete struggle with another physical entity which can give up or be exterminated. "Poverty," however is an abstraction that cannot surrender or sign peace treaties, cannot be shot or bombed, etc. Reification of the concept merely muddles the issue of what policies to follow and leads to sloppy thinking nearly the best way to handle a problem. Information technology is closely related to and overlaps with faulty analogy and equivocation.

FALLACIES O F OMISSION : These errors occur considering the logician leaves out necessary fabric in an argument or misdirects others from missing information.

Stacking the Deck: In this fallacy, the speaker "stacks the deck" in her favor by ignoring examples that disprove the point and list only those examples that support her case. This fallacy is closely related to hasty generalization, just the term usually implies deliberate charade rather than an accidental logical error. Dissimilarity it with the straw man argument.

'No Truthful Scotsman' Fallacy: Attempting to stack the deck specifically by defining terms in such a narrow or unrealistic manner as to exclude or omit relevant examples from a sample. For instance, suppose speaker #1 asserts, "The Scottish national graphic symbol is brave and patriotic. No Scottish soldier has ever fled the field of battle in the face of the enemy." Speaker #ii objects, "Ah, just what about Lucas MacDurgan? He fled from High german troops in World War I." Speaker #1 retorts, "Well, obviously he doesn't count as a true Scotsman because he did not live up to Scottish ideals, thus he forfeited his Scottish identity." Past this fallacious reasoning, any private who would serve every bit bear witness contradicting the first speaker's assertion is conveniently and automatically dismissed from consideration. We commonly see this fallacy when a company asserts that it cannot be blamed for i of its particularly unsafe or shoddy products considering that particular ane doesn't live upwards to its normally high standards, and thus shouldn't "count" against its fine reputation. Likewise, defenders of Christianity as a positive historical influence in their zeal might argue the atrocities of the eight Crusades do non "count" in an argument because the Crusaders weren't living up to Christian ideals, and thus aren't really Christians, etc. So, remember this fallacy. Philosophers and logicians never use it, and anyone who does use it by definition is non really a philosopher or logician.

Argument from the Negative: Arguing from the negative asserts that, since one position is untenable, the opposite opinion must exist true. This fallacy is oftentimes used interchangeably with Argumentum Ad Ignorantium (listed below) and the either/or fallacy (listed above). For example, one might mistakenly argue that, since the Newtonian theory of mathematics is not one hundred percent accurate, Einstein's theory of relativity must be true. Perhaps not. Perhaps the theories of quantum mechanics are more than accurate, and Einstein's theory is flawed. Perhaps they are all wrong. Disproving an opponent's argument does not necessarily mean your own argument must exist true automatically, no more than than disproving your opponent's assertion that 2+2=5 would automatically mean your argument that 2+ii=seven must be the correct one. Keeping this mind, students should retrieve that arguments from the negative are bad, arguments from the positive must automatically exist good.

Appeal to a Lack of Testify (Argumentum Ad Ignorantium, literally "Statement from Ignorance"): Highly-seasoned to a lack of information to prove a indicate, or arguing that, since the opposition cannot disprove a merits, the opposite opinion must exist true. An case of such an argument is the exclamation that ghosts must exist because no one has been able to testify that they do not exist. Logicians know this is a logical fallacy because no competing argument has nonetheless revealed itself.

Hypothesis Opposite to Fact (Argumentum Advertizement Speculum): Trying to evidence something in the real world by using imaginary examples alone, or asserting that, if hypothetically X had occurred, Y would have been the result. For instance, suppose an individual asserts that if Einstein had been aborted in utero, the world would never take learned about relativity, or that if Monet had been trained as a butcher rather than going to college, the impressionistic movement would have never influenced modern fine art. Such hypotheses are misleading lines of argument because it is oft possible that some other individual would take solved the relativistic equations or introduced an impressionistic art manner. The speculation might make an interesting thought-experiment, simply it is simply useless when it comes to actually proving anything about the real world. A mutual example is the idea that one "owes" her success to another individual who taught her. For example, "You owe me part of your increased salary. If I hadn't taught you how to recognize logical fallacies, you would exist flipping hamburgers at McDonald's for minimum wages right now instead of taking in hundreds of thousands of dollars as a lawyer." Maybe. Merely perhaps the audience would have learned nearly logical fallacies elsewhere, and then the hypothetical state of affairs described is meaningless.

Complex Question (Besides called the "Loaded Question"): Phrasing a question or statement in such as way as to imply another unproven statement is truthful without evidence or word. This fallacy often overlaps with begging the question (higher up), since it also presupposes a definite answer to a previous, unstated question. For instance, if I were to inquire you "Have you stopped taking drugs yet?" my hidden assumption is that you have been taking drugs. Such a question cannot be answered with a elementary yes or no respond. It is not a uncomplicated question just consists of several questions rolled into one. In this example the unstated question is, "Have you lot taken drugs in the by?" followed by, "If you accept taken drugs in the past, take you stopped taking them at present?" In cross-examination, a lawyer might ask a flustered witness, "Where did you hide the prove?" or "when did you terminate beating your married woman?" The intelligent process when faced with such a question is to analyze its component parts. If one answers or discusses the prior, implicit question first, the explicit question may deliquesce.

Complex questions appear in written statement oft. A student might write, "Why is private evolution of resources and so much more efficient than any public control?" The rhetorical question leads straight into his side by side argument. However, an observant reader may disagree, recognizing the prior, implicit question remains unaddressed. That question is, of course, whether private development of resources really is more efficient in all cases, a point which the author is skipping entirely and merely assuming to be true without discussion.

To chief logic more fully, get familiar with the tool of Occam's Razor.

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Source: https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/fallacies_list.html

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