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Types of Fallacies - Coggle Diagram
Types of Fallacies
Fallacies of Relevance
Ad Hominem
Attacking the person instead of the argument.
Example: You can’t trust his opinion on climate change; he’s not a scientist.
Appeal to Force
Using threats to persuade.
Example: If you don’t support this law, you’ll lose your job.
Appeal to Pity
When we try to evoke a feeling of pity in the other person when pity is irrelevant to the conclusion.
Example:Please don’t give me a speeding ticket, officer. I had a really bad day.
Popular Appeal
Arguing something is true because many people believe it.
Example: Everyone buys this brand, so it must be the best.
Appeal to Ignorance
Claiming something is true because it hasn’t been proven false.
Example: No one has proven aliens don’t exist, so they must be real.
Hasty Generalization
Making a broad claim based on limited evidence.
Example: I met two rude tourists from Nicaragua; all nicaraguans must be rude.
Straw Man
Committed when a person misrepresents the opponent’s argument, thus making it easier to refute it.
Example: She wants stricter gun laws. Therefore, she must want to ban all guns!"
Red Herring
Introducing an irrelevant point to distract from the main issue.
Example: Why worry about climate change when crime rates are rising?
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Fallacies of Ambiguity
Equivocation
Using a word with multiple meanings in different ways within the same argument.
Example: "The law is right because it is legal, and what is legal must be right."
Amphiboly
Occurs when there is a grammatical mistake in an argument, which allows more than one conclusion to be drawn.
Example: The teacher said he failed the test. Who failed? The teacher or the student?
Fallacy of Accent
Changing meaning by emphasizing certain words.
Example: He didn’t steal the money (but someone else did).
Fallacy of Division
Assuming what is true of the whole is true of its parts.
Example: Men are taller than women. Danny DeVito is a man. Therefore, Danny DeVito is taller than the average woman.
Fallacy of Composition
Assuming what is true of the parts is true of the whole.
Example: Each player on the team is talented, so the team must be unbeatable.