1) Don't believe what Kim says about global warming. Kim dropped out of college!

Ad hominem

2) Being overweight leads to a shortened lifespan because it's unhealthy.

C. Begging the question
3) Animal rights activists believe that we shouldn't keep animals captive and make them do our will.
They would have you abandon your pets in the wilderness.
C. Straw man
5) Bodybuilding is so tough that it's so difficult to keep your macros balanced, the testosterone level
in your body matters. You have to intake the proper amount of amino acids to heal muscles and
avoid unnecessary exercises to prevent muscle skewness. But I can train you well if you come to
me.
The Alphabet soup

6) We should move to the midwest because the Wall Street Journal says the cost of living is
cheaper there.

B. Appeal to authority
7) You didn't remember to take out the trash this morning. It will pile up and the neighbors will
complain and the health inspectors will come and take away the kids
C. Slippery slope
8) If you can't prove that Ken had an affair with the nanny, then he's been faithful to his wife.
A. False dichotomy

APPEAL TO UNQUALIFIED AUTHORITY

Shine-O car wax works great! The guy at the laundromat told me so!”

EXAMPLES
1. Theistic physicist: Albert Einstein believed in the existence of God. Given Einstein’s incomparable intellectual stature in the
scientific community, I must conclude that God actually does exist. And unless you, in your delusions of brilliance, think you’re
smarter than Einstein, then you also must acknowledge God’s existence.

2. Commercial advertisement during Monday Night Football: The new Tumbleweed truck was judged best by the National Football
League Rookie of the Year, defensive lineman Crusher "Psycho" Rockman. Now, you know that must be one tough truck. I wouldn’t
buy any of those wimpy trucks driven by suburban, soccer moms!

3. Brown student Tom Roberts: I simply can’t agree with President Bush’s new economic stimulus package. Brown President Ruth
Simpson has voiced her strong opposition to ‘Dubbya’s’ plan and that’s good enough to convince me.

4. Literary enthusiast: Aldous Huxley, the brilliant author of Brave New World, wrote a book advocating the view that nearsightedness
can be corrected by eye exercises. Evidently, eyeglasses and contact lenses are quite unnecessary.

APPEAL TO IGNORANCE

Science fiction authors have written all kinds of stories about aliens but we’ve never seen a single Martian. Therefore, it’s obvious that
aliens don’t exist.

1. Fox Mulder, formerly of the X-Files: Despite numerous attempts, no one has proved to me that there is no government conspiracy
to conceal the existence of extraterrestrial beings. The conclusion is inescapable; the conspiracy is taking place at this very moment

2. Atheist: For the third time Gabriel, I’ve read Augustine, Aquinas, Hegel, and almost all the major philosophers that argue for the
existence of God. Yet, not one of them has proven that God actually does exist. Therefore, I am compelled to conclude that ‘god’ is an
anthropomorphic concept constructed by human beings for their own comfort and consolation.

3. Concerned youth: Scientists have not conclusively shown that AIDS cannot be transmitted through casual contact. Consequently,
we should carefully avoid any casual contact with suspected AIDS carriers.

4. Paranoid schizophrenic person: This Tom Brokaw guy begins every sentence with a word beginning with an ‘n,’ and we know my
name, Normand, begins with an ‘n.’ He’s definitely talking to me in code, and don’t try to convince me otherwise unless you can
prove he’s not talking to me in code.

HASTY GENERALIZATION (CONVERSE ACCIDENT)

My last two computers didn’t last me a year. Every computer out there is a piece of junk!”

EXAMPLES
1. RISD student: I’ve seen several artistic performances at AS 220, including an industrial musical group named The Trendy
Transvestites, a postmodern mime act, and a screening of the classic cult film Surf Nazis Must Die. They were all very intellectually
and aesthetically stimulating. The conclusion is dear, artistic performances at AS 220 are excellent.

2. Howard Stern groupie: Did you know that 84 percent of males, ages 18-25, and living in Newport are avid Howard Stern listeners?
They especially appreciate the clever way Mr. Stern reduces complex human problems to sensationalistic, graphic sexual jokes.
Accordingly, Mrs. Wasp, a grandmother living in one of Newport’s lavish mansions, must be guffawing her guts out when Howard
compares the pretentious snobbery of the upper class to the repulsive smell of excrement (actual term used by Mr. Stern not suitable
for polite company).

3. Archie Bunker, character in the 1970s TV program All in the Family: What has the world come to? My son-in-law, Meathead the
Pollock, is an unpatriotic, lazy, longhaired, idiotic idealist. You can cry political correctness all you want—you’re probably a pinko
commie anyway—but the implication is obvious to anyone with old-fashioned common sense. Put simply, Pollocks are idiotic
idealists.

