Logical Fallacies

• “You’re so stupid that what you’re saying can’t be true”.

• “No one who dresses like that can tell me how to act”.

Ad Hominem

• Attacking the Individual Instead of the Argument

• “Do what I tell you or I’ll hit you”.

Appeal to Force

• Threatening the listener

• “I forgot our anniversary because I’ve had a cold for a week.”

Appeal to Pity

• Urging the listener to agree by appealing to emotions or sympathy.

• “Everyone likes Pepsi. How can you not like Pepsi?”

• “Taylor Swift is a world famous musician. If you don’t like her, you suck”.

Appeal to the Popular

• Telling someone they have to like something or agree to something because the majority likes or agrees to it.

• “This is the way we’ve always done it, so we’re gonna keep doing it this way”.

Appeal to Tradition

• Trying to get someone to believe or do something because it’s been that way for a long time.

• “Happiness is the best thing in the world because everything else isn’t as great”.

• “Chocolate is good for you because it comes from nature, so it has to be”.

Begging the Question

• The conclusion is included in the premise.• Assuming the thing to be true that you’re

trying to prove.• Circular Argument

• “When the sun rises, I wake up. Therefore, the sun rises BECAUSE I wake up”.

• “ When the fuel light comes on in my car, I’m about to run out of gas. Therefore, I run out of gas because that light comes on”.

Cause and Effect

• Assuming two things are related because they occur at roughly the same time.

• “You are weird. That means your whole family is weird”.

• “ISIS members are Muslims. Therefore, all Muslims are members of ISIS”.

Fallacy of Division

• Assuming what is true of a part is true of the whole.

• “You either stole the Skittles or you didn’t. Which one is it?”

False Dilemma

• Giving only two choices when in reality there could be many more choices.

• “Dogs are bad because Hitler liked dogs. He even owned one”.

Guilt by Association

• Rejecting an argument or claim because it’s loosely associated with something or someone bad.

• “Donald is a lying, stupid jerk. Now let’s listen to what Donald has to say”.

Poisoning the Well

• Presenting negative information about someone before they speak so as to discredit them.

• Chewbacca Defense Video Clip

Red Herring

• Introducing a Topic not Related to the Subject at Hand.

• “Can we get a dog? It’ll help protect us”.• “No”. • “Why do you want us to be defenseless and vulnerable?”

• “Clean your room”.• “I just cleaned it last week. Do I have to do it every day

now?”• “You just want to have the messiest room in the whole

wide world, don’t you?”

Straw Man Argument

• Misrepresenting another’s position, then attacking that misrepresentation.

• Person A: “I can throw a baseball 90 miles an hour”.

• Person B measures the speed of Person A’s pitch. It’s nowhere close to 90 miles an hour.

• Person A responds: “I can’t do it if you’re here because I don’t like you”.

Special Pleading

• Making up an exception when your claims are proven wrong.