| A | B |
|---|
| Slippery Slope | If we allow A to happen, then eventually Z will happen, so we should not allow A in the first place. |
| False Dilemma | Presenting two alternatives as the only possibilities. This is also called ‘black-or-white’ or ‘binary’ thinking. |
| Anecdotal | Using a personal experience or isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence. |
| Appeal to authority | An authority thinks something, therefore it must be true. |
| Ad hominem | Attacking the person making an argument instead of the argument itself. |
| Strawman argument | Creating a misrepresented version of an opposing argument before refuting it. |
| Red Herring | Introducing irrelevant information to distract from valid evidence. |
| Bandwagon | aking advantage of the tendency to think that if most people believe something, it must be true. |
| Hasty Generalization | A conclusion is drawn based on insufficient or biased evidence. |
| Causal | It assumes a cause and effect connection without proof |
| Post hoc, ergo propter hoc | Inferring that X must be the cause of Y just because X is followed by Y. |
| Formal Fallacy | This is untrue because of the form or structure of the argument, but not necessarily the content or context. In other words, the relationship between the premise and conclusion lacks logic. |
| Informal Fallacay | This is untrue because of the content or context of the argument, even if it is logical in its form. For example, the premise itself may be irrelevant or a misrepresentation of the truth. |
| Circular | You begin the argument with the conclusion, so you can reinforce your argument by referring back to your first statement. |
| Appeal to Nature | Making the argument that because something is ‘natural’ it is therefore better, valid, justified, inevitable, good or ideal. |
| No true Scotman | This happens when you redefine the criteria of a category to exclude counterexamples. |
| The Texas Sharpshooter | This happens when you find ways to make your argument accurate without using an objective methodology, such as by cherry-pick data clusters to suit your argument, or finding a pattern to fit a presumption. |
| Burden of Proof | Saying that the burden of proof lies not with the person making the claim, but with someone else to disprove. |
