Informal Fallacies

Question 1

Introducing an irrelevant point into an argument. Someone may think it proves his side, but it really doesn’t.

Answer 1

Red Herring

Question 2

Using a double standard or arguing for an unjustified exception.

Answer 2

Special Pleading

Question 3

Attacking an opponent’s character or his motives for believing something instead of disproving his argument.

Answer 3

Ad Hominem

Question 4

Condemning an argument because of where it began, how it began, or who began it.

Answer 4

Genetic Fallacy

Question 5

Dismissing another person’s viewpoint on an issue because the speaker is inconsistent in that very thing.

Answer 5

Tu Quoque (you too)

Question 6

Appealing to the authority of someone who has no special knowledge in the are he is discussing.

Answer 6

Faulty Appeal to Authority

Question 7

Claiming one’s viewpoint is correct just because many other people agree with it.

Answer 7

Appeal to the People

Question 8

Changing or exaggerating an opponent’s position to make it easier to refute.

Answer 8

Straw Man

Question 9

Attempting to prove a conclusion by simply restating it. Someone says “P is true because Q is true, and Q is true because P is true.”

Answer 9

Circular reasoning

Question 10

Changing the meaning of a word in the middle of an argument.

Answer 10

Equivocation

Question 11

Asking one question which assumes the answer to a second question.

Answer 11

Loaded Question

Question 12

Assuming that if we take one step, nothing will stop us from taking a series of steps because each step is the same.

Answer 12

Slippery Slope

Question 13

Asserting that what is true of part of something must also be true of the whole thing.

Answer 13

Part-to-Whole

Question 14

Asserting that what is true of something as a whole must also be true of each of its parts.

Answer 14

Whole-to-Part

Question 15

Asserting that we must choose between two things, when in fact we have more than two alternatives.

Answer 15

Either-Or (aka false dilemma)

Question 16

Generalizing about a class based upon a small or poor sample.

Answer 16

Hasty Generalization

Question 17

Claiming that some items with only minor similarities are the same in almost everything else.

Answer 17

Weak Analogy

Question 18

Assuming that since A happened before B, A must have caused B.

Answer 18

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Question 19

Claiming something is true simply because nobody has yet given any evidence to the contrary.

Answer 19

Proof by Lack of Evidence

Question 20

Moving us to fear the consequence of not doing what someone wants.

Answer 20

Appeal to Fear

Question 21

Urging us to do something only because we pity someone, or we pity something associated with him.

Answer 21

Appeal to Pity

Question 22

Pressuring us to do something just because many other people like us are doing it.

Answer 22

Bandwagon

Question 23

Offering nothing more than a time limit as a reason for us to do what someone wants.

Answer 23

Exigency

Question 24

Repeating a message loudly and very often in the hope that we will believe it.

Answer 24

Repetition

Question 25

Getting us to transfer our good or bad feelings about one thing to another unrelated thing.

Answer 25

Tranfer

Question 26

Encouraging us to think someone’s product would make us better than or make us stand out from everybody else.

Answer 26

Snob Appeal

Question 27

Encouraging us to buy a product or do something because it is associated with something old.

Answer 27

Appeal to Tradition

Question 28

Urging us to buy something because it is the ‘latest thing’ – but not necessarily because it is the best thing.

Answer 28

Appeal to Hi-tech