Informal Fallacies

Front 1

Appeal To Ignorance

Back 1

1. We don't know that proposition p is true, so p is false.
2. We don't know that proposition p is false, so p is true.

Front 2

Appeal to Illegitimate Authority

Back 2

An argument commits the fallacy of appeal to illegitimate authority if it appeals to someone or something as an authority on a particular subject who is not an authority on that subject.

Front 3

Argument Against the Person [Personal Attack} ad hominem

Back 3

Abusive: Attacking the person's character rather then the argument presented.

Circumstantial: GBA.

tu quoque: you too.

Front 4

appeal to emotion [mob appeal]

Back 4

if it takes that fact that believing that a statement is true makes you "feel good" is a sufficient reason to believe that the statement is true.

Front 5

appeal to pity

Back 5

take an emotional response to an unfortunate situation as a reason to believe or act in a certain way.

Front 6

appeal to force

Back 6

includes an implicit but unwarranted or inapproriate threat

Front 7

irrelevant conclusion

Back 7

non sequitur: completely off topic

red herring: diverts attention from issue in order to rebuke argument

strawperson: attacks a premise that is not assumed or distorts the conclusion and attacks the distorted version of conclusion.

Front 8

complex question

Back 8

provides the basis for a conclusion based on the answer to the conclusion. the question must be loaded, or the answer to the assumed question must be false.

"does your mother know you're gay?"

Front 9

accident [generalization]

Back 9

1) the general claim to which the argument appeals is false
or
x is true in general
----------
x is true in this case

Front 10

hasty generalization

Back 10

x is true in these cases
------------
x is true in general

Front 11

begging the question

Back 11

1. conclusion of argument is restatement of the premise.

2. [circular reasoning] in a chain of arguments the conclusion is the premise of another argument.

Front 12

suppressed evidence

Back 12

when the author goes out of the way to hide or ignore clear information that disputes their premises. usually found in the implementation of plans, problem solving, etc. ignores common knowledge against claims.

Front 13

equivocation

Back 13

when the meaning of a word shifts during the argument. premise and conclusion

Front 14

accent

Back 14

word remains the same, only accented differently, changing the meaning of the sentence.