LOGICAL FALLACIES
1. Ad hominem—attacking an individual rather than his or her position.
This person is unfit to be president because he used marijuana and cocaine while in
college.
2. Appeal to tradition—stating that something should be done in a certain way because it
has always been done that way.
Gay marriage should not be allowed because it has never been recognized by any
civilization.
3. Argument from ignorance—reasoning that something is true or false from lack of
evidence to the contrary.
No evidence shows that alien abductions do not exist. Therefore, people have been
abducted by aliens. (With all the attendant unpleasantness!)
4. Bandwagon—using popularity as the only support.
Ford’s F-150 is the most popular model of pick-up truck; therefore, you should buy one.
5. Begging the question—assuming what needs to be proven.
18-year-olds vote Republican. (This statement assumes that 18-year-olds, as a group, do
indeed vote—a dubious assertion.) Note: the term “begging the question” also refers to
circular reasoning, for instance: Women are not fit to be priests because a priest’s job is
appropriate only for men.
6. Equivocation—making an assertion that falsely relies on using a term in two separate
ways.
Anyone with grass in his possession violates U.S. drug laws; because Bill Clinton’s
White House was surrounded by grass, he was even then violating our country’s drug
laws.
7. False analogy—the assumption that because two things are alike in some ways, they
must be alike in others.
The government is enacting laws that will severely restrict commercial fishermen. The
government should just let the fishermen do their job—after all, fishermen are the
farmers of the oceans.
8. False authority—citing a source that has no real validity in the area one is discussing.
Tom Cruise is just the latest person to point out the problems with modern
psychotherapy’s use of drugs.
