Logical Fallacies
errors in logic that undermine an argument
Circular Reasoning / Begging the Question
 the conclusion is included in the premise; there’s no proof
 The Barons have a great team, so the stands are always packed, which shows how great they are.
 Whatever is less dense than water will float, because such objects won't sink in water.
Accepted Middle Ground
 because the position is not extreme, it must be right.

P: The diamond ring is worth less than $10,000.
P: The diamond ring is worth more than $1,000.
C: The diamond ring is worth $5,500.
Either-Or / False Choice Dilemma
 eliminate logical choices in favor of an extreme view.
 All ball players are either very selfish or very generous.
 The diamond ring is either worth $10,000 or $1,000.
Red Herring/Irrelevance
 going on a tangent to distract from the real issue or argument by bringing up or focusing on an irrelevant detail.
 Issue: debate on implementing school uniforms.
Person A focuses on which color instead of whether they should be used or not.
False Analogy
 trying to compare unrelated situations to prove a point.
 guns = hammers because they can both be used as tools
If there are no laws restricting what kind of people who purchase hammers, there should
be no laws restricting what kind of people purchase guns.
Post Hoc (False Cause)
 people assume “A” causes “B” because “A” happened before “B”
 “It rained this morning; therefore, the river flooded.”  Maybe there was another cause … a levee broke?
 “Every time the bus stops at this sign, the church bells ring; therefore, the bus makes the bells ring.”
Ad Hominem (Personal Attack “at the man”)
 using insults or personal, unrelated matters as a basis for argument instead of facts related to the issue
 “Don’t support the mayor’s new tax proposal because he cheated on his wife.”
Straw Man
 purposely misrepresenting and exaggerating an opponent’s statement to make it seem weak, dangerous, or invalid
 Candidate X wants to restrict criminally insane people form buying guns.
 Candidate Y states, “Candidate X wants to take all our guns away. Do you want that?”
Hasty Generalization/Oversimplification
 making a hurried conclusion (assumption) based on limited information
 not allowing for complexities of an issue to influence your perception of that issue
 leaping to a conclusion or not following a clear step-by-step process of thinking through an issue
Types:
a.) Non-Sequitur (False Sequence)
 having details (premises) out of order, missing, or in the wrong sequence
1. If A, then B. (If I am in Tokyo, then I am in Japan.)
2. Not A; therefore, not B. (I am not in Tokyo; therefore, I am not in Japan.)


She's wearing red shoes. > Her favorite color must be red.
I read about a pitbull attack. > My neighbor owns a pitbull. > My life is in danger.
P: Tina’s Geometry class is very difficult.
P: My Algebra class is very difficult.
C: All math classes are very difficult.
P: Guns are often involved in violent crimes.
C: If you eliminate guns, you eliminate most violent crime.
b.) Slippery Slope
 believing that one event or action must lead to another more serious event or action.
 Scientists research gene structure > manipulate animal gene structure > clone animals >
manipulate human genes > clone humans > populate the world with clones
 “If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.”
c.) Poisoning the Well/Guilt by Association
 ruining a person’s (or group’s) point based on personal associations
 Person X spends time with Group Y; therefore, nothing Person X does or says is valid.
 Person X was mean to me and is a cheerleader; therefore, all cheerleaders are mean.
False Authority
 referring to a person or an organization as expert to support your point when that person/org. is not credible
 We should end the death penalty. Just ask musician X. Listen to what s/he says…
Half-Truth/Hidden Truth
 only giving part of the story or set of facts, knowing the part left out would weaken your position
 Car X gets 42 miles per gallon! (Yes, but only on paved interstates when going 55 mph.)
Bias
 relying on information that was designed to sway your opinion in a certain direction as proof of the same opinion.
 I don’t like ethnicity X, so I rely on other people who don’t like ethnicity X to support my reasoning for
why I didn’t like them in the first place.
Shifting the Burden of Proof
 whoever makes a claim is responsible for proving it. Fallacy occurs when whoever claims X tries to make the opponent
disprove X instead of proving it him/herself.

