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Logical Fallicies
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ad hominem | Makes a personal attack rather than focusing on the issue at hand |
| Bandwagon appeal | Suggests that a great movement is under way and the reader will be a fool or a traitor not to join it |
| Circular Reasoning (begging the question) | Repeating the claim as a way to provide evidence, resulting in no evidence at all. |
| Either-or | Insists that a complex situation can have only two possible outcomes |
| Equivocation | Uses the same word twice in an argument, but the second time used, the speaker uses an alternate definition for the word, which helps support a conclusion. |
| False analogy | Makes comparisons between two situations that are not alike in important respects |
| Flattery | tries to persuade readers by suggesting that they are thoughtful, intelligent, or perceptive enough to agree with the writer |
| Guilt by association | Attacks someone's credibility by linking that person with a person or activity the audience considers bad, suspicious, or untrustworthy. |
| Hasty generalization | Bases a conclusion on too little evidence or on bad or misunderstood evidence |
| In-crowd appeal | A special kind of flattery, invites readers to identify with an admired and select group |
| non sequitur | Attempts to tie together two or more logically unrelated ideas as if they were related. |
| oversimplification | Claims an overly direct relationship between cause and effect. |
| post hoc fallacy | Assumes that just because B happened after A, B must have been caused by A. |
| red herring | Occurs when a speaker skips to a new and irrelevant topic in order to avoid the topic of discussion. |
| slippery slope | Suggests that if one small step is taken or conceded, others will inevitably follow -- in the same way that one step might lead to someone falling down a slippery slope. |
| straw man | Misrepresents opposition by pretending that opponents agree with something that few reasonable people would support. |
| veiled threat | Tries to frighten readers into agreement by hinting that they will suffer adverse consequences if they don't agree. |
| False authority | Often used by advertisers who show famous actors or athletes testifying to the greatness of a product about which they may know very little |