Logical Fallacies:

What are they and how to identify them?

Amanda Gray Start

Home

What is a Logical Fallacy? Ad Hominem

Slippery Slope Ad Populum

Hasty Generalization Red Herring

Circular Argument Assessment

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What Is A Logical Fallacy?

According to Purdue Online Writing Lab, (Logical)

Fallaciesare 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.
In any argument you make, it is advised to avoid using
fallacies in order to have a sound stance. When
constructing an argument, there needs to be a premise
and a conclusion. Premises should support the
conclusion truthfully. If the premise are not relevant and
supportive, it is more likely a Logical Fallacy. Being able
to identify them will prevent any usage of them
(University of North Carolina of Chapel-Hill Writing
Center)

This presentation will cover just a few common logical

fallacies that are seen on a daily basis.
Slippery Slope

Definition: a course of action is rejected because,

with little or no evidence, one insists that it will
lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable
end or ends. The slippery slope involves an
acceptance of a succession of events without
direct evidence that this course of events will
happen (Texas State Department of Philosophy).

Example:
Marijuana is a gate way drug. If you smoke it,
you will definitely become addicted to hard-core
drugs like meth and cocaine.

Marijuana consumption does not lead to

individuals doing hardcore drugs. This is an
assumption made to have people believe smoking
Marijuana will lead to a crippling addiction.
Hasty Generalization

Definition: Making assumptions

about a whole group or range of
cases based on a sample that is
inadequate. Stereotypes easily falls
under this fallacy ( UNC Chapel Hill
Writing Center).

Example:
My children were busy bodies
when they were toddlers, so all
toddlers like to be busy bodies.
Both the image example and the text
example are showing conclusions
that are made based on vague
information. One can avoid making
this fallacy using thorough research.
Circular Argument

Definition: restating the argument rather

than actually proving it (Purdue Online
Writing Lab). Most commonly, the
premise and the conclusion of the
argument loop back into each other. By
having the same premise and conclusion,
the argument is weakly supported.

Example:
Birds are avian creatures because they
can fly .
This argument is redundant. If a animal
is an avian creature, it is a fact that it
flies. The premise and conclusion is
essentially the same statement.
As illustrated in the
photo above, the
premise and the
conclusion equals each
other in this fallacy
Ad Hominem

Definition: An attack on the character of a

person rather than his or her opinions or
arguments (Perdue Online Writing Lab) .
This fallacy is usually used as a
distraction from the argument in order to
harm the creditability of the arguer. This is
usually seen in political advertisement
and informal internet quarrels.

Example:
Person 1: Global Warming is the reason
to why summer time is hotter every year.
Person 2 chose to insult person one
Person 2: Anyone who believes in Global
instead of responding with an
Warming is an idiot.
agreement or a counter-argument to
the statement.
Ad Populum

Definition: The Latin name of this

fallacy means to the people. There
are several versions of thead
populumfallacy, but in all of them,
the arguer takes advantage of the
desire most people have to be liked
and to fit in with others and uses
that desire to try to get the audience
to accept his or her argument. One
of the most common versions is the
bandwagon fallacy, in which the
arguer tries to convince the
audience to do or believe something
because everyone else does(UNC
Chapel Hill Writing Center) .
Example:
You should get an IPhone, its
better than androids and
everyone has one.
Stating that everyone has an IPhone
is aiming towards the emotion of
belonging to the targeted audience.
Just because something is popular
doesnt necessarily mean its right
for everyone.
Image provided from Cult of Mac
Red Herring

Definition: This fallacy consists in

diverting attention from the real issue by
focusing instead on an issue having only
a surface relevance to the first ( Texas
State Department of Philosophy) .

Image from trulyfallicious.com

Example:
Person 1: The Presidential Candidates
are not properly answering the question
in this debate. Just like with an Ad hominem argument, using red herring is
meant to distract. But unlike Ad hominem, the distraction is
Person 2: Youre grand-parents had to
not to attack the arguer or the argument; just to change it.
march the streets to get the chance to
vote.
Assessment

Identify the fallacy. Identify the fallacy

1.) Reporter: "Mr. President, your opponent, Walter
Mondale is considerably younger than you. Do you 2.) My roommate said her philosophy class was
think that with the threat of nuclear war, age should hard, and the one Im in is hard, too. All
be an issue in this campaign?" President Reagan: "Not philosophy classes must be hard! Two peoples
at all. I am not going to exploit my opponent's youth experiences are, in this case, not enough on
and inexperience. which to base a conclusion.
a.) Circular Argument
a.) Red Herring
b.) ad hominem b.) Hasty Generalization
c.) Red herring c.) Ad Populum
d.) Circular Argument
d.) Slippery Slope

Example from Texas State Department Of Philosophy Example from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center
Assessment

Identify the fallacy. Identify the fallacy.

4.
3. Which Logical Fallacy is represented in the
photo below?

a.) Ad Hominem
b.) Slippery Slope a.) Slippery Slope
c.) Red Herring b.) Circular argument
d.) Hasty c.) Ad Populum
Generalization d.) Red Herring
Assessment Answers

Q.1 Q. 3
c. Red Herring. a. Ad Hominem
President Reagan did not directly answer the question The campaign ad is insulting the
and changed the direction of the argument. candidates character instead on focusing on
his stance.

Q.2
b. Hasty Generalization
The student assuming that all philosophy classes must
be hard based off a little amount of information provided. Q.4
b. Circular argument
The statements expresses that the
bible is true because the bible itself says its
true. The premise and conclusion are the
same.

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