Delusional Logic!
Spot these fallacies in other people's arguments. You could use this sheet to
play 'Spot that Logical Fallacy' on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast,
or play it in meetings at work to make friends and influence people!
Ad
hominem
Missing Middle
Chemical
fallacy
Proof by
victimisation
False
Continuum
(special type of
weasel words)
(victims may have
insight but not proof)
(similar to the
Missing Middle)
Confusion of
correlation and
causation
Appeal to
quantum
physics
(like post hoc but not
time dependent)
(baffle you with
science)
Appeal to
dead
puppies
(attack the
arguer)
(only one of two
ridiculous extremes is
possible)
Appeal to
"authority"
'Poisoning the
Well'
Reductio ad
absurdum
(4 out of 5
scientists
believe . . .)
(preface your argument
with something
derogatory)
(follow implications
to absurd extent)
Appeal to
ancient
wisdom
Argument from
adverse
consequences
Law of large
numbers
Proof by
verbosity
(one in a billion
odds sounds
unlikely but . . .)
(so many red herrings
that you cannot refute
all of them)
Proof by
'mummy
instinct'
Post hoc, ergo
propter hoc
Special
pleading
(order of events is not
evidence of cause and
effect)
(incomprehensible
but claimed to be
true e.g. god's
will)
(if that, then this)
(Awwww!)
Appeal to
ignorance
Statistics of
small numbers
(or lack of
evidence or
ignorance of
evidence)
(sample sizes need to
be large enough)
'Better
journal'
fallacy
Appeal to lack of The Loaded
authority (Someone Question
Argument from
anomaly. (e.g.
Proof by
anecdote.
needs to stand up to
these experts)
(Do you doubt the
truth of the bible?)
ghost hunters find
unexplained anomalies)
(It worked for
me.)
Weasel
words
Argument from
final
consequences
Half-truths /
supressed
evidence
Bandwagon
fallacy
'Dawkins is
strident'
fallacy
(whoever benefits
probably caused it)
(Observational
Selection in a way)
(e.g.
'Intelligent
Design')
Red
herrings
(Mums' Anecdotes)
'Mystical energy' Meaningless
fallacy
question (e.g.
(everyone / no-one else
is doing it so you should
/ shouldn't too)
(special type of
ad hominem)
Slippery slope
All natural
(must be good!)
irresistable forces
on the immovable)
(exageration of the
consequences to extent
of disaster)
Non
sequitur
Begging the
question
The
'Straw Man'
Observational
selection
Gamblers
fallacy
(irrelevant
premises and
unlinked
conclusion)
(the proposition to be
proven is assumed
implicitly or explicitly in
the premise)
(Parody the
argument to make it
easier to attack)
(includes, mention only
the results showing
desired outcome)
(I've lost so far
so must win
more now on, or
its inverse)
With practice you will spot these (and many others) everywhere!
http://somethingsurprising.blogspot.com