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Work Cited: Jasul, V., & Seril, E. (n.d.). Effective Argumentation and Debate.
Fallacies
Meaning and examples
Reasoning 101

1 Reason from justified premises

2 Include relevant information

3 Reason validly

02
Fallacy 03

Fallacious reasoning is reasoning that fails to satisfy one or more of these

three criteria. It can be the result of of faulty induction or deduction, or the
acceptance of misleading argumentation. Logically, all fallacies fall
naturally into one of the three broad categories:
Questionable premise
Suppressed evidence
Invalid inference
Types of 04

10 Suppressed evidence

Fallacies 11
12
Questionable cause
Questionable statistics

13 Questionable classification
01 Appeal to authority 14 False dilemma
02 Appeal to ignorance 15 Slippery slope
03 Ad hominem argument 16 Straw man
04 Ad populum argument 17 Tokenism
05 Begging the question 18 Equivocation
06 Arguing in a circle 19 Unwarranted or Hasty Generalization
07 Pseudo-question or complex question 20 False or questionable analogy
08 Invalid reference or irrelevant reason 21 Provincialism

09 Questionable premise 22 Inconsistency

Appeal to Appeal to authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) is a fallacy that insists that a
claim is true simply because a valid authority says it without any other evidence
Authority being given.

Logical Form Example How to disprove

According to person 1, who is Richard Dawkins, an To disprove this claim you

an expert on the issue of Y, Y evolutionary biologist and there must be more evidence
is true. perhaps the foremost expert given and not only name
Therefore, Y is true. in the field, says that dropping authorities.
evolution is true. Therefore,
it's true.

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Appeal to Appeal to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) is a type of fallacy wherein a
person makes an assumption that the lack of evidence of an opponent is
Ignorance considered as the evidence.

Logical Form Example How to avoid

Affirmative form: You cannot prove that ghosts Focus on what can be implied
The case must be that if there is don’t exist, therefore they when there is a lack of
no evidence against x, therefore x must exist” or “you cannot evidence.
is true. prove that ghosts exist,
therefore they don’t exist”.

Negative form:
If there is no evidence to support
y, therefore, y is false.

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 Ad Hominem Argument 07

Ad hominem fallacy means “against the man,” and this type of fallacy is sometimes called
name calling or the personal attack fallacy.

Types of Ad Hominem Fallacies How to disprove

Abusive Circumstantial Point out the irrelevance of the emotional testimony they've just
This is where the person Personal circumstances introduced to the argument. Point out their personal attack on
is directly attacked. motivate a person's you and highlight how it has nothing to do with the argument at
argument, so it must be hand.
false.

Guilt by Association Tu Quoque

Due to an association to Past actions discredit
something negative, an your argument.
argument is discredited.
 Ad Populum Argument 08

Ad Populum Argument or “Argumentum ad populum” (Latin for "appeal to the people") is a

fallacious argument that concludes that a proposition must be true because many or most
people believe it, often concisely encapsulated as: "If many believe so, it is so”.

Types of Ad Populum Tip

Snob Appeal Think about whether popularity is truly relevant to
The fallacy of attempting to prove a conclusion by what you’re discussing.
appealing to what the elite, the wealthy, or celebrities
think or feel about a subject which is outside their field
of knowledge.

Band Wagon
The fallacy of attempting to prove a conclusion on the
grounds that all, a majority, or many people think,
believe, and feel it is true.
 09
Begging the Any form of argument where the conclusion is assumed in one
of the premises.
Question

Logical Form Examples How to avoid

Claim X assumes X is true. " I am confident that God exists When writing an argument, check
Claim X is therefore, true. because it says so in the Bible. And the premises and conclusion to see
the Bible contains God’s word." if there are any gaps. Make
statements that may fill those gaps.
“ The Blank Panther is the greatest
movie of all time because it is the
highest top grossing movie of all
time.”
 Arguing in Circle 10

Circular reasoning is when you attempt to make an argument by beginning with an

assumption that what you are trying to prove is already true. The conclusion is
assumed as a premise either immediately in the argument or else assumed
mediately as a premise in a series of arguments.

