Fallacies
Student Handout: Sample Fallacies and Booby-Traps
1. Lewis Carroll, in Through the Looking Glass: “ ‘You couldn’t have it [jam] if you did want
it,’ the Queen said. ‘The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday — but never jam today.’
‘It must sometimes come to jam today,’ Alice objected. ‘No it can’t,’ said the Queen. ‘It’s
jam every other day: today isn’t any other day, you know.’ ”
2. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look at the bloody clothes, the murder weapon.
Imagine the helpless screams of the victim. Such a crime deserves no verdict except
guilty, guilty!
3. I’m not a doctor, but I play a doctor on TV, and I wouldn’t dream of using anything but
Tylenol for my toughest headaches.
4. According to Freud, your belief in God stems from your need for a strong father figure.
So don’t you see that it’s silly to continue believing in God?
5. How can you possibly believe in evolution? That would mean that you believe that an
elephant evolved from a mouse, and that’s just ridiculous.
6. The nuthatch was discovered by Tilly Turnow in the woods, while hopping from branch
to branch of an elm tree, singing happily.
7. You can hardly blame President Clinton for having extramarital affairs. Many presidents,
when faced with similar situations, have yielded to the same temptations.
