Logical Fallacies Act III

Logic is a type of reasoning that applies strict rules to determine whether a statement is valid. A logical fallacy is a violation of those rules. Some common logical fallacies are:

attacking a person instead of his or her arguments. (“You only believe that because you're undereducated.”)

accepting a position because most people agree with it. (“Most people don't vote, so there's no point to it.”)

using an argument's conclusion as an assumption. (“It's alright to yell when you're angry because angry people yell.”)

presenting only two possible conclusions to a complex argument. (“If you love your country, you'll vote against this amendment.”)

comparing two things that are not similar. (“People who like free samples are just like thieves who like money.”)

forming a general conclusion based on a few examples. (“I've been bitten by dogs, so I know that dogs usually bite people.”)

a conclusion that does not follow from the evidence. (“Cars should be illegal because moving too fast is bad for people.”)

assuming cause and effect simply because one thing followed another. (“She ate a peanut butter sandwich yesterday, so that's what made her sick.”)

a conclusion that changes the subject. (“I shouldn't have to write this paper because other people have already explored this topic.”)

concluding that accepting something will lead to accepting something else. (“Letting children eat candy bars will lead to widespread obesity among young people.”)

arbitrary statements about groups of people or things. (“French people don't like Americans very much.”)

misrepresenting an opponent's position and then refuting that misrepresentation. (“While my opponent says she wants to lower income taxes, I support public school teachers, who are paid by our property taxes.”)