Chart of fallacies

Monday, February 27, 2012 12:25 PM

 

A fallacy MAY be a trick in reasoning to fool the reader/listener, but it also may result as a failure in reasoning on the part of the arguer.
Often it is hard to know whether it is committed by deception or by incompetence.
When you accuse the arguer of deception, you must have evidence of his desire to fool you.

These fallacies are defined on the following pages in Browne and Keeley, Asking the Right Questions, 10th edition.
The very important explanations and examples of these fallacies may be found in the text before and after the definitions.

 

 

 

 

FALLACIES FROM CHAPTER 7:

 

Ad hominem     (to the man)            p. 72

Slippery Slope                                     74

Perfect Solutions                                  74

Equivocation                                         75

Ad populum     (to the people)              76

Appeal to Questionable Authority      76

Appeal to emotion                                77

Straw Man/person (fallacy of extension      77

Either/Or (False Dilemma)                    78

Wishful thinking                                    79

Naming instead of explaining...             80

Glittering Generality                              81

Red herring                                           82

Begging the question                             83

 

FALLACIES IN LATER CHAPTERS (Not on Midterm, but may be on Final Exam):

 

Hasty Generalization                             94

The impossible certainty fallacy...........107

False Analogy                                       118

Oversimplification of cause/solution      127

Confusing Cause and Effect                  131

Neglecting a common cause .................131

Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc (After this, therefore because of this)   132

 

Stereotyping (A kind of Hasty Generalization not in the book): When it is claimed that because a person is a member of a particular group he inevitably shares the supposed characteristic of that group. (Example: "Of course he's not honest, he's a politician.")

 

Visit http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ for extra material on fallacies from a logic and philosophy professor (if you want to--not necessary if you feel you are "getting it.")