Taxonomy – Where am I?
Argument From Ignorance
classification : informal – fallacies of distraction
An error of presumption in which one ignores all other reasonable alternatives.
A logical fallacy of irrelevance occurring when one claims that something is true only because it hasn’t been proved false, or vice versa.
Foundations
A claims truth or falsity depends upon supporting or refuting evidence to the claim in favor of an alternative view. Not knowing that a statement is true is taken to be proof that it is false.
Examples
Jim said he is smarter than David but failed to prove it. Therefore his argument ( assertion ) is logically flawed. Claiming something does not make it true.
Failing to prove that Unicorns do not exist, affirms that they do exist
If such actions were not illegal, then they would not be prohibited by the law.
Other Names:
lack-of-knowledge inference
negative evidence
default reasoning
Taxonomy – Where am I?
False Dilemma
classification : informal – fallacies of distraction
An error of presumption in which one ignores all other reasonable alternatives.
Foundations
Failing to state a range of options; an incomplete argument sometimes predicated on extremes.
Examples
Someone who labels other people as all good or all bad.
Every person is either part of the problem, or part of the solution.
My country right or wrong.
Other Names
either-or
black and white fallacy
Stacking the deck
Hobson’s Choice
Pascal’s Wager
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Anonymous Authority
classification : informal – causal fallacy
The authority in question is not named thus making it impossible to confirm that the authority is an expert.
Foundations
Argument is fallacious when the person in question is not an expert. In such cases the reasoning is flawed because the fact that an unqualified person makes a claim does not provide any justification for the claim.
The claim could be true, but the fact that an unqualified person made the claim does not provide any rational reason to accept the claim as true.
Examples
Experts agree that the best way to prevent nuclear war is to prepare for it.
It is held that there are more than two million needless operations conducted every year.
Other Names
Appeal to rumor
Argument from respect
Hearsay
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Slippery Slope
classification : informal – fallacies of distraction
An error of presumption in which one ignores all other reasonable alternatives.
Assertion that any change from the status quo in a given direction will produce a cascading effect leading to an undesirable outcome.
Commonly stated as an assertive imperative in the form: balancing precariously on a slippery slope.
Foundations
The argument contend that event A will trigger a chain reaction of events leading, eventually, to an undesirable event. Considered fallacious if it is used as the primary tool to prove a point. When the proposition within an argument claims, but fails to explain, how change will cause a reversal, or cascade into a series of unwanted events.
Examples
Best never to give anyone a break. If you do, they’ll walk all over you.
We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they’ll be charging $100,000 a semester.
Other Names
Argument of the Beard
Fallacy of the Beard
Camel’s Nose fallacy
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Attacking The Person
classification : informal – changing the subject
Attempts to counter a claim or conclusion by attacking the person, rather than addressing the argument itself.
Foundations
Three major forms of Attacking the Person;
1. attack the person who made the argument;
2. attack the relationship between the person making the assertion and the person’s circumstances and,
3. attack on the person because he does not exemplify or practices what he preaches, or has no stronger case than one has oneself.
Examples
A prosecutor asks the judge to not admit the testimony of a burglar because burglars are not trustworthy.
You say I should give up alcohol, but you haven’t been sober for more than a year yourself.
Other Names
Argument against the man
Ad hominem argument
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Prejudicial Language
classification : informal – appeals to motive in place of support
Loaded or emotive terms are used to attach value or moral goodness to enhance believability of an otherwise unfounded proposition.
Foundations
Disagreeing with the conclusion does not make one “wrong thinking” or “unreasonable”.
Examples
A reasonable person would agree that our income is too low.
I’ve found typographical errors in your poem, so the poem is neither inspired nor perceptive.
Other Names
Stacked Deck
Loaded Language
variant imagization
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Appeal To Popularity (argumentum ad populum)
classification : informal – appeals to motive in place of support
A proposition is argued to be true because it is widely held to be true — predominately, by those of great authority.
Foundations
The basic idea is that a claim is accepted as being true simply because most people are favorably inclined towards the claim. More formally, the fact that most people have favorable emotions associated with the claim is substituted in place of actual evidence for the claim. A person falls prey to this fallacy if he accepts a claim as being true simply because most other people approve of the claim.
Examples
Everyone knows that the Earth is flat, so why do you persist in your outlandish claims?
Smoking is a healthy pastime, since millions of people do it.
Other Names
Appeal to the masses
Appeal to belief
Appeal to the majority
Appeal to democracy
Argument by consensus
Consensus fallacy
Authority of the many
Appeal to Emotion
Bandwagon fallacy
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Appeal To Pity (ad misericordiam)
classification : informal – appeals to motive in place of support
An argument based on pity without foundation or logical merit.
Foundations
Pity does not serve as evidence for a claim or otherwise support a logical conclusion.
Captioned as the Galileo Arguement; the attempt is to persuade someone to agree with you by making them pity or feel sorry for you or make the other person seem cruel or insensitive if they fail to comply.
The reference to Galileo refers to his trials and house arrest by the Inquisition as a result of his scientific views that branded him as a heretic.
Examples
Find the defendant not guilty of embezzlement. He’s in a wheelchair.
I hope you like my proposal. It took me six years to write and I would die if it was rejected.
Other Names
Appeal to the pitying heart
The Galileo Argument
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Complex Question
classification : informal – fallacies of distraction
An error of presumption in which one ignores all other reasonable alternatives.
Phrasing a question that, by the way it is worded, assumes something not contextually granted, assumes something not true, or assumes a false dichotomy.
Foundations
When two unrelated points are conjoined as a single proposition.
Examples
Do you support freedom and the right to bear arms?
How can we save our country from the bureaucratic dictatorship, the corruption, and the creeping socialism of the present administration? Only one way: vote Independent.
Other Names
Fallacy of interrogation
Fallacy of presupposition
Taxonomy – Where am I?
Post Hoc Fallacy
classification : informal – non causa pro causa
A principle that holds true as a general rule applied to a specific case that is unusual or atypical.
Because one thing follows another, it is held to cause the other.
Foundations:
Occurs frequently in the media and in political campaigns, and are also probably responsible for many contemporary and classical superstitions. Our tendency to slip into this mode of thinking seems to stem from our mind’s efforts to interpret the world in terms of cause-and-effect relationships.
Examples
Jim said he is smarter than David but failed to prove it. Therefore his argument ( assertion ) is logically flawed. Claiming something does not make it true. Failing to prove that Unicorns do not exist, affirms that they do exist If such actions were not illegal, then they would not be prohibited by the law.
Other Names:
false cause
coincidental correlation
correlation not causation.
