Informal Fallacies

Front 1

Composition Fallacy

Back 1

Every part of X has property P, therefore whole X has property P.

"Every member of the gymnastics team weighs less than 120 lbs, therefore the whole gymnastics team weighs less than 120 lbs."

Front 2

Division Fallacy

Back 2

The whole of X has property P, therefore each part of X has property P.

Front 3

Begging the Question

Back 3

Arguments beg the question when the conclusion appears (often implicitly) as one of the premises.

X is true, therefore X is true.

Front 4

False Dichotomy/False Dilemma

Back 4

P v Q

There are more options not yet considered.

Front 5

Equivocation

Back 5

Falsely saying two things are the same when they're not.

-Children are a headache

-Taking aspirin will rid you of headaches

-Therefore, taking aspirin will rid you of children

Front 6

Hot Hand Fallacy

Back 6

Assuming that because someone is doing well now, they'll continue to do well, and looking for explanations when they don't.

Front 7

Regression to the Mean

Back 7

By definition, most things tend to fall within the mean. When they don't, you should expect them to regress to the mean. However, humans tend to look for causal explanations. When we look for causes when the explanation is purely statistical, we commit this fallacy.