Logical Fallacies

Latin “against the man”
• Mudslinging
• Name calling, instead of evidence
• “A slur, not a response.”
• Common in political debates

E.G.- Hillary and Trump insults

• Attack a position the other person does not actually hold
• Weaken their actual position to discredit them
• Ethical: “Steel man” the other position first

• “either or” fallacy
• “black or white” fallacy
• “continuum” fallacy
• “Dumb down” an argument by citing only 2 options, where
there are actually more

“if you don’t buy it, then you don’t love me!”

Stack on tenuous claims
• What “might” happen

Teenagers manipulate adults like this:
“If you don’t let me go to the party, I’ll be a loser with no friends, I’ll never get a date and then die poor and lonely with 5 cats!”

Talking in circles
• Teacher hates me... I just know she hates me.”
• “Do that… because I said so!”

• Distract from the actual topic

“Mom: why did you go over limit on your phone bill?”
“Mom, my math class is SOOO hard…”

• Anecdote: “one instance”
• To generalize a specific example
• “Basketball players are generally tall”

“Actually… I know of this guy who was 5’9” and made it to the NBA...”

• “Move the goalposts”
• When losing an argument, change the
terms of the argument, toward your favor
• “raising the bar”
• “demand for impossible perfection”

Judging something from the past by today’s moral standards

- Make bold, controversial statement
- When confronted, claim a different statement
– Return to original position (like moving the goalposts back)

Examples:
• “You don’t support our troops” (defense spending)
• “We just want fairness” (expansion of diversity,
inclusivity, equity)
• “We trust the science” (lockdowns)