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Today’s Logical Fallacy is…Personal Incredulity!
(Argument from Incredulity) This fallacy occurs when someone dismisses something because they personally don’t understand it or can’t imagine how it would work. The basic level of understanding by any one person or even a majority does not dictate what is or is not false. Just because the concepts might be difficult to understand doesn’t…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… Bandwagon!
(argument from common sense, argumentum ad populum [“appeal to the people”], appeal to the crowd, appeal to the masses, appeal to belief, appeal to the majority, appeal to democracy, appeal to popularity, argument by consensus, consensus fallacy, authority of the many, and bandwagon fallacy, argumentum ad numerum [“appeal to the number”], consensus gentium [“agreement of…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is…Argument from Consequences!
(argumentum ad consequentiam, appeal to consequences of a belief, argument to the consequences) This fallacy occurs when someone argues that something cannot be true because the consequences are unacceptable (or is true because the consequences are desirable). This is a fallacy for several reasons: 1) desirability is a subjective concept; 2) it seeks to convince…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… “We Have to Do Something!”
(Politician’s syllogism) A very dangerous contemporary fallacy, this one arises when tragedies and crises triggers the response: “We have to do something!” – regardless of whether or not that “something” is an overreaction, ineffective, or even makes things works. The logic, or lack thereof, usually flows like this: 1. We must do something.2. This is…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… Tu Quoque!
[pronounced “too-KWO-kwee”] (Two Wrongs Make a Right, Look Who’s Talking, The Appeal to Hypocrisy, a variety of the Ad Hominem, related to Red Herring) Literally translating as “you too,” this fallacy attempts to justify a wrong action because someone else also does it. It’s commonly used as a red herring because it distracts from the…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is….Appeal to Emotion!
(Argumentum ad Misericordiam, Playing to Emotions, Appeal to Pity, “E” for Effort, Noble Effort, Sob Story) This fallacy occurs when someone attempts to invoke an emotional response (fear, hope, anxiety, love, surprise, guilt, shame, distress, interest, excitement, joy, anger, disgust sadness, happiness, amusement, peacefulness) instead of using a valid or compelling argument. It’s a fallacy…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… Appeal to Authority!
(Argument from Authority, type of Ad Hominem) A type of ad hominem, this fallacy occurs when one believes what an authority figure says just because they are an authority figure. In other words, the claim is true because of the identity of the person advancing the claim, often regardless of their knowledge of field, an…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is…Argument from Inertia!
(Stay the Course) This fallacy occurs when someone argues that we must continue on a course of action even though it has been proven to be a mistake. A variety of the argument from consequences, they defend “staying the course” because changing course would require admitting that they made a wrong decision – which might…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… False Dichotomy!
(False Dilemma, Black/White Fallacy, Either-Or Reasoning, Fallacy of False Choice, Fallacy of Exhaustive Hypotheses, Fallacy of False Alternative, Fallacy of the Excluded Middle) Closely related to the straw man fallacy, this occurs when choices are artificially reduced to only two options, ignoring all other alternatives, either intentionally or unintentionally. It implies that there really is…
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Today’s Logical Fallacy is… Overgeneralization!
(Hasty Generalization, Fallacy of Exclusion, Faulty Sign, Hasty Conclusion, Jumping to a Conclusion, Misunderstanding Statistics or Non-Representative Sample, Composition/Division, Sweeping Generalization). A type of association fallacy, this occurs when you draw a conclusion without sufficient evidence, often using one or two examples as a basis of judgment for all examples. It is frequently applied to…