Emotional fallacies, Ethical fallacies, Logical fallacies
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| 168778991 | Rhetorical Fallacies (general definition) | don't allow for the open, two-way exchange of ideas upon which meaningful conversations depend. Instead, they distract the reader with various appeals instead of sound reasoning | |
| 168778992 | Emotional fallacies | unfairly appeal to the audience's emotions | |
| 168778993 | ethical fallacies | unreasonably advance the writer's own authority or character | |
| 168778994 | logical fallacies | depend upon faulty logic | |
| 168778995 | sentimental appeals | use emotion to distract the audience from the facts EX: the thousand of baby seals killed in the Exxon Valdez oil spill have shown us that oil is not a reliable energy source | |
| 168778996 | red herrings | use misleading or unrelated evidence to support a conclusion EX: that painting is worthless because I don't recognize the artist | |
| 168778997 | scare tactics | try to frighten people into agreeing with the arguer by threatening them or predicting unrealistically dire consequences EX: if you don't support the party's tax plan, you and your family will be reduced to poverty | |
| 168778998 | slippery slope | arguments suggest that one thing will lead to another, oftentimes with disasterous results EX: if you get a B in high school, you won't get into the college of your choice, and therefore will never have a meaningful career | |
| 168778999 | either/or choices | reduce complicated issues to only two possible courses of action EX: the patent office can either approve my generator design immediately or say goodbye forever to affordable energy | |
| 168779000 | false authority | asks audiences to agree with the assertion of a writer based simply on his or her character or the authority of another person or institution who may not be fully qualified to offer that assertion EX: celebrity, media, president, teacher- said it, so it must be true | |
| 168779001 | guilt by association | calls someone's character into question by examining the character of that person's associates EX: Sara's friend Amy robbed a bank; therefore, Sara is a delinquent | |
| 168779002 | dogmatism | shuts down discussion by asserting that the writer's beliefs are the only acceptable ones EX: I'm sorry, but I think penguins are sea creatures and that's that. | |
| 168779003 | moral equivalence | compares minor problems with much more serious crimes (or vice versa) EX: these mandatory seatbelt laws are fascist | |
| 168779004 | ad hominem | arguments that attack a person's character rather than that person's reasoning EX: why should we think a candidate who recently divorced will keep her campaign promises? | |
| 168779005 | strawman | arguements set up and often dismantle easily refutable arguments in order to misrepresent an opponent's argument in order to defeat him or her EX: we need to regulate government spending---my opponent believes that we should ignore the rights of "life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness" guaranteed to us as citizens of the United States by the constitution. unlike my opponent, I am a firm believer in the constitution and a proponent of freedom | |
| 168779006 | hasty generalization | draws conclusions from scanty evidence EX: i wouldn't eat at that restaurant--the only time I ate there, my entree was undercooked | |
| 168779007 | faulty causualty (post hoc) arguments | confuse chronology with causation: one event can occur after another without being caused by it EX: a year afer the release ofthe violent shoot-'em-up video game Annihilator, incidents of school violence tripled--surely not a coincidence | |
| 168779008 | non sequitur | "it doesn't follow" a statement that does not logically relate to what comes before it. an important logical step may be missing in such a claim EX: if those protesters really loved their country, they wouldn't question the government | |
| 168779009 | equivocation | half-truth, a statement that is partially correct but that purposefully obscures the entire truth EX: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." --Clinton | |
| 168779010 | begging the question | occurs when a writer simply restates the claim in a different way; such an argument is circular EX: his lies are evident form the untruthful nature of his statements | |
| 168779011 | circular logic | restating an effect as its own cause ex: this product is environmentaly friendly because it doesn't pollute the atmosphere | |
| 168779012 | faulty analogy | an inaccurate, inappropriate, or misleading comparison between two things EX: letting prisoners out on early release is like absolving them of their crimes | |
| 168779013 | stereotyping | describing an individual or group based upon preconceptions of the group's characteristics EX: teenagers who pierce their bodies have no respect for authority |
