AP Language Review: Common Logical Fallacies

Logical Fallacies

ad hominum fallacy — “to the man”; a person’s character is attacked instead of his argument

ad populum fallacy — “to the crowd”; a misconception that a widespread occurrence of something is assumed to make it right or wrong

• bandwagon – threat of rejection is substituted for evidence, desire to conform to beliefs of a group

biased sample – conclusions drawn based upon a biased or prejudiced sample of evidence

circular reasoning — using two ideas to prove each other

• begging the question — assuming in a premise that which needs to be proven

either/or fallacy — tendency to see an issue as having only two sides

false analogy — making a misleading comparison between logically unconnected ideas

false dilemma — committed when too few of the alternative are considered and all but one are assessed and deemed impossible or unacceptable

guilt by association – claim  is rejected because disliked people accept the claim

loaded words — using highly connotative words to describe favorably or unfavorably without justification

non sequitur — “it does not follow”; an inference or conclusion that does not follow from the established premises/evidence

oversimplification — tendency to provide simple solutions to complex problems

pedantry — narrow-minded, trivial scholarship or arbitrary adherence to rules and forms

poisoning the well – discrediting what a person might later claim by presenting unfavorable information in advance

post hoc ergo propter hoc — “after this, therefore because of this”; assuming that an incident that precedes another is the cause of the second incident (when it wasn't necessarily)

A red herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another topic.

slippery slope – an assertion that some event must inevitably follow without any argument for the inevitability of the consequences

straw man – when a person ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated, or misrepresented version of that position

Also consider illogical appeals to the following:

Popularity
Ridicule
Emotion
Fear
Flattery
Novelty
Pity
Spite
Authority
Belief
Common Practice