Logical Fallacies

Everyone else is doing it, so you should, too.

• Bandwagon (ad populum)

• Begging the Question

• Hasty Generalization

• Ad Hominem

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.

• Straw Man

• Slippery Slope

• Post Hoc

• Either--Or

a logical fallacy where information is presented to distract from the main issue or argument being discussed.

• Ad Hominem

• Straw Man

• Bandwagon

• Red Herrings

reducing complex issues to black and white choices, therefore creating a problem(s) that doesn't really exist... also referred to as a "false dilemma"

• Non sequitur

• Faulty Analogy

• Either--Or

• Hasty Generalization

"How can the police ticket me for speeding? I see cops speeding all the time."

• Red Herring

• Tu Quoque

• Straw Man

• Post Hoc

This fallacy occurs when the writer presents an arguable point as a fact that supports the argument, leading to an argument that goes around and around, with evidence making the same claim as the proposition

• Bandwagon

• Slippery Slope

• Either-Or

• Begging the Question (circular logic)

an argument based on insufficient evidence or on a conclusion that was made by looking at a small group as representative of the whole

• Red Herring

• Faulty Analogy

• Hasty Generalization

• Tu Quoque

"If we force public elementary school pupils to wear uniforms, eventually we will require middle school students to wear uniforms. If we require middle school students to wear uniforms, high school requirements aren't far off. Eventually, even college students who attend state-funded, public universities will be forced to wear uniforms."

• Slippery Slope

• Begging the Question

• False Analogy

• Ad Hominem

"Eating five candy bars and drinking two sodas before a test helps me get better grades. I did that and got an A on my last test."

• Tu Quoque

• Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

• Hasty Generalization

• Either-Or

type of argument that limits itself not to the issue, but to the opposition by bringing the opposition's character into question

• Hasty Generalization

• Red Herring

• Ad Hominem

• Post Hoc