3.2: Fallacies Of Relevance

Front 1

fallacies of relevance

Back 1

share the common characteristic that the arguments in which they occur have premises that are logically irrelevant to the conclusion.

Front 2

appeal to force

(Argumentum ad Baculum: Appeal to the "Stick")

Back 2

occurs whenever an arguer poses a conclusion to another person and tells that person either implicitly or explicitly that some harm will come to him or her if he or she does not accept the conclusion.

Front 3

appeal to pity

(Argumentum ad Misericordiam)

Back 3

fallacy occurs when an arguer attempts to support a conclusion by merely evoking pity from the reader or listener.

Front 4

appeal to the people
(Argumentum ad Populum)

Back 4

uses the desires of love, esteem, admiration, value, recognition, and acceptance to get the reader or listener to accept a conclusion.

Front 5

appeal to the people

(direct approach)

Back 5

occurs when an arguer, addressing a large group of people, excites the emotions and enthusiasm of the crowd to win acceptance for his or her conclusion.

Front 6

appeal to fear

(also known as fear mongering)

Back 6

is a variety of the direct form of appeal to the people that occurs when an arguer trumps up a fear of something in the mind of the crown and then uses that fear as a premise for some conclusion.

Front 7

appeal to people

(indirect approach)

Back 7

the arguer aims his or her appeal not at the crowd as a whole but at one or more individuals separately, focusing on some aspect of those individuals' relationship to the crowd.

Front 8

bandwagon argument

has this general structure:

Back 8

Everybody believes such-and-such or does such-and-such; therefore, you should believe or do such-and-such, too.

Front 9

appeal to vanity

Back 9

often involves linking the love, admiration, or approval of the crowd with some famous figure who is loved, admired, or approved of.

Front 10

appeal to snobbery

Back 10

the crowd that the arguer appeals to is a smaller group that is supposed to be superior in some way---more powerful, more culturally refined, more intelligent, and so on.

Front 11

appeal to tradition

Back 11

occurs when an arguer cites the fact that something has become a tradition as grounds for some conclusion.

Front 12

argument against the person

(Argumentum ad Hominem)

Back 12

This fallacy always involves two arguers. One of them advances (either directly or implicitly) a certain argument, and the other then responds by directing his or her attention not to the first person's argument but to the first person himself.

Front 13

argument against the person

(ad hominem abusive)

Back 13

the second person responds to the first person's argument by verbally abusing the first person.

Front 14

argument against the person

(ad hominem circumstantial)

Back 14

begins the same way as the ad hominem abusive, buy instead of heaping verbal abuse on his or her opponent, the respondent attempts to discredit the opponent's argument by alluding to certain circumstances that affect the opponent.

Front 15

argument against the person

(tu quoque, "you too")

Back 15

fallacy begins the same way as the other two varieties of the ad hominem argument, except that the second arguer attempts to make the first appear to be hypocritical or arguing in bad faith.

Front 16

accident

Back 16

committed when a general rule is applied to a specific case it was not intended to cover.

Front 17

straw man

Back 17

committed when an arguer distorts an opponent's argument for the purpose of more easily attacking it, demolishes the distorted argument, and then concludes that the opponent's real argument has been demolished.

Front 18

missing the point

(ignoration elenchi, "ignorance of proof")

Back 18

occurs when the premises of an argument support one particular conclusion, but then a different conclusion, often vaguely related to the correct conclusion, is drawn.

Front 19

red herring

Back 19

committed when the arguer diverts the attention of the reader or listener by changing the subject to a different but sometimes subtly related one.