4. Ms. Cutty Blade, founder of Women Fight Back: Yes, I received my inspiration to start a radical women’s group some years ago
while watching the Loranna Bobbitt trail on Court TV. I was most impressed by her method for resolving conflicts with men, which
I’ve termed the ‘slice and dice’ conflict-resolution method. Henceforth, I’ve lectured extensively throughout the country, especially at
private men’s clubs, that women everywhere should adopt this innovative method, thereby taking a stand against abusive males.
Clearly, Ms. Bobbitt’s revolutionary example shows that this is the most effective way to resolve conflicts with men. Oh, by the
way, RI Grinding currently is offering a discount on blade sharpening.

FALSE CAUSE

I’m tired of this dry weather so I’ll go wash my car since washing the car always makes it rain.

EXAMPLES
1. Nervous entrepreneur: Ever since we stopped going to church on Sunday, business has been progressively getting worse. If we
want to avoid bankruptcy we better start going to church again.

2. Devout child: Prayer works. Every time there is a storm I pray that our house will be spared, and not once have we been hit by
lightning.

3. Real estate agent: Ms. Aquarius sold all three of her houses quickly because she placed the "For Sale" signs out at the exact time
advised by her astrologer.

4. Superstitious supermodel: I couldn’t help myself, I watched the Victoria’s Secret prime time presentation on TV a few weeks ago. I
was so angry one of the models had a better figure than mine that I secretly wished she were dead. Two days later I saw
on Entertainment Tonight that she had been hospitalized with a severe case of the inhalation anthrax virus. According to ET, the
authorities suspect she was exposed to the virus during her frequent visits to Sen. Daschle’s office. Now I feel really, really bad. How
will I live with myself if she doesn’t survive?

B. Non causa pro causa (Latin, not the cause for the cause): This version of False cause is committed when the arguer misidentifies
the cause of something and the mistake is based on something other than mere temporal succession or sequence (Post hoc version).
Hurley classifies two types of the Non causa fallacy.

SLIPPERY SLOPE

If we don’t beef up national security then we’ll wake up one day to bombs on our doorsteps and chemical weapons being used in our
schools. Terrorists will just be strolling down the road looking for churches to bomb!”

1. Anti-intellectual moralist: Studying philosophy is a very dangerous thing to do. It cultivates a critical attitude, which in turn makes
an individual skeptical of their religious beliefs. And once you’ve begun to lose faith in your religion, it’s a small step to atheism. And
we all know that atheism leads to immorality, which in turn leads to a life of crime. And lastly, a criminal lifestyle will get you
damned to hell for eternity. Therefore, by all means, never study philosophy lest you also be damned to everlasting damnation!

2. Bioethicist: We must reject all attempts to make physician-assisted suicide legal. Once we turn down this road it’s inevitable that
we’ll soon be practicing nonvoluntary euthanasia on inconvenient elderly citizens. And then what? We’ll be relieving anyone,
regardless of age and ailment, we don’t like from their so-called suffering! Aren’t you glad ‘Dr. Death’ is behind bars?

3. Principal Pitius, voted most popular high school principal in a poll conducted by the teen magazine Trash Education: You’ve all
heard of grade inflation. As a matter of fact, recently the Boston Globereported that 91 percent of Harvard students graduate with
honors. Well, I want to speak to you today about grade depression: the serious harm done to students by grading them too hard rather
than too easily. What happens to students measured by an overly strict academic standard? They become frustrated and discouraged,
which conditions them to expect failure. Consequently, they recoil from responsibility, always choosing the easiest route to anything
rather than challenging and hence improving themselves. And on this basis they develop habits of dependency, eventually leading to
symptoms of various psychological disorders. Can we really afford a generation of weak, dependent people ill suited for the many
demands of contemporary society?

4. Charlton Heston, President of the National Rifle Association (NRA): If we allow the government to limit the number of guns a
person can buy each month, what’s next? If they can limit gun purchases soon they’ll be telling us how much liquor or food we can
buy, or even how many cars we can own. They already limit how many deer we can shoot. Next thing you know, Uncle Sam will be
restricting the number of children we can have, like the Chinese communist government. Eventually, America will become like the
government in George Orwell’s 1984 and control all aspects of our lives!

WEAK ANALOGY

EXAMPLES
1. CCRI student: No one objects to the practice of a physician looking up a difficult case in medical books. Why, then, shouldn’t
students taking a difficult exam be permitted to consult their textbooks?

