LOGICAL FALLACIES

Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your
argument. Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, and are
often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim. Avoid these
common fallacies in your own arguments and watch for them in the arguments of
others.
1. Hasty Generalization

This is a conclusion based on insufficient or biased evidence. In other words, you are
rushing to a conclusion before you have all the relevant facts. A hasty generalization
fallacy is a claim made on the basis of insufficient evidence. Instead of looking into
examples and evidence that are much more in line with the typical or average
situation, you draw a conclusion about a large population using a small,
unrepresentative sample. Due to this, we often form a judgment about a group of
people or items based on too small of a sample, which can lead to wrong conclusions
and misinformation.
Example:
Even though it's only the first day, I can tell this is going to be a boring course.
In this example, the author is basing his evaluation of the entire course on only the
first day, which is notoriously boring and full of housekeeping tasks for most courses.
To make a fair and reasonable evaluation the author must attend not one but several
classes, and possibly even examine the textbook, talk to the professor, or talk to
others who have previously finished the course in order to have sufficient evidence to
base a conclusion on.
Others:
You have a transit flight via Frankfurt Airport, Germany. On the way to your gate,
several passengers hastily bump into you without even apologizing. You conclude
that “Germans are so rude!”
n this example, you don’t even know whether the passengers you crossed paths with
were even Germans. They could have been from any country in the world, and had
they been Germans, it would have been unreasonable to characterize an entire
population based on the behavior of a few passengers.
In statistics, hasty generalization fallacy is often the outcome of sampling bias (i.e.,
when one uses a sample that does not represent the entire population). This can be
accidental or intentional, like in the case of misleading statistics.
The “most people” thinking….

Example: A Colgate advertisement claimed that “More than 80% of dentists

recommend Colgate.” Upon further scrutiny, the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) of the United Kingdom found the claim to be fallacious and ordered Colgate
to remove it.
 The rationale behind this decision was that consumers would assume that 80% of
dentists recommend Colgate, and only 20% other brands. However, this was not
the case: the survey question allowed participants to select several brands, not
just one, as the advertisement implied.

2. Ad hominem

This is an attack on the character of a person rather than his or her opinions or
arguments. It is an attempt to discredit someone’s argument by personally attacking
them. Instead of discussing the argument itself, criticism is directed toward the
opponent’s character, which is irrelevant to the discussion.
Example:
Green Peace's strategies aren't effective because they are all dirty, lazy hippies.
In this example, the author doesn't even name particular strategies Green Peace has
suggested, much less evaluate those strategies on their merits. Instead, the author
attacks the characters of the individuals in the group.
Others:
Person 1: I think it is important to enforce minimum-wage legislation so that
workers are not exploited.
Person 2: Nonsense. You only say that because you just can’t get a good job!
“Before you listen to her, I should remind you that she has been charged with
embezzlement.”

A doctor suggests that a patient should lose weight, and the patient dismisses
the advice on the grounds that the doctor has a few extra pounds too.

A professor is presenting their latest research on quantum mechanics to a group

of colleagues. At the end of the presentation, a person whispers to the other: “I
don’t believe a word. I think it’s all made-up. Do you realize that this person has
been cheating and lying to their partner for years?”

3. Ad populum/Bandwagon Appeal

This is an appeal that presents what most people, or a group of people think, in order
to persuade one to think the same way. Getting on the bandwagon is one such
instance of an ad populum appeal. In other words, if many people believe something to
be true, then it must be true.
Example:
If you were a true American, you would support the rights of people to choose
whatever vehicle they want.
In this example, the author equates being a "true American," a concept that people
want to be associated with, particularly in a time of war, with allowing people to buy
any vehicle they want even though there is no inherent connection between the two.
Others

“We should keep using mercury-based thermometers because we have been

using them for generations.”
“Smoking must be safe because millions of people have been doing it for years.”
4. Red Herring
This is a diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues, often by avoiding opposing
arguments rather than addressing them. Example:

The level of mercury in seafood may be unsafe, but what will fishers do to
support their families?

In this example, the author switches the discussion away from the safety of the food
and talks instead about an economic issue, the livelihood of those catching fish. While
one issue may affect the other it does not mean we should ignore possible safety
issues because of possible economic consequences to a few individuals.
Also:
A police officer pulls a car over for speeding. The driver complains, saying that
they shouldn’t pay a fine since there are so many dangerous criminals out there
and the police should be chasing them instead.

Daughter: Mom, I'm so hurt that Todd broke up with me

Mother: Just think of all the starving children in Africa, honey. Your problems will
seem pretty insignificant then.

In academic writing, red herring fallacy relates mainly to veering out of focus.
If a food is cold, then it is a dessert. Salad is cold. Therefore, salad is a dessert.

5. Slippery Slope

This is a conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually through
a series of small steps, through B, C..., X, Y, Z will happen, too, basically equating A
and Z. So, if we don't want Z to occur, A must not be allowed to occur either. Example:

If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the
government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers.

In this example, the author is equating banning Hummers with banning all cars,
which is not the same thing.
Here is another of the slippery slope fallacy:
If you don’t take honors courses, you won’t get into a good college.
Obviously, taking a rigorous course load as a high schooler generally makes you a
more attractive applicant to colleges. But to claim that you can’t get accepted to a
highly ranked college without taking honors courses is inaccurate—and fallacious.
That’s what separates the slippery slope fallacy from logically extrapolating how a
scenario will likely turn out:

If you don’t take honors courses, your application may be less attractive to a good
college.
6. Straw Man

This move oversimplifies an opponent's viewpoint and then attacks that hollow
argument. A strawman is a fallacious argument that distorts an opposing stance in
order to make it easier to attack. Essentially, the person using the strawman pretends
to attack their opponent’s stance, while in reality they are actually attacking a
distorted version of that stance, which their opponent doesn’t necessarily support.

People who don't support the proposed state minimum wage increase hate the
poor.
In this example, the author attributes the worst possible motive to an opponent's
position. In reality, however, the opposition probably has more complex and
sympathetic arguments to support their point. By not addressing those arguments,
the author is not treating the opposition with respect or refuting their position.
Others include:
A: I think that we should give better study guides to students
B: I think that your idea is bad, because we shouldn’t just give out easy A’s to
everyone”.
Alex: I think that a bigger portion of our company’s budget should go to customer
support, because we’re currently struggling in that area.
Bob: if we spend all of our money on customer support like you’re suggesting,
we’ll go bankrupt in a year