How to expose

Request for evidence of the truth of the

premises.
 This fallacy arises when an advocate asks an unanswerable,
Pseudo-question or "loaded", or ambiguous question; or a question based on a false
Complex question assumption; or so many questions that an opponent cannot
possible answer them adequately within the available time.

Examples Exceptions

Have you stopped using shabu? It is not a fallacy if the implied information in the
Have you stopped beating your wife? question is known to be an accepted fact.

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 12
Invalid Inference or
Irrelevant Reason Examples

A man who is kind to animals will make a good

This fallacy occurs when the advocate draws a husband.
conclusion that does not follow from the
premises or evidence on which it is based or
when he is trying to prove something using
evidence that may appear to be relevant but
A girl who likes the color blue is a lesbian.
really isn’t.
 13
Questionable
Premise Example

Canvas detected that peter left the quiz tab.

This arises when one accepts a premise when Those who leave the tab while taking a quiz are
cheaters.
he has no good reason to accept it (and the Therefore, Peter is a cheater.
argument in question doesn't provide any).
 Suppressed Examples 14

Evidence Failure of a gasoline brand to indicate in its

01 commercials that most other standard brands of
gasoline contain ingredient platformate.

This refers to the omission from an argument

A company said “Buying the Cray Mac 11 computer
of known relevant evidence or failure to look for our company was the right thing to do. It meets
for evidence that is available.
02 our company’s needs; it runs the programs we want it
to run; it will be delivered quickly; and it costs much
less than what we had budgeted.”

The president expressed concern and gratitude and

How to expose gave ₱3,000 to nurses/health care workers for their

Premises on suppressed evidence are true and

03 hazard pay, vaccinated and tested the health care
workers for COVID. Therefore, the president truly
cares and prioritizes the health care workers.
are much harder to argue. Researching about the
opposing premise would exposed the evidence
that may weaken its claim.
 Questionable Examples 15

Cause Jane spills juice on her attire and the same day, her

01 boss fires her.

Jane concluded that the reason why she was fired
was because of the spilled juice on her attire.
This refers to labelling something as the
cause of something on the basis of
insufficient evidence, or contrary to available
Sarah ignores an email that says she should forward
evidence.
02 it or she will be unlucky. On the way home that day,
she has a flat tire. She wishes she had sent the email.
 Questionable Examples 16

Statistics Colgate ran an ad stating that 80% of dentists

01 recommend their product. Based on the promotion,

many shoppers assumed Colgate was the best
choice for their dental health.
This refers to using or accepting statistics
that are questionable without further proof
or support.

02
How to expose

In misleading statistics, data collection may be

biased, misrepresented, and misleading. It is
important to use your knowledge and analyze the
data, check for its source and its credibility, and
identify if it is biased.
 Questionable 17

Classification
This involves placing items in the same
classification class although they aren't
relevantly similar.

Examples

01 Classifying people as pro-abortion instead of pro-choice.

02 Classifying people who are against Duterte as dilawan.

 Examples 18

False Dilemma
01 You are either with God or against Him.

When only two choices are presented yet

more exist, or a spectrum of possible
02 I thought you're a good person. Why didn't I see you
at church?

choices exist between two extremes.

Logical Form

Either X or Y is true.
Either X, Y or Z is true.
 Causal slope
Slippery Slope Revolves around the idea that a relatively minor initial action will lead to a
relatively major final event.

A slippery slope is an argument that

suggests that a certain initial action could
Precedential slopes
lead to a chain of events with a relatively
extreme result, or that if we treat one case Revolves around the idea that treating a relatively minor issue a certain way
a certain way then we will have to treat now will lead to us treating a relatively major issue the same way later on.
more extreme cases the same way too.