2. Marquis de Sade: If one were to listen to only one kind of music or eat only one kind of food, it would soon become tasteless and
boring. Variety makes eating and listening exciting and enriching experiences. Therefore, it cold be concluded that an exclusive sexual
relationship with only one person for the rest of one’s life does not holdout much hope for very much excitement or enrichment.

3. Party animal: Professor Iam A. Nerd teaches philosophy, drives a VW Jetta, has a cat, and is no fun at parties. Likewise Professor
Leclerc teaches philosophy, drives a VW Jetta, and has a cat. Needless to say, I won’t be inviting Prof. Leclerc to my all-night
graduation party next spring!

4. From David Hume’s On Suicide: It would be no crime to divert the Nile or Danube from its course, were I able to effect such
purposes. Where then is the crime of turning a few ounces of blood from their natural channel?

Accident

 Women earn less than men earn for doing the same work.
 Oprah Winfrey is a woman.
 Therefore, Oprah Winfrey earns less than male talk-show hosts.

Begging the Question

 All dogs are mammals.

 All mammals have hair.
 Since animals with hair bear live young, dogs bear live young.
 But all animals that bear live young are mammals.
 Therefore, all dogs are mammals.

Complex Question

 Have you tried to stop watching too much television?

 If so, then you admit that you do watch too much television.
 If not, then you must still be watching too much television.
 Therefore, you watch too much television.

Examples of Fallacies
Appeal to Authority - These fallacies occur when someone accepts a truth on blind faith just because someone they
admire said it.
 Katherine loves Tom Cruise. One day, she meets Tom Cruise and he tells her unicorns live in New York City. Without
searching to find out if fairy tales have sprung to life in the midtown Manhattan, she believes it to be true.
 Princess Kate wears Alexander McQueen. Are you trying to say you have better fashion sense than a royal princess?
Appeal to Ignorance - These fallacies occur when someone asserts a claim that must be accepted because no one else
can prove otherwise.
 People have been praying to God for years. No one can prove He doesn't exist. Therefore, He exists.
 Since the students have no questions concerning the topics discussed in class, the students are ready for a test.
Appeal to Pity - These fallacies occur when someone seeks to gain acceptance by pointing out an unfortunate
consequence that befalls them.
 I know we don't love each other. But, if we don't get married it will crush my mother. You know she has a weak heart.
Do you really want to do that to her?
 If we don't adopt that puppy today, they might put him down. Do you want to be responsible for that?
Begging the Question - Also called Circular Reasoning. This type of fallacy occurs when the conclusion of an argument
is assumed in the phrasing of the question itself.
 If aliens didn't steal my newspaper, who did?
 I have a right to free speech so I can say what I want and you shouldn't try to stop me.
False Dilemma - These fallacies occur when someone is only given two choices for possible alternatives when more than
two exist.
 In Latin America, only two countries offer travel and tourism options: Mexico and Guatemala.
 Katie is one of 16,400 students on her college campus. The only boys worth dating are Dave and Steve.
Red Herring - These fallacies occur when someone uses irrelevant information to distract from the argument.
 How is talking about vaccinations going to help us find a cure for cancer?
 There are starving children in Africa. Eat your carrots.
Slippery Slope - These fallacies occur when someone assumes a very small action will lead to extreme outcomes.

 If we allow our 14 year-old to have her first date tonight, what's next? A wedding, kids?
 If we teach Tommy how to drive the car, he'll want to learn how to fly helicopters next!
Straw Man Fallacy - These fallacies occur when someone appears to be refuting the original point made, but is actually
arguing a point that wasn't initially made.
 President Trump doesn't have middle class Americans in mind. He's part of the upper echelon of America.
 "We should be doing more to make cars greener and more fuel efficient." "Our cities are built for cars, do you want to
effect the economy?"
Sweeping Generalizations - These fallacies occur when a very broad application is applied to a single premise.
 Dogs are good pets. Coyotes are dogs. Therefore, coyotes are good pets.
 Divorce is rampant in America. We only stand a 50 percent chance of survival. Therefore, we can't get married.
Ad Hominem (Attacking the Person) - These fallacies occur when an acceptance or rejection of a concept is rejected
based on its source, not its merit.
 That face cream can't be good. Kim Kardashian is selling it.
 Don't listen to Dave's argument on gun control. He's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.
Band Wagon - These fallacies occur when a proposition is claimed to be true or good solely because many people
believe it to be so.
 Everyone on campus is wearing Air Jordans. I need to buy those sneakers.
 All my friends are doing a low carb diet. That must be the only way to lose weight.
Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - These fallacies occur when it is assumed that, because two things occur together, they
must be related.
 People who eat oatmeal have healthy hearts.
 Roosters crow before sunrise. Therefore, roosters cause the sun to rise.

