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logical fallacy
definitions
12
English
9th Grade
03/12/2015

Additional English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
ad hominem
Definition
attacking your opponents character or personal traits in an attempt to undermine their argument
Term
slippery slope
Definition
  • asserting that if we allow A to happen, then Z will consequently happen too, therefore A should not happen.

  • example- we cannot unlock our child from the closet bc she will run around the house, then to the yard and someone will take her in a van for a sex trafficking slave.

 

reduction to the absurd

Term

 

black and white or either or fallacy;

Definition

 

  • where two alternative states are presented as the only possibilities, when in fact more possibilities exist

  • example- you are either for us or against us
Term

false cause 

  •  

Definition
  • (aka “post hoc ergo propter hoc” or “questionable cause”), presuming that a real or perceived relationship between things means that one is the cause of the other.


Term
appeal to authority
Definition

 

  • saying that bc an authority thinks something, therefore it must be true.

Term
bandwagon
Definition

 

  • appealing to popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation

  • example- how could you not believe in santa claus, nearly 2 billion people believe in him, so why don’t you?

Term
red herring
Definition
  • an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue


Term
appeal to pity
Definition
  • (aka appeal to emotion)

  • someone who tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent’s feelings of pity or guilt


Term
over simplification
Definition

 

  • (aka “causal reductionism”)

  • multiple causes are reduced to just one or few

Term
circular reasoning
Definition

 

  • the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with

Term
appeal to force
Definition

 

  • an argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a justification

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