X: God exists.
Y: Prove it.
X: No. You have to prove God does not exist.
Special Pleading (Double-Standard)
 applying different rules or conditions to an example that favors your position than to an example that favors another pov

If I get sick at practice, I get to go home, but if my brother gets sick at practice, he has to stay.
Appeal to Emotions
 relying in getting someone to agree with your point based on personal feelings rather than facts.
Types:
-bandwagoning: celebrity endorsement and/or “Everyone else is doing it, so you should.”
-pity: using some perceived (or real) disadvantage to get an exception or advantage
-fear/anger: intimidating someone; trying to incite a person’s desire for retaliation or revenge
-force/authority: because you have strength, power, age, or position doesn’t mean you’re correct
-beliefs/traditions: conservative; do it this way because that’s how it’s always been done
-progressivism: liberal; do it a new and different way just because you can
Logical Fallacies Quiz
Name_____________________
I. Matching.
____. Circular Reasoning
A. using an irrelevant detail or argument to distract from the real issue or problem
____. Shifting the Burden of Proof
B. using religious judgments to persuade someone about an argument
____. Either-Or / False Choice
C. ‘x’ happened before ‘y’ happened; therefore, ‘x’ led to ‘y’ occurring
____. Slippery Slope
D. believing that if one step is taken, then many additional extreme steps will follow
____. Red Herring
E. purposely distorting an opponent’s argument to make it seem excessively flawed
____. False Analogy
F. jumping to a broad conclusion about something with very limited evidence
____. Appeal to Beliefs/Tradition
G. assuming that a comparison you make proves a point when it may not
____. Post Hoc (False Cause)
H. “Because I said so” as an explanation for why you believe something
____. Ad Hominem
I. You only have two paths to take in life: the path of a winner or the path of a loser.
____. Non-Sequitur
J. citing a person or organization as an expert when it is not credible on the topic
____. Straw Man
K. a comment that doesn’t follow the line of discussion already established
____. Hasty Generalization
L. making an opponent prove you are wrong instead of you proving that you are right
____. Oversimplification
M. attacking someone’s personal life instead of attacking their ideas/arguments
____. False Authority
N. making something seem less complex than it really is to make your argument easier
II. Fill-in Fallacies.
Appeal to Fear
Shifting Burden of Proof
False Sequence (Non-Sequitur)
Oversimplification
Half-Truth
Shifting the Definition
False Cause (Post-Hoc)
Attacking the Man (Ad Hominem)
Poisoning the Well
Bandwagoning
Appeal to Traditional Beliefs
Red Herring
Slippery Slope
Straw Man
False Authority
Circular Reasoning
False Analogy
_______________________/ I should be able to own a tank or a car because both are vehicles that a person drives.
_______________________/ If I give my kid a snack, then he’ll ask for a candy bar. Then, it’ll be a whole cake. Pretty soon, he’ll
eat an entire bag of cookies, drink a gallon of Kool-Aid, and go into diabetic shock.
_______________________/ This car gets 50 miles per gallon! (but only on flat roads, going 45-55 miles per hour at 70 degrees)
_______________________/ Before meeting Cindy, Bob tells me that she is really conceited and ignorant, so what she says when
I meet her is tainted by that impression.
_______________________/ If Lindsay Lohan does ads for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, then MADD will lose all credibility.
_______________________/ Person X: “You stole my phone from my locker.” > Person Y: “No, I didn’t. Prove it.”
Person X: “No. Prove you didn’t steal it.”
> Person Y: “I can’t prove I didn’t do something.”
_______________________/ If you don’t take this pill, your chances of a heart attack will rise and you’ll be leaving your family
without its husband and father. Do you really want to risk hurting your family that way?
_______________________/ We should ban the sale of all dangerous breeds of dogs. They are a significant risk to the population if
they are owned by someone who doesn’t properly supervise them. Even though my son loves
dogs, he was almost attacked by neighbor’s Pitbull dog once.