Fallacies of Presumption
Presumption of truth without evidence can also cause fallacious reasoning. Examples of these fallacies include:
Complex Question Fallacy - This involve questionable assumptions.
 "Are you going to admit that you're wrong?" Answering yes proves you're wrong. Answering no implies you accepts
you are wrong, but won't admit it. This question presumes guilt either way.
Hasty Generalization Fallacy - This is based upon only one abnormal situation. It is the revers of a sweeping
generalization fallacy.
 Hitler was a vegetarian. Therefore, I don't trust any vegetarians.
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - This (meaning "after this, therefore because of this") is based upon an assumption of cause
and effect, A happened, then B happened, so A must have caused B.
 I saw a magpie and then I crashed my car. Magpies are bad luck.
Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - This fallacy (meaning "with this, therefore because of this") is when the person making the
argument connects two events which happen simultaneously and assumes that one caused the other.
 Hospitals are full of sick people. Therefore hospitals make people sick.
Slippery Slope Fallacy - This falsely assume the consequences of actions.
 If we let your brother stay, we'll have to let your whole family stay.
Sweeping Generalization Fallacy - This includes too broad of an application of a premise.
 Running is a good way to keep fit, so everyone should run a mile every day.
Tu Quoque Fallacy - This applies the concept of "Look who's talking" and is used to turn criticism against the other
person.
 "You shouldn't have that second piece of cake. It's so fattening"
 "Didn't you eat an entire tub of ice cream yesterday?"
Appeal to Ignorance - Or Arguing from Ignorance, these fallacies abound in everyday conversation, advertising, politics,
and history. This fallacy argues that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false.
 During his Communism investigations Joe McCarthy presented a case saying, "I do not have much information on
this except the general statement of the agency…that there is nothing in the files to disprove his Communist
connections." His argument was that, because there was no evidence against a Communist connection, that person
must be working with the Communists. (Source: Senator Joe McCarthy, Richard H. Rovere, Methuen, 1960).
Circular Argument - Also referred to as Circulus in Probando, this fallacy is when an argument takes its proof from a factor
within the argument itself, rather than from an external one.
 I believe that Frosted Flakes are great because it says so on the Frosted Flakes packaging.
False Dilemma- Sometimes referred to as Bifurcation, this type of fallacy occurs when someone presents their argument
in such a way that there are only two possible options.
 If you don't vote for this candidate, you must be a Communist.
Equivocation

Example: “Giving money to charity is the right thing to do. So charities have a right to our money.” The equivocation here is on the word “right”:
“right” can mean both something that is correct or good (as in “I got the right answers on the test”) and something to which someone has a
claim (as in “everyone has a right to life”). Sometimes an arguer will deliberately, sneakily equivocate, often on words like “freedom,” “justice,”
“rights,” and so forth; other times, the equivocation is a mistake or misunderstanding. Either way, it’s important that you use the main terms of
your argument consistently.

Tip: Identify the most important words and phrases in your argument and ask yourself whether they could have more than one meaning. If they
could, be sure you aren’t slipping and sliding between those meanings.

Begging the question

Examples: “Active euthanasia is morally acceptable. It is a decent, ethical thing to help another human being escape suffering through death.”
Let’s lay this out in premise-conclusion form:

Premise: It is a decent, ethical thing to help another human being escape suffering through death.

Conclusion: Active euthanasia is morally acceptable.

False dichotomy
Example: “Caldwell Hall is in bad shape. Either we tear it down and put up a new building, or we continue to risk students’ safety. Obviously we
shouldn’t risk anyone’s safety, so we must tear the building down.” The argument neglects to mention the possibility that we might repair the
building or find some way to protect students from the risks in question—for example, if only a few rooms are in bad shape, perhaps we
shouldn’t hold classes in those rooms.

Red herring

Example: “Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to do. After all, classes go more smoothly when the students and the
professor are getting along well.” Let’s try our premise-conclusion outlining to see what’s wrong with this argument:

Premise: Classes go more smoothly when the students and the professor are getting along well.

Conclusion: Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to do.

Straw man

Example: “Feminists want to ban all pornography and punish everyone who looks at it! But such harsh measures are surely inappropriate, so
the feminists are wrong: porn and its fans should be left in peace.” The feminist argument is made weak by being overstated. In fact, most
feminists do not propose an outright “ban” on porn or any punishment for those who merely view it or approve of it; often, they propose some
restrictions on particular things like child porn, or propose to allow people who are hurt by porn to sue publishers and producers—not viewers—
for damages. So the arguer hasn’t really scored any points; he or she has just committed a fallacy.

