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Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies.


Stashed in: Wisdom, Influence!, @ifindkarma, Negotiation, Gift Ideas!, life, Psychology!, The Internet is my religion., Your doing it wrong., FALSE., awesome, Logical Fallacies

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This is available as a poster for $20 from yourlogicalfallacyis.com ...

Strawman - misrepresenting an argument to make it easier to attack

False cause - relationship is not causation

Appeal to emotion - appeal to fear, envy, hatred, pity, or pride

Fallacy fallacy - a poor argument does not make something wrong

Slippery slope - use of extreme hypotheticals

Ad hominem - attack character or personality instead of argument

Tu quoque ("too-kwo-kee") - answer criticism with criticism of accuser

Personal incredulity - not understanding does not make something wrong

Special pleading - move the goalposts when original claim is shown to be false

Loaded question - build misleading presumption into query

Burden of proof - shifting argument to something else that cannot be disproven

Ambiguity - use double meaning to mislead or misrepresent

Gambler's fallacy - assume there's a connection to disconnected events, like a hot streak

Bandwagon - plea to popularity for validation

Appeal to authority - use person or institution or power for validation

Composition / division - assume whole is representative or parts (or vice versa!)

No true Scotsman - appeal to purity

Genetic - assumptions based on where (or who!) something came from

Black or white - assumptions based on only two options when many options exist

Begging the question - circular argument containing the conclusion in the premise

Appeal to nature - assumptions based on natural being justifiable or better

Anecdotal - using an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence

Texas sharpshooter - cherry picking data to support a pattern or argument

Middle ground - assumptions that a compromise or middle point between extremes must be the truth

 You forgot the "Everybody does it and they are worse" logical fallacy.  It's by far the most common.

"Everybody does it" is an appeal to authority.

This is also an awesome list for evil politicians--the fallacies exist because (sadly) they work!

I did realize as I was posting this, that it could be used as a handy "how to" guide.

My hope is that this is used for good: people know the tricks so they can avoid being influenced by the tricks.

Tu quoque ("too-kwo-kee") - answer criticism with criticism of accuser: AKA the political system today.   thank you Adam, for the well though out linking of all of this, well done.

You're very welcome. This is one of my favorite pages on PandaWhale.

And yes, the political system of today.

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