| Fallacy |
Recognize by |
Definition |
Example |
| Appeal to inertia |
"We've always done it that way" |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Ad hominem |
Attacks directed to the arguer rather than the argument |
Attacking the person who delivers the argument rather than the argument
itself. |
"What do you expect from the French' We have had to bail them out
in two world wars." |
| Name calling |
Use of derisive names (a special case of ad hominem) |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Glittering Generalities |
Use of words with particularly ambiguous meaning and strong emotional
appeal |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Guilt by association |
A listing of the friends or associates of the person being evaluated |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Plain Folks Appeal |
Overreliance on the strategies of identification to establish ethos |
Attempts to short circuit reasoning by asserting that the arguer is just
like you and therefore you should believe them. |
"I know tuition increases are a bad idea. I pay tuition too." |
| Ad Misericordium or appeal to sympathy |
Your emotions are engaged, your reasoning turned off |
An attempt to short-circuit reasoning by appealing to the emotions |
"Millions of Iraqi children cry out for us to get rid of the dictator." |
| Ad populum |
Using popular opinion (particularly polling) to support material
fact (Note polling can support claims about public opinion. Fallacy is when
public opinion is used to support empirical fact.) |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Appeal to Ignorance |
Asserting a claim proven because not disproved
|
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Fallacy |
Analysis required |
Definition |
Example |
| Red Herring |
How important is the issue raised to the claim. |
Raising an issue that is unimportant to the claim. |
"The Naval Academy is not a very good school. It's football
team has not won in years." |
| Straw Target (also called straw argument or straw man) |
Compare the arguer's version of the argument to which s/he
is responding to the argument as originally presented. Be skeptical when
an arguer represents the argument of another. |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| False Dilemma |
When a dilemma is presented ask whether there are other options
not mentioned. |
See Campbell and Huxman |
|
| Fallacy of Composition |
Look for assertions of the characteristic of individuals based
on the characteristics of some group they belong to. |
Assuming that all members of some class are the same as one
member, or that a whole is the same as its parts. The basis of stereotyping. |
"The University of Maryland must be a good university.
I had a wonderful class there last summer. |
| Fallacy of Division |
Look for differences within the group or class that negate
the generalized characteristic. |
Assuming that what is true of the whole is true of a part
of individuals within the group. |
"That class in history should be an excellent course.
History is a good department." |
| Ad verecundiam (by authority) |
Analyze a source's appropriateness as an expert or an observer. |
Using an authority outside the area of their expertise, or
a witness outside their ability to know. (Note use is different than Campbell
and Huxman) |
"Admiral Rickover, the world's foremost expert on nuclear
powered Navies, says education in the United States is in desparate straights." |
| Post hoc ergo prompter hoc |
Look not just for sequence of events but for causal force
as well. |
Concluding that something causes something else simply because
it comes after. |
"Studying for exams is worthless. I studied hard for
that last test and it did not help a bit." |
Notice that the presence of a fallacy should weaken the warrant of the argument, does not prove
the claim false. It simply means that different support is needed than that provided.