Tip: Be charitable to your opponents. State their arguments as strongly, accurately, and sympathetically as possible. If you can knock down
even the best version of an opponent’s argument, then you’ve really accomplished something.

Appeal to ignorance

Example: “People have been trying for centuries to prove that God exists. But no one has yet been able to prove it. Therefore, God does not
exist.” Here’s an opposing argument that commits the same fallacy: “People have been trying for years to prove that God does not exist. But no
one has yet been able to prove it. Therefore, God exists.” In each case, the arguer tries to use the lack of evidence as support for a positive
claim about the truth of a conclusion. There is one situation in which doing this is not fallacious: if qualified researchers have used well-thought-
out methods to search for something for a long time, they haven’t found it, and it’s the kind of thing people ought to be able to find, then the fact
that they haven’t found it constitutes some evidence that it doesn’t exist.

Tip: Look closely at arguments where you point out a lack of evidence and then draw a conclusion from that lack of evidence.
Appeal to pity
Examples: “I know the exam is graded based on performance, but you should give me an A. My cat has been sick, my car broke down, and
I’ve had a cold, so it was really hard for me to study!” The conclusion here is “You should give me an A.” But the criteria for getting an A have to
do with learning and applying the material from the course; the principle the arguer wants us to accept (people who have a hard week deserve
A’s) is clearly unacceptable. The information the arguer has given might feel relevant and might even get the audience to consider the
conclusion—but the information isn’t logically relevant, and so the argument is fallacious. Here’s another example: “It’s wrong to tax
corporations—think of all the money they give to charity, and of the costs they already pay to run their businesses!”

Appeal to authority

Example: “We should abolish the death penalty. Many respected people, such as actor Guy Handsome, have publicly stated their opposition to
it.” While Guy Handsome may be an authority on matters having to do with acting, there’s no particular reason why anyone should be moved by
his political opinions—he is probably no more of an authority on the death penalty than the person writing the paper.

Tip: There are two easy ways to avoid committing appeal to authority: First, make sure that the authorities you cite are experts on the subject
you’re discussing. Second, rather than just saying “Dr. Authority believes X, so we should believe it, too,” try to explain the reasoning or
evidence that the authority used to arrive at his or her opinion. That way, your readers have more to go on than a person’s reputation. It also
helps to choose authorities who are perceived as fairly neutral or reasonable, rather than people who will be perceived as biased.

Weak analogy
Example: “Guns are like hammers—they’re both tools with metal parts that could be used to kill someone. And yet it would be ridiculous to
restrict the purchase of hammers—so restrictions on purchasing guns are equally ridiculous.” While guns and hammers do share certain
features, these features (having metal parts, being tools, and being potentially useful for violence) are not the ones at stake in deciding whether
to restrict guns. Rather, we restrict guns because they can easily be used to kill large numbers of people at a distance. This is a feature
hammers do not share—it would be hard to kill a crowd with a hammer. Thus, the analogy is weak, and so is the argument based on it.

Slippery slope
Example: “Animal experimentation reduces our respect for life. If we don’t respect life, we are likely to be more and more tolerant of violent acts
like war and murder. Soon our society will become a battlefield in which everyone constantly fears for their lives. It will be the end of civilization.
To prevent this terrible consequence, we should make animal experimentation illegal right now.” Since animal experimentation has been legal
for some time and civilization has not yet ended, it seems particularly clear that this chain of events won’t necessarily take place. Even if we
believe that experimenting on animals reduces respect for life, and loss of respect for life makes us more tolerant of violence, that may be the
spot on the hillside at which things stop—we may not slide all the way down to the end of civilization. And so we have not yet been given
sufficient reason to accept the arguer’s conclusion that we must make animal experimentation illegal right now.

Missing the point

Example: “The seriousness of a punishment should match the seriousness of the crime. Right now, the punishment for drunk driving may
simply be a fine. But drunk driving is a very serious crime that can kill innocent people. So the death penalty should be the punishment for
drunk driving.” The argument actually supports several conclusions—”The punishment for drunk driving should be very serious,” in particular—
but it doesn’t support the claim that the death penalty, specifically, is warranted.

Hasty generalization
Example: “My roommate said her philosophy class was hard, and the one I’m in is hard, too. All philosophy classes must be hard!” Two
people’s experiences are, in this case, not enough on which to base a conclusion.