When the claim that most or many people in general or of a particular group accept a belief as true is presented as evidence for the claim. For example when you say, “That guy is insolent, dumb, and a liar,” but you miss out that he is also very popular. For example, “It’s either this or war,” or, “If you aren’t with us, you are against us.” Another variety is the false trilemma, which is when three choices are presented when more exist. False dilemmas are usually characterised by “either this or that” language, but can also be characterised by omissions of choices. When only two choices are presented yet more exist, or a spectrum of possible choices exist between two extremes. Because God tells us it is… in the Bible.” False Dilemma For example, “The Bible if the word of God. Circular ReasoningĪ type of reasoning in which the proposition is supported by the premises, which is supported by the proposition, creating a circle in reasoning where no useful information is being shared.Ĭircular reasoning may sound humorous, but it can be very convincing to those who already accept the argument as true, and are more likely to be further convinced. For example, “How many times a week do you beat your children?” already established that you do beat up your children. It is a form of misleading discourse, and it is a fallacy when the audience does not detect the assumed information implicit in the question, and accepts it as a fact. Loaded QuestionĪ question that has a presupposition built in, which implies something but protects the one asking the question from accusations of false claims. Therefore, it’s better if we lock them up in closets. They next thing you know, they’ll get into accidents, or god forbid, get kidnapped and then sold as a slave in some country. If we allow that, they’ll start roaming in the neighbourhood. This is an absurd extrapolation when a relatively insignificant first event is suggested to lead to a more significant event, which in turn leads to a more significant event, and so on, until some ultimate, significant event is reached, where the connection of each event is not only unwarranted, but with each step it becomes more and more improbable.įor example, If we don’t lock children in the closet, they would want to roam in the house. For example, when your wife asks why have you forgotten to pay the bills, you start talking about this amazing restaurant that you both just gotta go. Red Herring is a deliberate diversion of attention with the intention of trying to abandon the original argument. Red HerringĪttempting to redirect the argument to another issue that to which the person doing the redirecting can better respond. For example, when you ask your friends not to bully the new kid, they accuse you of choosing the new kid’s side instead of your friends. Substituting a person’s actual position or argument with a distorted, exaggerated, or misinterpreted version of the position of the argument.
For example, when you supported equal pay for equal work, you were associated with some extremist feminist group and therefore dismissed. Or, a person is viewed negatively because of their association with another person or group that is already viewed negatively. For example, a VC arguing for the Silicon Valley business model of growing big by losing money. There are other variations of Ad Hominem such as, suggesting that the person who is making the argument is biased, or predisposed to take a particular stance, and therefore, the argument is necessarily invalid.
For example, a parent says that a teacher doesn’t know how to teach because she didn’t go to a prestigious college. This is one of the most common forms of attack to invalidate a person’s claim. Ad HominemĪttacking the person making the argument, rather than the argument itself, when the attack on the person is completely irrelevant to the argument the person is making. Here’s a list of 25 most common logical fallacies that would help you arm yourself against false arguments disguised to look good. Using bad logic and fallacious reasoning, one can easily create a strong case that looks accurate and unbeatable, when in fact, it’s just a trick i.e., the logic of the argument is fallacious.Ī precursor to effective persuasion is taking down your opponent’s logic by finding flaws in their claims while also dodging their attacks. People knowingly and unknowingly engage in bad reasoning-especially in meetings and arguments.