Logical Fallacies

Person 1:

I think pollution from humans contributes to climate change.

Person 2:

So, you think humans are directly responsible for extreme weather, like hurricanes, and have caused the droughts in the southwestern U.S.?

• Equivocation

• False Dilemma

• Appeal to Ignorance

• Straw Man

Answer explanation

A straw man fallacy occurs when someone takes another person’s argument or point, distorts it or exaggerates it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme distortion, as if that is really the claim the first person is making.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Person 1:

You’re either for the war or against the troops.

Person 2:

Actually, I do not want our troops sent into a dangerous war.

• Straw Man

• Appeal to Ignorance

• False Dilemma

• Equivocation

Answer explanation

Sometimes called a false dichotomy, a false dilemma is a logical fallacy that presents only two options or sides when there are many options or sides.

Essentially, a false dilemma presents a “black and white” kind of thinking when there are actually many shades of gray.

Some teenagers in our community recently vandalized the park downtown. Teenagers are so irresponsible and destructive.

• Appeal to Ignorance

• Equivocation

• Hasty Generalization

• False Dilemma

Answer explanation

The hasty generalization fallacy is sometimes called the over-generalization fallacy. It is basically making a claim based on evidence that it just too small.

Essentially, you can’t make a claim and say that something is true if you have only an example or two as evidence.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Since you haven't been able to prove your innocence, I must assume you're guilty.

• Straw Man

• Appeal to Ignorance

• False Dilemma

• Hasty Generalization

Answer explanation

This appeal to ignorance fallacy occurs when you argue that your conclusion must be true, because there is no evidence against it. This fallacy wrongly shifts the burden of proof away from the one making the claim.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Person One: There is no logical or moral justification for the killing of animals for food. Animals are sentient creatures that deserve the same consideration as humans.

Person Two: Look, if you want to eat grass like a cow, Bon Appetit! Just let me have my hamburger.

• False Dilemma

• Equivocation

• Straw Man

• Appeal to Ignorance

Answer explanation

This fallacy occurs when, in attempting to refute another person's argument, you address only a weak or distorted version of it. Straw person is the misrepresentation of an opponent's position or a competitor's product to tout one's own argument or product as superior. This fallacy occurs when the weakest version of an argument is attacked while stronger ones are ignored.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

On the quad, I see the jocks in one corner, the rebels in another, and the intellectual set in yet another. Which one of these groups do you hang out with?

• Hasty Generalization

• Equivocation

• False Dilemma

• Appeal to Ignorance

Answer explanation

When you reason from an either-or position and you haven't considered all relevant possibilities you commit the fallacy of false dilemma.