Sometimes as people we make arguments that we believe are solid and indisputable. Whether it’s in our speech or our English essays, we use logical fallacies constantly. Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that are based on poor logic. These statements seem legit at first glance, but once they are given a second thought the “logic” behind them slowly begins to crumble. It’s important to recognize these fallacies in order to make better arguments in the future. So what are some examples of logical fallacies? 

Ad Hominem

This fallacy is when someone attempts to invalidate someone else’s position based on a personal trait or fact. For example: “Sarah would be a terrible president because she was mean in high school.”

Red Herring

This is when someone diverts attention away from an argument by focusing on an issue having very little relevance. For example: “My homework is really hard!” “When I was in high school I had to do twice as much homework as you.”

Strawman

A straw man argument is when someone takes another person’s argument and exaggerates it, and then argues against their own exaggeration. For example: “It’s a school night, you can’t go to the party” “You just want me to be unpopular!”

Slippery Slope

With this fallacy someone claims a series of events will follow one starting point. For example: “If we legalize Marijuana everyone will start using it. Then all of the people on drugs will stop working which will cause our economy to fail!” 

Bandwagon 

This fallacy consists of someone claiming that a certain action is the right thing to do because everyone else is doing it. For example: “Of course it’s fine to cheat on the math homework, everyone else does!”

Appeal to Ignorance 

This is when someone claims that something must be true because it hasn’t been proven false. For example: “There must be monsters in the ocean because we haven’t been all the way to the bottom yet.”

Circular Argument 

This fallacy is when someone uses the same statement as their premise and conclusion to their argument. For example: “Gold jewelry looks the best on everyone because everyone looks good in it.”

Sunk Cost 

With this fallacy, a person justifies their decision to continue with an action by the amount of time or money they have spent on it thus far. For example: “I can’t break up with him, I have already put five years into this relationship!”

Loaded Question

This is a question that contains a controversial or unjustified assumption. For example: “Are you still shopping at that really ugly clothing store you used to go to all the time?”

The Gambler’s Fallacy 

This fallacy consists of believing that if an event has occurred several times before then it will occur less often in the future. For example: “You rolled eight several times already, so you probably won’t roll it again.”

Special Pleading

This is a fallacy where someone cites something as an exception to a principle, without justifying the special exception. For example: “Yes, I do think that all drunk drivers should go to prison, but he’s my son! He just made a mistake, he’s still a good person!” 

Black or White

When someone presents only two options when there are many options. For example: “If you don’t watch football, you’re not a real man.”

False Cause

This fallacy is when the link between an idea and a conclusion depends on an imagined causal connection that most likely doesn’t exist. For example: “When ice cream sales go up, murder rates increase. Therefore, eating ice cream makes people kill each other.” 

Genetic Fallacy

This is when someone’s argument is dismissed or validated solely because of their origin rather than the content of their argument. For example: “You can’t believe Sally’s idea because it came from her dream.”

Appeal to Authority

When someone says something must be true because someone who has authority said it. For example: “Of course cats and dogs are the same species, Oprah said that on TV last night!” 

Begging the Question

This fallacy occurs when an argument’s premise assumes the truth of the conclusion, instead of actually supporting it. For example: “Wool sweaters are better than nylon jackets as fall attire because wool sweaters have a higher wool content.”

The Texas Sharpshooter

This fallacy is based on the metaphor of a gunman shooting the side of a barn, then drawing targets around the bullet holes to make it look like he hit the target. He appears to be an excellent shooter, but if anyone knew what he had done they would no longer believe he was talented. 

Appeal to Nature

This is when someone makes the argument that because something is natural it is therefore valid, justified, good, or ideal. For example: “Herbal medicine is natural, so it’s good for you.” 

No True Scotsman 

When someone makes what could be called an appeal to purity as a way to dismiss relevant criticisms or flaws in an argument. For example: “No true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.” “But my uncle Angus is a Scotsman and he puts sugar on his porridge.” “But no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”

Middle Ground

This fallacy is when someone says that a compromise between two extremes must be the truth. For example: “The sky is blue.” “No, the sky is yellow.” “Fine, let’s agree it’s green.” 

Burden of Proof

This is when someone claims that finding proof is not the responsibility of the person making the claim, but it is the responsibility of the person arguing the claim. For example: “The school is overcharging for lunch.” “I don’t think that’s happening.” “Fine, go prove that the lunch prices are fair!”