Argumentation Fallacies
“Fallacies are statements that may sound reasonable or true but are deceptive and dishonest. When your readers detect them, such statements can backfire and turn even a sympathetic audience against your position.”
Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing. Seventh Edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
1. Begging the Question: This fallacy assumes in the premise the very idea that the writer should be trying to prove. Example: Ownership of guns should not be limited in any way because people kill people, guns don’t.
2. Argument from Analogy: An analogy is a type of comparison. Example: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get.” Sometimes analogies can help to explain complicated ideas, but they cannot be used as absolute proof of anything.
3. Personal Attack, also known as Argument Ad Hominem: This fallacy tries to negate the validity of the argument by pointing out personal weaknesses of the speaker or writer of the argument. Example: “Hillary Clinton’s national healthcare ideas cannot be correct. She’s a liar. Just look at how she exaggerated the importance of her trip to the Middle East when she was the First Lady.”
4. Hasty or Sweeping Generalization: Drawing a large conclusion based on a single piece of evidence. Examples: “The U.S. presence in Iraq is succeeding. Last year the country held free elections for the first time in decades.” Another: “The U.S. presence in Iraq is failing. Since 2002, over 4,000 members of the U.S. military have died.”
5. False Dilemma (Either/Or Fallacy): This occurs when the arguer suggests that there are only two alternatives to a question. Examples: “Either you’re with us or you’re against us.” “A vote for Bush is a vote for killing young soldiers.” “A vote for John Kerry is a vote for terrorism.” These are all fallacies because they are gross oversimplifications.
6. Equivocation: This happens when the definition of a key term in the argument changes at some point. Example: After it became clear that Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction, the Bush Administration often began stating that Iraq had the capacity for WMDs. Bill Clinton tried to mislead the public in the Monica Lewinsky scandal when he said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Technically, by definition, he did not, but he was trying to mislead.
7. Red Herring: This fallacy involves changing the focus of the argument from the real theme to a secondary and/or irrelevant theme. Example: “Professional baseball should no longer be the American pastime because it has become too expensive for many middle-income citizens to attend. In addition to that, so many ball players have been taking steroids.”
8. You Also: This fallacy happens when one attacks an opponent’s argument because the opponent has not followed or does not follow his own advice. Example: “How can you vote against legalizing marijuana when you admit you used it yourself when you were young?”
9. Appeal to Doubtful Authority: Sometimes one will try to support an argument by demonstrating that someone famous holds the same belief. Example: If Louisville’s Ali is speaking on an issue in the realm of boxing, I will pay close attention, but if he is discussing the culinary arts, I’ll treat his ideas as just another opinion. Should I buy a General Motors car or truck because a famous movie star is getting paid to tell me how fabulous the product is?
10. Misleading Statistics: At times one will try to use statistics unfairly to influence opinions. Examples: “A middle-age woman would not make a good President. Statistics show that women are more emotional than men.” “Arizona climate is bad for people because more people die from respiratory problems in that state than in any other.”
11. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (After This, Therefore Because of This): This fallacy assumes that because Event B came after Event A, Event A caused Event B to happen. It is possible that A caused B, but it is not safe to assume (or logical to argue) that it is always the case. Example: “I sent my children to private elementary and high schools; that's why they all ended up graduating from college.”
12. Non Sequitur (It Does Not Follow): This takes place when a statement follows another statement but is not logically connected to the first statement. Example: “If every citizen had not had the right to bear arms during the Revolutionary War, we might still be flying the flag of Great Britain. Therefore, all citizens should be allowed to own any firearms they wish to own.”
Possible Assignments: After a thorough reading of each of the fallacies, teachers can go in several directions. A. One idea would be to check for learning by citing a new example of a fallacy and have students identify the specific fallacy, giving reasons. B. Another might be to have half the students in the class to come up with examples of fallacies #1-6 and the other half with examples of #7-12. The sides might want to challenge each other after doing this homework. C. Yet another could be for the teacher to offer extra credit if students can find a printed example of an argumentation fallacy. These are fairly easy to find during a political race for president, governor, mayor, senate, or house. Copy the candidate's fallacy carefully, word for word, and cite the source in full.
Teachers should always feel free to tweak any listed assignments in any way that will benefit the students in their classes.