Debate Fallacies

I guess I should buy my 12-year-old daughter an iPhone. Everyone at her new school has one, and I want her to fit in with the other kids.

• Appeal to False Authority

• Either/ Or

• Bandwagon

• Slippery Slope

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Charlie: I think we should put more money into schools. Quality public education is so important.

Bob: So you’re saying we should cut military spending and spend it instead on more spiral notebooks and crayons? I guess you want our country to be a weak, defenseless target for terrorists.

• Ad Hominem

• Hasty Generalization

• Faulty Cause

• Straw Man

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My opponent raises a good point, but can we really trust him? I mean, he moved to this town only two years ago and everyone knows that his wife left him.

• Slippery Slope

• Sentimental Appeal

• Bandwagon

• Ad Hominem

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Oh, please. What would you know about labor laws? You don’t even have a job.

• Ad Hominem

• Fear

• Hasty Generalization

• Appeal to emotion

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If I don’t take this AP class, then I won’t do well on the exam. If I don’t do well on the AP exam, then I can’t get into a good college. If I can’t get into a good college, then I’ll never get a good job. If I can’t get a good job, then I’m going to have to live in my parents’ basement forever. Guess I’ll sign up for the AP class.

• Fear

• Slippery Slope

• Hasty Generalization

• False Cause

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You need to go to the party with me; otherwise, you’ll just be bored at home.

• hasty generalization

• post hoc

• false dichotomy

• appeal to ignorance

• tu quoque

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I know the professor said the Bridges of Madison County was smarmy trash and lacked any artistic worth. But I still think he's wrong. After all, it was on the best-seller list for over 100 weeks.

• Fear

• Red Herring

• Bandwagon Argument

• Begging the Question

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An ad hominem attack

• is a very effective debate strategy
• goes after a person's argument.
• is always against a popular idea.
• is an attack on the person, not the argument 

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 Teacher: If I let you go to the bathroom pretty soon everybody will want to go to the bathroom. This is an example of 

• Argument from Authority
• The Bandwagon Fallacy
• An Ad Hominem attack
• The Slippery Slope Fallacy

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"Good morning! Have you gotten over the grouchy mood you were in?"

• Loaded question

• Ad hominem

• False dilemma

• False analogy

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