Logical Fallacies

Person 1: Bicycle infrastructure should be expanded because cycling is a sustainable mode of transportation.

Person 2: We should not build bike lanes because cyclists run red lights and endanger pedestrians.

• Band Wagon

• Either/Or

• Hasty Generalization

• Straw Man

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Joan is scratched by a cat while visiting her friend. Two days later she comes down with a fever. Joan concludes that the cat's scratch must be the cause of her illness.

• Correlation vs. causation

• Appeal to False Authority

• Bandwagon appeal

• Faulty Analogy

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

People either like coffee or hate it.

• Ad Hominem

• Either/Or

• Red herring

• Band Wagon

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.8

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.11-12.8

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

I am voting for Smith for President because the rest of my family is voting for him. 

• Hasty Generalization
• Straw Man
• Bandwagon Appeal
• Appeal to False Authority

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

“How can you argue your case for vegetarianism when you are enjoying your steak?”

• Appeal to False Authorirty
• Bandwagon Appeal
• Faulty Analogy
• Ad Hominem

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Smoking cigarettes is just like ingesting arsenic into your system; both have been shown to be causally related to death. If you wouldn't want to take a spoonful of arsenic, I would think that you wouldn't want to continue smoking.

• Hasty Generalization

• Faulty Analogy

• Straw Man

• Red herring

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Labor unions in America are just as bad as Russia under Stalin!

• Bandwagon Appeal

• Ad Hominem

• Moral Equivalence

• Hasty Generalization

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

You should never gamble. Once you start gambling you find it hard to stop. Soon you are spending all your money on gambling, and eventually you will turn to crime to support your earnings.

• Non Sequitur

• Slippery Slope

• Red herring

• Faulty analogy

All men are mortal, and Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates likes dogs.

• Ad Hominem

• Hasty Generalization

• Non Sequitur

• Straw Man

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

I saw Ashton Kutcher in a prescription drug commercial, therefore it has to be an effective drug.

• Ad hominem

• Hasty Generalization

• Either/Or

• Appeal to False Authority

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1