How to expose
Conceptual slopes
Slippery slope arguments often leave out important
events that connect between the start and end points Revolves around the idea that there is no meaningful difference between two
of the slope, and pointing these out can help illustrate things if it’s possible to get from one to the other through a series of small,
the issues with the proposed slope. nearly indistinguishable steps.
In some cases, one or more of the underlying premises
behind the slippery slope may be wrong, in which case
you might benefit more from attacking the flawed
premise directly, instead of addressing the issues with
the slippery slope.
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Strawman
This fallacy refers to attacking a position similar to but
significantly different from an opponent’s position.

Example
Person A believes that it is wrong to hunt or do excessive
fishing then Person B thinks that Person A would like
everyone to become vegan.

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 Tokenism It is a fallacy wherein a token gesture is accepted as a substitute for real action.

Logical Form Example

A Problem X exists. James was accused of being
Solution Y is offered. a womanizer and a sexist by
Solution Y is inadequate to solve a certain group, the next day
problem X but accepted as he donated 1M to the feminist
adequate. movement, so that means
he's not a sexist.

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Equivocation Example 1 Noisy rabid dogs are a headache. One
500mg Ibuprofen tablet will make the
headache go away. Therefore, a 500mg
The fallacy of equivocation occurs
when a key term or phrase in an ibuprofen tablet will make the noisy rabid
argument is used in an ambiguous dogs go away.
way, with one meaning in one portion
of the argument and then another
meaning in another portion of the Example 2 I have the right to watch “Itaewon Class” on
argument. Netflix. Therefore , it's right for me to watch
the show. So, I’ll think about binge watching
“Itaewon Class” rather than studying for the
nursing exam tonight.

Example 3 A hot Filipino drunk driver gets pulled over

by a pretty tall police officer. Visually
inebriated, the driver tells the officer: “I only
had a few beers.”
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Unwarranted or Hasty
Generalization
Generalization is fallacious when it is based on insufficient or unfair
evidence or when it is not warranted by the facts available; the use of How to expose
relevant but insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion.
One should recognize
absolute words such as
“always”, “everyone”, and
“most.”
Examples

01 People on social media who post smiling pictures are assumed to be fully
content about their lives.

02 Men are most likely to cheat in a relationship because of their temptations.

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False or Questionable
Analogy
Cases seem relevantly different.
How to expose
Point out important and
highly relevant
dissimilarities between the
cases cited in the premises
Examples and the cases about which
the conclusion is being
drawn.

01 An addiction to drugs or alcohol can completely ruin someone’s life. If you play
too many video games and get addicted, you’re going to ruin your life too.

02 Someone who can’t get up and running without having their morning coffee is as
good as an alcoholic.

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Provincialism
Sees things exclusively through the eyes of one's own group, organization,
How to expose
nation, etc. It is the failure to see that
other people are likely to
see the world differently
than you. Since
Provincialism is displayed
when the arguer appears
Examples culturally or socially,
politically or religiously
lacks to see the people’s
01 I’m from the Philippines and Filipino’s knows the first thing about how does the
internet work and how you should use it every time. point of view all around
them.

02 I don’t want to hear anything from you because you don’t know anything from the
internet.

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Inconsistency
This is using or accepting two contradicting claims and can be presented
by (1) one person at a time ; (2) one person at different times; (3) different
person from one constitution. It can also be committed by someone who
say one thing but does another.

Examples

01 A contest promotion that advertised “50 random entries automatically win this
one of a kind T- shirt”

02 Nobody goes there anymore. It is too crowded.

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Wrapping it up
One should not forget that fallacy categories can sometimes
overlap, and that a given argument may contain more than one
fallacy.

When giving fallacy label/s to a particular argument, one's

explanations are more important than the fallacy label/s they put on
an argument.

It is advised that the use of fallacy labels is only appropriate when

the debate type is Oxford-Oregon.

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Work Cited: Jasul, V., & Seril, E. (n.d.). Effective Argumentation and Debate.