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Common Types of Fallacies

This document defines and provides examples of common types of fallacies: 1) Hasty generalizations, circular reasoning, ad hominem attacks, appeals to popularity or tradition, appeals to fear or ignorance, slippery slopes, and non sequiturs are among the logical fallacies discussed. 2) Examples are given for each fallacy type to illustrate mistakes in reasoning. 3) Fallacies involve flawed arguments such as making assumptions without evidence, personal attacks instead of addressing the issue, circular justifications, or false cause-and-effect claims.

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Christian Subaldo
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38 views5 pages

Common Types of Fallacies

This document defines and provides examples of common types of fallacies: 1) Hasty generalizations, circular reasoning, ad hominem attacks, appeals to popularity or tradition, appeals to fear or ignorance, slippery slopes, and non sequiturs are among the logical fallacies discussed. 2) Examples are given for each fallacy type to illustrate mistakes in reasoning. 3) Fallacies involve flawed arguments such as making assumptions without evidence, personal attacks instead of addressing the issue, circular justifications, or false cause-and-effect claims.

Uploaded by

Christian Subaldo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Common Types of Fallacies

• Hasty Generalization- Draws conclusion from too little, inadequate or biased evidence.
Ex: 1. Gladys, the first honors in her class, failed the Reading and Writing summative test.
Therefore, everyone in her class failed.
2. Thea has a terrible experience with a boyfriend. She decides that all boys are mean.
• Circular Reasoning- The reason given to support the claim just restates the claim.
Ex: 1. Whatever is less dense than water will float, because such objects won't sink in water.
2. Smoking is illegal, so it is prohibited by the law.
• Ad Hominem- Makes a personal attack on an opponent rather than focusing on the issue
under discussion.
Ex: 1. How can you trust the senator's views on birth control? He has ten children!
2. A parent who says that the teacher doesn't know how to teach because she graduated from a
community college.
Common Types of Fallacies
• Appeal to the Crowd (Ad Populum)- Makes an appeal to group-approved attitudes or
beliefs.
Ex: 1. If you're a true movie lover, you must love the Batman movies.
2. It is well recognized by most persons that the present technological revolution has affected
the ethical basis of the nation's institution of education. Since this belief is so widely held, there
can be little doubt of its accuracy.
• Appeal to Tradition (Ad Antiquitatem)- Occurs when it is assumed that something is
better or correct simply because it is older, traditional or "always has been done".
Ex: 1. Monarchy is the best mode of government. We have had monarchy for over a thousand years
and no one has talked about changing it in all that time. So, it has got to be good.
2. Gay marriage should not be legalized because since our country's founding, traditional
marriage has been the only form of legalized marriage.
Common Types of Fallacies
• Appeal to Fear (Ad Baculum)- The threat or the force is directly or causally related to the
conclusion.
Ex: 1. You must believe that God exists. After all, if you do not accept the existence of God, then
you will face the horrors of hell.
2. Chairman of the Board: "All those opposed to my arguments for the opening of a new
department, signify by saying, 'I resign.’
• Appeal to Ignorance (Ad Ignorantiam)- Occurs when a person mistakenly believes
something to be true that is not, because he or she does not know enough about the subject or
has not been given evidence to know otherwise.
Ex: 1. No one can actually prove that God exists; therefore God does not exist.
2. You can't prove that there isn't a mirror universe of our own, so there must be one out there
somewhere!
Common Types of Fallacies
• Appeal to Pity (Ad Misericordiam)- Committed when pity or a related emotion such as
sympathy or compassion is appealed to for the sake of getting a conclusion accepted.
Ex: 1. I really deserve an "A" on this paper, professor. I studied really hard for this during my
grandmother's funeral.
2. I must be hired for the job. I have ten kids to feed at home.
• Slippery Slope- Suggests that taking a minor action will lead to major and sometimes
ludicrous consequences.
Ex: 1. We need to stop allowing colleges to increase tuition every year. The next time we know, it's
going to cost more to attend college for one semester than it is to buy a new home!
2. If we allow gay marriage, the next thing we know, people will want to marry their dogs, or
their cats, or their pigs.
Common Types of Fallacies
• Non sequitur- Literally means "it does not follow". Happens when a writer or speaker
draws a conclusion that does not logically follow the evidence given.
Ex: 1. My mom loves to read. She must hate movies.
2. Mary bakes the best cakes in town. She should run for mayor.
• Post Hoc- Occurs when one reasons that since an event occurred before another, then
the first event caused the other.
Ex: 1. I sneezed the same time the power went off. My sneeze did something to make the
power go off.
2. The temperature has dropped this morning and I also have a headache. The cold
weather must be causing my headache.

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