_______________________/ Immigration has increased over the last decade, and so has welfare; therefore, immigration
makes welfare rates rise.
_______________________ / Today, on the way to work I saw an accident that really upset me. There was a mangled car
and an ambulance. I think nurses and doctors are real heroes and should be paid more.
_______________________ / Every school in the county has Friday off; therefore, we should have Friday off.
_______________________/ An administrator counts a kid absent, calls home and says, “Jack didn’t come to school today.”
Jack had come inside, but then he turned around and left, and wants to be counted present
because he did “come to school”.
_______________________/ Marijuana use should remain illegal in Ohio because it has always been illegal in Ohio.
_______________________/ This assignment is stupid because it just seems like a dumb thing to have to do.
_______________________/ To avoid getting into a long war with North Korea, we should just nuke them and be done with it.
_______________________/ Anyone who wants to raise taxes on the wealthy just wants to punish them for their success and
steal from them to give it to lazy people.
_______________________/ We can’t trust what the newspaper article says because the writer is Irish-Italian so is probably racist.
BINGO REVIEW
Logical Fallacies Worksheet
Identify the logical fallacies being used in each example.
1. Your honor, the defendant must be guilty because no one can prove his innocence.
2. Susan passed Writing 121. Joey passed Writing 121. Kory passed Writing 121. Writing 121
must be an easy class, since three out of three students I know passed it.
3. You cannot listen to Rush Limbaugh's ideas because he is a conservative. Conservative
speaker's ideas are not worth listening to. Since Limbaugh is conservative, you cannot listen to
his ideas.
4. We must put God back in our schools, or else American society will degenerate.
5. Alien abductions must take place because no one has found any evidence to disprove the eyewitness accounts.
6. Just answer the question yes or no. Were you still selling drugs when you came to this town?
7. You will get pregnant if you kiss a boy. I've seen Sally kiss boys three times, and now she is
pregnant.
8. You can be sure of getting the best watch possible if you buy a Tempus Fugit watch,
because you will be buying the world's greatest watch.
9. Friedrich Nietzche's attack on social welfare should not be taken seriously. He is said
to have been a degenerate and it is a fact that he went insane.
10. Rare taste: you either have taste or you don't. (Scotch ad)
11. American citizens must raise taxes to support schools. Without more money, our schools
cannot possibly do a good job.
12. Bob True is the best qualified candidate for tax assessor. I've known him eight years
and he is an honorable man, a devout individual, and an outstanding father.
13. Men are all alike: selfish creatures who spend every weekend glued to a television tube.
14. The pinkos, socialistic liberals, and weirdos in that other department are naturally against my
legislative reforms.
15. I interviewed the entire third floor of my dorm, and my research shows that most of the
people at this university go home on weekends.
16. You may tell me that it is cruel to require students to learn Latin. But is it any less cruel to
require them to enroll in physical education courses? The mental strains of mastering a dead
language pale beside the rigors of athletics.
17. Bicycles are a means of transportation, and we all know that transportation is vital to
American commerce. If we get rid of all the current bike lanes, there will be less bikes, hence less
transportation. Getting rid of bicycle lanes would cripple American trade entirely.
18. People who think abortion should be banned have no respect for the rights of women. They
treat them as nothing but baby-making machines. That's wrong. Women must have the right to
choose.
19. Mel Gibson’s racist and anti-Semitic remarks are a very minor ordeal. Consider this: 24
American soldiers died in Iraq today. One person’s remarks are minor indeed compared to this
tragedy.
20. The mill must be polluting the river because there has been a recent increase in bird deaths
around there.
21. We should have a car wash to raise money for Senior Prom. The three classes before us have
all done it!
22. Recently, I’ve been thinking that there is some merit in the Republicans’ tax-cut plan. I
suggest that we come up with something like it because if we Democrats are going to survive as a
party, we have got to show the people that we are as tough-minded as the Republicans, because
that is what the public wants.
Section of Fiendish Difficulty. Some of the following sentences are logical fallacies, and some
aren't. Which do you think constitute logical fallacies and which are logically valid?
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