False Arguments
These are fallacies in arguments that are taken from a page on CARM
- Ad hominim - Attacking the individual instead of the
argument.
- Example:
You are so stupid you argument couldn't possibly be true.
- Example:
I figured that you couldn't possibly get it right, so I ignored
your comment.
- Appeal to force - The hearer is told that something
bad will happen to him if he does not accept the argument.
- Example: If
you don't want to get beat up, you will agree with what I say.
- Example:
Convert or die.
- Appeal to pity - The hearer is urged to accept the
argument based upon an appeal to emotions, sympathy, etc.
- Example: You
owe me big time because I really stuck my neck out for you.
- Example: Oh
come on, I've been sick. That's why I missed the deadline.
- Appeal to the popular - the hearer is urged to accept
a position because a majority of people hold to it.
- Example: The
majority of people like soda. Therefore, soda is good.
- Example: Everyone
else is doing it. Why shouldn't you?
- Appeal to tradition - trying to get someone to accept
something because it has been done or believed for a long time.
- Example:
This is the way we've always done it. Therefore, it is the right
way.
- Example: The
Catholic church's tradition demonstrates that this doctrine is
true.
- Begging the Question - Assuming the thing to be true
that you are trying to prove. It is circular.
- Example: God
exists because the Bible says so. The Bible is inspired.
Therefore, we know that God exists.
- Example: I
am a good worker because Frank says so. How can we trust
Frank? Simple. I will vouch for him.
- Cause and Effect - assuming that the effect is related
to a cause because the events occur together.
- Example:
When the rooster crows, the sun rises. Therefore, the
rooster causes the sun to rise.
- Example:
When the fuel light goes on in my car, I soon run out of gas.
Therefore, the fuel light causes my car to run out of gas.
- Circular Argument - see Begging the Question
- Division - assuming that the what is true of the whole
is true for the parts.
- Example:
That car is blue. Therefore, its engine is blue.
- Example:
Your family is weird. That means that you are weird too.
- Equivocation - The same
term is used in an argument in different places but the word has
different meanings.
- Example: A
bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Therefore, a bird
is worth more than President Bush.
- Example: Evolution states that one species
can change into another. We see that cars have evolved into
different styles. Therefore, since evolution is a fact in
cars, it is true in species.
- False Dilemma - Two choices are given when in
actuality there could be more choices possible.
- Example: You either did knock the glass
over or you did not. Which is it?
- Example: Do you still beat your wife?
- Genetic Fallacy
- The attempt to endorse or disqualify a claim because of the origin
or irrelevant history of the claim
- Example: The Nazi regime developed the
Volkswagen Beetle. Therefore, you should not by a VW Beetle
because of who started it.
- Example: Frank's just got out of jail last
year and since it was his idea to start the hardware store, I
can't trust him.
- Guilt by
Association -
Rejecting an
argument or claim because the person proposing it likes someone is
disliked by another.
- Example: Hitler liked dogs. Therefore
dogs are bad.
- Example: Your friend is a thief.
Therefore, I cannot trust you.
- Non Sequitar - Comments or information that do not logically
follow from a premise or the conclusion.
- Example: We know why it rained today,
because I washed my car.
- Example: I don't care what you say.
We don't need any more bookshelves. As long as the carpet is
clean, we are fine.
- Poisoning the well
- Presenting negative information about a person before he/she speaks
so as to discredit the person's argument.
- Example: Frank is pompous, arrogant, and
thinks he knows everything. So, let's hear what Frank has to
say about the subject.
- Example: Don't listen to him because he is
a looser.
- Red Herring - The
introduction of a topic not related to the subject at hand.
- Example: I know your car isn't working
right. But, if you had gone to the store one day earlier,
you'd not be having problems.
- Example: I know I forgot to deposit the
check into the bank yesterday. But, nothing I do pleases
you.
- Special Pleading
(double standard) - Applying a different standard to another that
is applied to oneself.
- Example: You can't possibly understand
menopause because you are a man.
- Example: Those rules don't apply to me
since since I am older than you.
- Straw Man Argument - Producing an argument to attack
that is a weaker representation of the truth.
- Example: The
government doesn't take care of the poor because it doesn't have a
tax specifically to support the poor.
- Example: We know that evolution is false
because we did not evolve from monkeys.
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Written 3/23/03