Fallacies As you write your rough draft, be careful to avoid fallacies in your reasoning.

Hasty Generalization "My roommate said her philosophy class was hard, and the one I'm in is hard, too. All philosophy classes must be hard!"

Post Hoc: the first event was a cause of the second event. "President Jones raised taxes, and then the rate of violent crime went up. Jones is responsible for the rise in crime.“ “I wore a red dress on my first blind date and had a wonderful time. I will wear red on my second blind date so that I have a great time again.

Slippery Slope dramatization of a future chain of events “If Virginia legalizes marijuana, then the next thing we know, Virginia will legalize cocaine, heroin, and LSD.

Appeal to Popularity "We should abolish the death penalty. Many respected people, such as actor Taylor Lautner, have publicly stated their opposition to it."

Bandwagon “Tattoos are not respected in any workplace. 70% of Americans think so!"

Ad Hominem personal attack "Jane Smith has written several books arguing that working as a stripper harms women. But Smith is just ugly and bitter, so why should we listen to her?"

Appeal to Pity "I know the exam is graded based on performance, but you should give me an A. My cat has been sick, my car broke down, and I've had a cold, so it was really hard for me to study!"

Appeal to Ignorance "People have been trying for centuries to prove that God exists. But no one has yet been able to prove it. Therefore, God does not exist.” "We've never shown life can't exist on Mars so there must be life on Mars."

Straw Man false caricature of a person or group "Bob is a democrat so he obviously supports abortion and gun control, and opposes the death penalty."

Red Herring diverts the person's attention from the actual discussion to some side issue "Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to do. After all, classes go more smoothly when the students and the professor are getting along well."

Either/Or “Harris Hall is in bad shape. Either we tear it down and put up a new building, or we continue to risk students' safety. Obviously we shouldn't risk anyone's safety, so we must tear the building down."