Rhetorical Fallacies

Question 1

guile or trickery or a false or a mistaken idea; have the appearance of truth but are erroneous

Answer 1

fallacy

Question 2

“to the man;” an argument that criticizes an idea by pointing something out about the person who holds the idea rather than directly addressing the actual merit of the idea

Answer 2

ad hominem argument

Question 3

tempts us to agree with the writer’s assumptions based on the authority of a famous person or entity on his/her own character (when the writers are well-known)

Answer 3

argument from authority/argument from false authority

Question 4

based on assumption that whatever has not been proven false must be true (or what has not been proven true must be false)

Answer 4

appeal to ignorance

Question 5

argument in which someone assumes that parts (or all) of what the person claims to be proving are proven facts; vouching for/accepting as true a concept that isn’t proven

Answer 5

begging the question

Question 6

a statement that does not logically relate to what comes before it

Answer 6

non sequitur

Question 7

a consideration of only the two extremes when there are one or more intermediate possibilities

Answer 7

false dichotomy

Question 8

suggests dire consequences from relatively minor causes; “give an inch, they take a mile”

Answer 8

slippery slope

Question 9

the sometimes unintentional setting up of a cause-and-effect relationship when none exists; one event can happen after another without the first necessarily being the direct cause of the second

Answer 9

faulty causality

Question 10

an oversimplification of an opponent’s argument to make it easier to attack

Answer 10

straw man argument

Question 11

help explain that causal arguments are often flawed because the opposite is just as plausible

Answer 11

reverse causation

Question 12

a tactic that attempts to appeal to the hearts of readers so that they forget to use their minds

Answer 12

sentimental appeals

Question 13

attempts to shift attention away from an important issue by introducing an issue that has no logical connection to the discussion at hand

Answer 13

red herring

Question 14

used to frighten readers or listeners into agreeing with the speaker; often used when the speaker does not have logical arguments to fall back on

Answer 14

scare tactics

Question 15

encourages the listener to agree with a position because everyone else does

Answer 15

bandwagon appeals

Question 16

doesn’t allow for the discussion because the speaker presumes that his/her beliefs are beyond question; “I’m correct because I’m correct”

Answer 16

dogmatism

Question 17

telling part of the truth while deliberately hiding the entire truth; similar to lying by omission

Answer 17

equivocation

Question 18

an illogical, misleading comparison between two things

Answer 18

faulty analogy