APLAC: Logical Fallacies
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Created by:
cowabunga11115 on May 13, 2012
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17 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 ad hominem | any argument that criticizes an idea by pointing something out about the person who holds the idea, rather than directly addressing the actual merit of the idea |
| argument from (false) authority | tempts reader to agree with writer's assumptions based on the authority of a famous person or entity or on his or her own character when the writer is well-known |
| appeal to ignorance | argument is based on the assumption that whatever has not been proven false must be true / whatever has not been proven true must be false |
| begging the question | argument in which someone assumes that parts or all of what the person claims to be proving are proven facts |
| hasty generalization | when a writer deliberately leads you to a conclusion by providing insufficient, selective evidence |
| non sequitur | a statement that does not relate logically to what comes before it |
| false dichotomy | an argument that consists of a consideration of only the two extremes when there are one or more intermediate possibilities |
| slippery slope | the argument suggests dire consequences from relatively minor causes |
| faulty causality | the setting up of a cause-and-effect relationship when none exists; in this argument, one event can happen after another without the first necessarily being the direct cause of the second |
| straw man argument | an argument that oversimplifies an opponent's argument to make it easier to attack |
| sentimental appeals | an argument that attempts to appeal to the hearts / emotions of readers, so that they forget to use their brains |
| red herring | an argument that attempts to shift attention away from an important issue by introducing an issue that has no logical connection to the discussion at hand |
| scare tactics | an argument used to frighten the audience into agreeing with the speaker; often used when the speaker has no logical argument on which to fall back |
| bandwagon appeals | peer pressure; encourages the listener to agree with a position because everyone else does |
| dogmatism | an argument where the speaker presumes that his or her beliefs are beyond question; I'm correct because I'm correct |
| equivocation | telling part of the truth, while deliberately hiding the entire truth; lying by omission |
| faulty analogy | an illogical, misleading comparison between two things |
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