A False

Analogy
1 = A number
2 = A number
Therefore 1 = 2
i. Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the
head in order to make them work, so must employees.
ii. Government is like business, so just as business must be
sensitive primarily to the bottom line, so also must
government. (But the objectives of government and
business are completely different, so probably they will
have to meet different criteria.)

B False
Cause
DEFINITION: An assumption is made that one event causes
the other when in fact, it did not.
EXAMPLE: Our house was burglarized right after that new
family moved in next door.
EXPLANATION: This statement attributes a false cause (new
family next door) to the effect (the burglary).

C Personal
Attack (Ad
hominem)
Person 1 is claiming Y.
Person 1 is a moron.
Therefore, Y is not true.
My opponent suggests that lowering taxes will be a good idea -
- this is coming from a woman who eats a pint of Ben and
Jerrys each night!

Tony wants us to believe that the origin of life was an
accident. Tony is a godless SOB who has spent more time in
jail than in church, so the only information we should consider
from him is the best way to make license plates.


D Either-or
Fallacy
Either X or Y is true.

Either X, Y, or Z is true.
You are either with God, or against him.

I thought you were a good person, but you werent at church
today.


E Over-
simplification
This occurs when a single cause is assumed to have created a
problem or an issue. In reality, the problem or issue may have
been created by a number of cause.
Example: The cause of the Civil War was slavery.

-> Slavery was only one of several reasons the Civil War was
fought.


F Circular
Reasoning
The argument goes around and around with the reason
making the same claim as the original argument.

Example: John is a wonderful writer, because he writes so well.
G Red-
herring
Argument A is presented by person 1.
Person 2 introduces argument B.
Argument A is abandoned.


Mike: It is morally wrong to cheat on your spouse, why on
earth would you have done that?
Ken: But what is morality exactly?
Mike: Its a code of conduct shared by cultures.
Ken: But who creates this code?...

Billy: How could the universe be 6000 years old when we know
the speed of light, the distance of astronomical objects (13+
billion light years away), and the fact that the light has
reached us
[1]
?
Marty: 6000 years is not a firm number. The universe can be
as old as about 10,000 years.
Billy: How do you figure that?...


H Slippery
Slope
If A, then B, then C, ... then ultimately Z!

We cannot unlock our child from the closet because if we do,
she will want to roam the house. If we let her roam the house,
she will want to roam the neighborhood. If she roams the
neighborhood, she will get picked up by a stranger in a van,
who will sell her in a sex slavery ring in some other
country. Therefore, we should keep her locked up in the closet.

If you accept that the story of Adam and Eve was figurative,
then you will do the same for most of the Old Testament
stories of similar literary styles. Once you are there, the New
Testament and the story of Jesus does not make sense, which
will lead you to believe that the resurrection of Jesus was a
spiritual one. Once you accept that, you wont be a Christian
anymore, you will be a dirty atheist, then you will have no
morals and start having sex with animals of a barnyard
nature. So you better take the story of Adam and Eve literally,
before the phrase, that chicken looks delicious, takes on a
whole new meaning.


I
Bandwagon
Appeal
Premise: Many people believe A to be true
Conclusion: Therefore A is true
7 in 10 doctors say acupuncture works, therefore it must
work

Many people once thought the earth was flat, this certainly
didnt make it so.


J Over-
generalization
The writer reaches conclusions from a limited number of
facts. (Look for words such as all, every, and always.)
I loved that movie we saw last night with Brad Pitt. I am going to
rent all of his movies, and I am sure Ill like all of them!.
Enron was a large, corrupt company, so all large companies are
corrupt.