Logical Fallacies

Intro to Debate and Argumentation: Snell

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What is a logical fallacy?
• An inconsistency within
your logical appeal (logos)

• Lowers your credibility

(ethos)
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 Example #1

• All Olympic runners are fast.

• Michael is an Olympic runner.

• ► Michael is fast.
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 Example #2

• All AHS students are smart.

• Pat is a AHS student.

• ► Pat is smart.
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 Example #3

• All dogs are animals.

• All cats are animals.

• ►All dogs are cats.

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 Example #4
• Question: How did the window get broken?

• Evidence: There is a baseball on the floor.

Baseball wasn't there this a.m.
Kids were in the yard across the street.
They were playing baseball this afternoon.
They stopped playing earlier than usual.
They aren't in the yard now.

• Conclusion: One of the kids broke the window with the

ball and then they all ran away. 6
10 Argumentative
Fallacies

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1. Hasty Generalization or
Faulty Syllogism

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1. Hasty Generalization or
Faulty Syllogism
• Drawing conclusion on the
basis of insufficient evidence.

• “Everybody agrees,” “nobody

like,” “most people care”
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• Hasty Generalization or
Faulty Syllogism

• Sally couldn’t find any cute

clothes at the boutique and
neither could Maura, so the
boutique doesn’t have any cute
clothes
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2. Faulty Use of Authority

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• 2. Faulty Use of Authority
• misrepresenting the trustworthiness of sources

• The attempt to bolster claims by citing the opinions

of experts without evaluation and comparison of
credentials and claims.

• Taking something out of context

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•According to the doctor, I
need less sodium in my
diet….

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• We should change the drinking
age because Einstein believed
that 18 was the proper drinking
age.

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3.Misleading Statistics

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 Misleading Statistics

• A fallacy in which a very

small number of particularly
dramatic events are taken to
outweigh a significant
amount of statistical
evidence.
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Mark Twain said,
“There are three kinds of lies.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

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• The AP Japanese Exam is the
most difficult exam; after all,
100 percent of Andover High
School students didn’t pass it.

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4. Missing the Point

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4. Missing the Point
- In Missing the Point, the
premise of the argument supports
conclusion but no the one the
author draws

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• Antidepressants are overly
prescribed which is dangerous,
so they should clearly make
them illegal

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5.False Analogy

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5. False Analogy
• Assuming without sufficient proof that if
objects or processes are similar in some
ways, then they are similar in other ways
as well.

• Many analogies are merely descriptive and

do not offer proof of the connection
between two things being compared.
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Governing a country is like
governing a business, therefore
businessmen should be
politicians.

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6. Slippery Slope

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6. Slippery Slope
• Predicting without justification
that one step in a process will
lead unavoidably to a second,
generally undesirable step

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If you allow the students to
redo this test, they are going to
want to redo every assignment
for the rest of the year.

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If we allow gay marriage,
the next thing we know,
people will want to marry
their dogs, or then their
pigs.
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7. Ad Hominem

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7. Ad Hominem
"Against the man"

• attacking the arguer rather

than the argument;
discrediting an argument by
trashing the person making it.
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“How can you argue your case
for vegetarian when you are
enjoying your steak?”

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A: “All murderers B: “Well, you’re a
are criminals, a thief and a
thief is not a criminal, so
murdered, and there goes your
so can’t be a argument.”
criminal.”
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 Hilary Clinton would make a
terrible president because her
husband was impeached while in
office.

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8. Post Hoc

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• "after this, therefore because of this."

• The arguer infers that because one event

follows another, the first event must be
the cause of the second event. Proximity
of events or conditions does not
guarantee a causal relationship.
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• The rooster crowed, the sun came up. Therefore, the
rooster made the sun come up.

• I took a pill, I got better.

Therefore, the pill made me get better.

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• Every time Snell starts her day
with a cup of coffee, she is in a
better mood. To keep Snell in a
good mood, we should buy her
Caribou Coffee.

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9.Straw Man or
Red Herring

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 Strawman

• You misrepresented someone's argument

to make it easier to attack.
• By exaggerating, misrepresenting, or just
completely fabricating someone's argument,
it's much easier to present your own position
as being reasonable, but this kind of
dishonesty serves to undermine honest
rational debate.
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 Strawman
Example:
Will: “We should put more money
into health and education.”
Warren: “I was surprised that Will
hates our country so much that
he wants to leave it defenseless
by cutting military spending.”
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10. Ad Populum

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10. Ad Populum

• "To the people”

• “Everybody’s doing it”

• Bandwagon fallacy 48
Over four million people switched
to our insurance company so
should you.

This book has been on the New

York Time’s Bestseller since
1984, it should be the one to
read. 49
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:

We should not miss the

blockbuster movie! It’s got 4
million views in 2 days!

Ad Populum 50
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
If we give in every time the
baby cries, he will make sure
to cry everytime he has
something he wants to get.

Slippery Slope 51
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
An arguer tells his opponent
that she cannot possibly be a
good choice for women
because he has a ceaseless
mouth.
Ad Hominem 52
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
I forgot to take my vitamins
yesterday. This morning, I
woke up with a cold.
Vitamins really prevent colds.
Post Hoc 53
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
Smoking causes cancer, because
my father died of cancer and
he was a smoker.

False Analogy 54
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:

All ingredients to this soup are

tasty, so this soup must be
tasty.
Hasty generalization
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Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
Professor Lewis, the world
authority on logic, claims that all
wives cook for their husbands. I
should not cook for my wife.

Appeal to Authority
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Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:

If cheap things are no good then

this watch is no good.

Hasty Generalization

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Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
According to news, every year
20% of female teenagers in the
province get pregnant in an early
age. Many will get pregnant in
our town this year.
Misleading Statistics 58
Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:

There was an increase of burglar in

the area. It must be because
there are more rich people
moving to that area.

Missing the point

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Identify the kind of argumentative
fallacy as shown in the following:
Old man: Old people are more
reliable sources than the
younger ones. You cannot tell
me that I am wrong in
everything I say. (says to
opponent) Straw Man 60
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